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A Canadian Muslim's "Extraordinary Rendition"

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posted on Sep, 19 2006 @ 09:49 AM
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On September 26, 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian Muslim and IT consultant, was detained at JFK international airport as part of America's "War on Terror" based on information given by Canadian officials. Arar became a statistic of the "Extraordinary Rendition" program, a program declared by American president George Bush as an integral tool in the fight against terrorism. In a report released recently by a Canadian inquiry, information given by Canadian officials was found to be falsely constructed and falsely construed. As a result, Maher Arar was beaten, tortured and held in a "coffin-size" prison cell for over 10 months.
 



www.msnbc.msn.com
Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.

The report, released in Ottawa, was the result of a 2 1/2-year inquiry that represented one of the first public investigations into mistakes made as part of the United States' "extraordinary rendition" program, which has secretly spirited suspects to foreign countries for interrogation by often brutal methods.

The inquiry, which focused on the Canadian intelligence services, found that agents who were under pressure to find terrorists after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, falsely labeled an Ottawa computer consultant, Maher Arar, as a dangerous radical. They asked U.S. authorities to put him and his wife, a university economist, on the al-Qaeda "watchlist," without justification, the report said.


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


This is a primary example of a man losing rights due to the "War on Terror." There was no chance for Mr. Arar to confront his accusers or the facts brought against him. Mr. Arar lost all his rights and was reduced to torture for a crime he never committed. This is a prime example of the faults not only in the Patriot Act's provisions of the removal of due process, but also of the dangers resulting from secret spy programs. No government should be trusted with such powers.

To date, the US government has refused to aid any investigation into the matter of Arar's false torture.

Related News Links:
www.maherarar.ca
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar/


[edit on 19-9-2006 by Jamuhn]

[edit on 20-9-2006 by UM_Gazz]



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 01:58 AM
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This honestly turns my stomach. The fact that this is still hapening in this day in age, but worse that it is systemic.

Many people support these methods in the name of security. That this is a different kind of war needing different kinds of intellegence gathering. Sadly enough, there will be people here in our own country that will support this kind of behavior, regardless.

What happens when this starts happening to americans - or has it already, I bet it has. For now, it is muslims on a terror watchlist....however the definition of a terrorist has been expanded so much, that anyone who voices discent could be labeled a "terrorist". People need to wake up and see what is happening here. You can be arrested, detained, have charges brought against you (true or false), tried and sentanced without ever having the chance to see the evidence or defend yourself in a court of law. All in the name of safety. People hold the belief that if you haven't done something wrong then you have nothing to worry about. Well, who defines "right and wrong"? This kind of power should belong to no one.

This man that suffered this attrocity most likely lived a good life, had a family and a good job. Now his life is destroyed. How far will we allow this kind of behavior to go? When is enough, enough? I have had enough.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 06:49 AM
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This is a primary example of a man losing rights due to the "War on Terror."

I disagree. This incident was a result of false intelligence supplied by Canada.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 07:39 AM
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There is no question that Arar was let down by our government and the RCMP had a huge part to play in this. This doesn't mean that the US is totally without blame for what happened to Arar.

From a non-US source:



Americans, for instance, denied Arar's request to speak with the Canadian consulate in New York after he was taken into custody there, a violation of international agreements.

And the FBI kept Canadians in the dark about Arar's whereabouts even while he was in the air on his way to Jordan, then Syria.

cnews.canoe.ca...

Our government thought he was in the US being questioned, not on a plane to Syria. Everyone involved in this sad affair screwed the pooch.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 07:54 AM
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I got to agree with JSbecky also.
This started with bad information then everyone down the line blew it way out of proporation.
I hope this will or has stoped. Those tools are still needed to fight terror but the people useing them must have integready.

Hear is a related story and thread that everyone might want to take a look at.

edit for link

[edit on 20-9-2006 by RedGolem]



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 08:09 AM
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Yes, it started with bad intel given by the RCMP.

From there it went to Arar being denied the right to call the Canadian consulate and the Canadian government being told he was in the States, and not on a plane to Syria. Canada was specifically told that he was not going to Syria.

Even more specifically, before he even got to the US, Canada was told that Arar was flying into New York, was going to be questioned on arrival, then would be refused entry and sent back to Switzerland, where his flight originated. The US never bothered to tell Canada that he was sent to Syria. We had to go looking for him.

Both countries have some responsibility for this.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 08:17 AM
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And the Canadian government has apologized and offered monitary restitutions. The US government has done nothing to remedy the situation. As a matter of fact, the lawsuit brought against the US because of this specific action was dismissed at it's lowest level (because the suit could compramize national security.
)

"better ten guilty men go free than one innocent be punished"
Thomas Jefferson



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 08:35 AM
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Playing the "blame game" lets both countries off the hook and begs the real issue:

The so-called 'war on terror' is an ill-conceived, unjust and uncivilized non-strategy - designed to rein in the free world and destroy democracy, not to neutralize the 'terrorist threat.'



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 08:47 AM
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Rab,



"better ten guilty men go free than one innocent be punished"


Yes those are good words from Thomas Jefferson and they are still good words today, although Thomas Jefferson was not faced with a hostile people who may or may not posess weapons that could destroy a whole city and perhaps a whole country.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 08:53 AM
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It's the spirit of the quote that matters. I'm sure you could lock the entire muslim population up in a concentration camp, and be safe.

At this point, and I'm sure there are many who agree, I'm more afraid of our own government than terrorists. I've been beaten, arrested and denied my own rights as a citizen by this same government.

And....No Muslim ever called me 'n-word'

[edit on 20-9-2006 by Rasobasi420]



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 05:36 PM
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Canada said they didn't want him and he was sent back to his homeland since he didn't qualify for admission to the United States.

