I Cogitate
| Recent Posts | My Best Blogs | Archives | Favorite Quotes | Links | Contact |
When will George Bush apologize?
I could ALMOST accept it if George Bush would issue a private apology to Maher Arar--almost but not quite. But, public or private, none will be forthcoming. We all know that.
Arar is detritus, collateral damage not to be thought about for even a nano-second by anyone in the Bush Administration. Now this may a a stretch but shouldn't Bush be reminded that his personal saviour and favorite political philosopher was also tortured and, as George would surely say, unjustifiably so. But Jesus was good and the Romans bad, just as George views his messianic self as good and everyone not bowing to his prophecies as bad. Black and white. Forget any gray or the possibility of gray existing.
Not that the torture that Arar endured should ever be 'practiced' on anyone but imagine, if in a different universe, one of the Bush or Cheney's daughters had been subjected to this treatment. I'm sure George and Dick would quietly say it's all for the 'greatest of causes' and leave it at that. Absolutely.
If you don't 'count' in this world, an unofficial designation given to 99.9% of the population, you don't matter.
Arar was simply an unwilling sacrifice in the depraved battle against terrorism. But sadly, much, much more happened to him than being asked to 'hit the mall' and 'go shopping' to support the war effort.
Whether he did so by choice or was forced to walk the plank, the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police resigned over his mis-handling of the case--I'm glad to see Robert Mueller, George Tenet (he the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom) and the leading figures of the Bush Administration doing the moral thing and following suit.
Yeah, right.
We can always count on them to restore 'integrity' to the White House.
January 26, 2007Go here for the rest.
PM announces compensation package for Arar
OTTAWA (CP) - Four years after he was tortured in a Syrian prison, Maher Arar has finally received an official apology - and $10.5 million in compensation - from the Canadian government for its role in the affair.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the money Friday, saying Arar, his wife and children deserve to be compensated. "On behalf of the government of Canada, I wish to apologize to you . . . and your family for any role Canadian officials may have played in the terrible ordeal that all of you experienced in 2002 and 2003," Harper said.
"I sincerely hope that these words and actions will assist you and your family in your efforts to begin a new and hopeful chapter in your lives."
Harper also called on United States to remove Arar from its security watch list, which prevents him from travelling to the U.S.
In addition to the $10.5 million, the government is paying Arar's legal fees, reported to be $2 million.
"I know to some Canadians that will sound like an awful lot of money," Harper said.
"But I can tell you that the reality is, given the findings of the O'Connor commission and the unjust treatment that Mr. Arar received, that figure is within this government's realistics assessemnt of what Mr. Arar would have won in a lawsuit and that is the basis on which we concluded this settlement."
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who worked in Ottawa as a computer specialist, was detained by U.S. authorities in New York in 2002 and deported to Syria on the basis of unsubstantiated RCMP suspicions.
An independent fact-finder concluded Arar was tortured by Syrian officials before being released from a Damascus prison in late 2003. While behind bars, he was forced to make false confessions about involvement with the al-Qaida terrorist network.
top
RSS feed
| Recent Posts | My Best Blogs | Archives | Favorite Quotes | Links | Contact |