Better Late (Canada) Than Never (U.S.)
And editorial in today's NY Times points out one crucial difference between a civilized government (in this case, Canada) and an uncivil one (the U.S.): the first acknowledges a mistake and apologizes for it; the latter denies any mistake and stonewalls any attempt to point one out.
Canada set an important example of decency when it offered a formal apology and compensation worth millions of dollars to a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was a victim of President Bush’s use of open-ended detention, summary deportation and even torture in the name of fighting terrorism.
Last week’s announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper came more than four years after the nightmare began for the Canadian, Maher Arar, a 36-year-old software engineer. On his way back from a family vacation, he was detained by U.S. officials at Kennedy Airport on the basis of unsubstantiated information from the Canadian police. After being held in solitary confinement in a Brooklyn detention center and interrogated without proper access to legal counsel, he was sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned for nearly a year and tortured.
It was all part of a legally and morally unsupportable practice known as extraordinary rendition, the deportation of terrorism suspects to countries where the regimes are known to use torture and to disdain basic human rights protections. [Emphasis added]
Both governments made mistakes. The Canadian government's "unsubstantiated information" started the ball rolling (although it can be argued that the first element in this sequence was that Mr. Arar was Syrian by birth, and hence suspicious). It is refreshing to see that nation accept responsibility for its mistake and to offer an apology and restitution. It is further encouraging to see Canada's ongoing efforts to get Mr. Arar's name cleared and off all of the US "lists."
And the US response to all of this?
Not only has the Bush administration refused to apologize to Mr. Arar, but Justice Department lawyers are also brandishing a dubious claim of state secrets and fighting a lawsuit brought by Mr. Arar in this country. Bush administration officials insist that they have “new intelligence” that justifies keeping Mr. Arar on the watch list. That intelligence has not been disclosed, but Canadian officials who have reviewed the information are unpersuaded. [Emphasis added]
No acknowledgment of a mistake, no apology, just the deliberate manufacturing of a new mistake and more posturing.
Shameful.
Canada set an important example of decency when it offered a formal apology and compensation worth millions of dollars to a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was a victim of President Bush’s use of open-ended detention, summary deportation and even torture in the name of fighting terrorism.
Last week’s announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper came more than four years after the nightmare began for the Canadian, Maher Arar, a 36-year-old software engineer. On his way back from a family vacation, he was detained by U.S. officials at Kennedy Airport on the basis of unsubstantiated information from the Canadian police. After being held in solitary confinement in a Brooklyn detention center and interrogated without proper access to legal counsel, he was sent to Syria, where he was imprisoned for nearly a year and tortured.
It was all part of a legally and morally unsupportable practice known as extraordinary rendition, the deportation of terrorism suspects to countries where the regimes are known to use torture and to disdain basic human rights protections. [Emphasis added]
Both governments made mistakes. The Canadian government's "unsubstantiated information" started the ball rolling (although it can be argued that the first element in this sequence was that Mr. Arar was Syrian by birth, and hence suspicious). It is refreshing to see that nation accept responsibility for its mistake and to offer an apology and restitution. It is further encouraging to see Canada's ongoing efforts to get Mr. Arar's name cleared and off all of the US "lists."
And the US response to all of this?
Not only has the Bush administration refused to apologize to Mr. Arar, but Justice Department lawyers are also brandishing a dubious claim of state secrets and fighting a lawsuit brought by Mr. Arar in this country. Bush administration officials insist that they have “new intelligence” that justifies keeping Mr. Arar on the watch list. That intelligence has not been disclosed, but Canadian officials who have reviewed the information are unpersuaded. [Emphasis added]
No acknowledgment of a mistake, no apology, just the deliberate manufacturing of a new mistake and more posturing.
Shameful.
Labels: Torture
posted by Diane at 10:20 AM
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