There's absolutely nothing wrong that either the U.S. or Canada did, if you want to blame someone blame Syria.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 05:49 PM
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For one thing this is horrible that Canada would do something like this to one of their own citizens. Just as horrendous that my beloved nation would do something like this to anyone (one of our own great neighbors of all people). It doesn't matter whether or not we actually did the torture with our own hands, it's still not right to send a man to be fed to the dogs like that. And the Syrians are just as bad if they did this or had any knowledge of it.

I had already begun to loose faith in my own government after Katrina, but never thought I'd loose faith in my neighbor's government too.



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 05:53 PM
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Canada never said they didn't want him. He had been here for years with no problems.

What Canada said is that we had nothing to hold him on once he got home. I think that's probably why he was sent to Syria.


[edit on 20-9-2006 by Duzey]



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 06:19 PM
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I dont know why the quote feature ins't working but....

Originally posted by dhjohnsto77:
"Canada said they didn't want him and he was sent back to his homeland since he didn't qualify for admission to the United States.
There's absolutely nothing wrong that either the U.S. or Canada did, if you want to blame someone blame Syria."
End quote

You say there is nothing wrong with what the US or Canada did. This was a canadian citizen. He lived, worked and had a family there. He had done nothing wrong. At what point will this be considered wrong? I am sick of people passing bs excuses for this administration and its activities. We sent him there knowing full well what would happen to him, so dont give me this blame Syria crap. What happens when this happens to others? According to BushCo, anyone who is anti war or against torture is "aiding terrorists". Would that not be cause to lock someone up under their logic? To detain and send an innocent citizen of a country to be tortures? When is enough, enough?? Or do you just have no limit to what they can do? Tell me, is anything they do wrong, or is it only wrong when it isn't a muslim????



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 10:59 PM
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Originally posted by jsobecky

This is a primary example of a man losing rights due to the "War on Terror."

I disagree. This incident was a result of false intelligence supplied by Canada.

So you are disagreeing that this man was denied the right to due process and then tortured by the US in Syria? It's extensively documented that these events occurred. The fault arises not only from Canada's construction of false information, but also arises from the tactics of the US in the war on terror to deny an inalienable right to due process, eventually leading to the 10-month torture of an innocent man. Tell me how you think it is not the US' fault for denying that man the abilitiy to confront his accusers. Hell, the US even lied to Canada about where this man was at and what they were doing to him.


Originally posted by djohnsto77There's absolutely nothing wrong that either the U.S. or Canada did, if you want to blame someone blame Syria.

Really, are you saying that there is nothing wrong with making up false information, denying a man the right to due process, and then torturing him?

This example of Arar shows why the Patriot Act, the extraordinary rendition program, and the spy programs should be heavily revised, if not striken from use, and at the very least to become transparent. This is an innocent man who simply disappeared for 10 months. It's a very eerie thought that there are 14,000 people in this program, all without the right to confront information brought against them in a court of law and this number grows everyday. Hopefully people will start to care about the rampant abuses of government before the situation grows exponentially worse.

[edit on 20-9-2006 by Jamuhn]



posted on Sep, 20 2006 @ 11:08 PM
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Originally posted by Rasobasi420
It's the spirit of the quote that matters. I'm sure you could lock the entire muslim population up in a concentration camp, and be safe.

At this point, and I'm sure there are many who agree, I'm more afraid of our own government than terrorists. I've been beaten, arrested and denied my own rights as a citizen by this same government.

And....No Muslim ever called me 'n-word'

[edit on 20-9-2006 by Rasobasi420]


we so forget the concentration camps for "the Japs" during WWII.

This is so nothing new.



posted on Sep, 21 2006 @ 02:01 AM
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Originally posted by LogansRun
You say there is nothing wrong with what the US or Canada did. This was a canadian citizen. He lived, worked and had a family there. He had done nothing wrong. At what point will this be considered wrong?


Ok, well I'll admit the Canada apparently made a mistake by labeling him a terrorist and banning his reentry to Canada. But it seems everyone wants to blame the U.S. here, which I don't understand and seems to have no basis other than America-bashing.

If he was a dual citizen of Canada and Syria, and Canada wouldn't accept him back, what else was the U.S. supposed to do other than send him back to Syria? Would you all be happier if we sent him to Guantanamo Bay?

[edit on 9/21/2006 by djohnsto77]



posted on Sep, 21 2006 @ 02:50 AM
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dj,

Where are you getting the idea that Canada had banned him and wouldn't let him back? That's simply not the case.




posted on Sep, 21 2006 @ 03:12 AM
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Wait a second...Syria? I thought they said Syria was part of the Axis of Evil? Why would Syria allow Americans to interrogate any arab muslim in their country? Why for that matter would they work with america if Bush makes them out to be so against us. Wouldn't Assad allowing them to do this on their turf mean they were aiding the WOT? Something is amiss here...maybe they mean the Golan Heights since technically that is still Syria but yet its occupied by Israel. If Israel was implicated there would be big problems...I doubt very much Syria had anything to do with this, and if they did then why does this administration try to make it appear that Syria is working against us?



posted on Sep, 21 2006 @ 03:13 AM
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I admit I'm not well versed in the case but this, from the original source article, seems to me to indicate that:


The inquiry, which focused on the Canadian intelligence services, found that agents who were under pressure to find terrorists after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, falsely labeled an Ottawa computer consultant, Maher Arar, as a dangerous radical. They asked U.S. authorities to put him and his wife, a university economist, on the al-Qaeda "watchlist," without justification, the report said.


[edit on 9/21/2006 by djohnsto77]



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