...my head…is...EXPLODING!
Brace yourselves for this one. This is the kind of news that makes me want to wrap myself in a blanket and start rocking back and forth, muttering. I was looking at the Village Voice this morning and saw an update on the saga of Maher Arar’s arrest. You might remember him as the Canadian software engineer who was kidnapped by the CIA in 2002 and taken to Syria to be tortured for ten months on the basis of a bad tip from the Canadian Mounted Police about his supposed support for Al Qaeda. Well, on January 26th the Canadian prime minister finally issued a formal letter apology to Arar and his family, along with $10.5 million as compensation and reimbursement for his legal expenses, and his removal from all Canadian terror watch lists.
And what has the United States done in response to this? Nothing, of course.
Nobody in our government has resigned over this travesty, no apology—formal or otherwise—has been issued, no public acknowledgement of wrongdoing has been made, and the American courts have dismissed Arar’s suit against the U.S. on the basis of “state secrets.” Even worse, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff have decreed that Arar and his family (including his two children) will remain on American terror watch lists, despite a 1,200-page report from an official Canadian commission clearing Arar of any and all connection to terrorism. What this means is that no one in the Arar family can fly into or even over the United States. In a recent press conference, Gonzales actually had the gall to say, “We were not responsible for Mr. Arar's removal to Syria. I'm not aware that he was tortured, and I haven't read the (Canadian) commission report.” What the hell does he mean, “I’m not aware that he was tortured”?
I think Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy’s words while questioning Gonzales about the Arar case on January 18th just about sums the insanity up: “We knew damn well if Maher Arar went to Syria, he'd be tortured.”
As a public, we need to maintain a sense of outrage. Sadly, I think we've all come to a place where stories of arrest, detainment, and torture on behalf of America's national security just aren't surprising anymore. (I know I have.) We can't allow these stories of injustice to become so commonplace that they are simply part and parcel of a bleak political landscape. I’m not sure there’s anything our current administration can do towards restoring our faith that not everyone in leadership has tipped over into psychosis, but at least we can acknowledge this for the cruel abuse of power that it is.
Anna,
Maher Arar case is only publized because he and his wife's courage to speak out. We and so much more others are fortunate for his courage, his faith. As he has said many a times before one of the reason he stands there so tall is so that no one else will be treated as he was treated.
And it will not nessecarly be the media which will provide us with some saving grace. One simple must review the news stories over the past four years to see this. In fact, in the United States, more has been written about Maher Arar in independent blogs, like this one, then in any mainstream media publications. And it will not be the media which will move public officials but will be YOUR VOICE.
Not only should YOUR VOICE move public officials but it should move more importantly the public; those around you, those in your community, and those in communities around the world. To see this reread the quote from AG Gonzales above. He states that he has not read the Canadian report. Do you know that Senator Leahy who has spoken about the Arar case, not only recently in his verbal lashing of AG Gonzales but in Congressional hearings over the past few years, has not read that report either? So will some strange misterious force called the "media" move mountains? No it will be you, padma, me, Maher , many other speaking with a soft gentle voice. Yes, you will be sopported by the media but it is gaina YOUR VOICE that is powerful.
Arar is fortunate in one way: His case has been publicized. I shudder when I think of all the others whose names will never be known to us, who will never get apologies, who will never see a dime. Hopefully, the media will continue to expose these cases and embarrass public officials into providing some measure of relief to all the Arars.
the good news is that some european courts (like italy) have indicted CIA agents involved in rendition.
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