September 27, 2006
Lies, secrets, and torture, Part 153
Back on the torture front, it now emerges that Canadian officials told the FBI that Maher Arar had no link to terrorism before the FBI arranged for the INS to send him off to the Syrian torture chambers. Indeed, it seems that Arar was deported precisely because the FBI doubted it had enough evidence to charge him with any crime. (But don't worry: the Syrians promised they wouldn't torture him, and an al-Assad's word is his bond.)
Recall that Arar's suit for damages was blocked under the "state secrets" doctrine.
Pray tell, what secret is being protected here? Surely the incompetence of the Bush Administration's "war on terror" is as about as notorious as any fact could possibly be.
It's the old story: the guy who says that the dictator is a fool gets three years in prison for insulting the dictator, and twenty more for revealing a state secret.
Thanks for reminding me of the joke (20 years for revealing a state secret)!, which I first heard 35 years ago from friends who had fled East Germany. I'm pinching myself. I never imagined that their nightmare would be looming as our future.
Posted by: Michael Connolly at September 27, 2006 05:37 AMIt is generous of you to assume that it was incompetence that caused them to send Ayar to be tortured. I would have guessed that they didn't care that he was innocent. He was of Arab descent, after all, and a foreigner to boot. Besides, they might have figured that he'd get health care in Canada if he survived.
Posted by: Henry at September 27, 2006 04:30 PMI'm 95% sure the state secret being protected is that we sent Arar to be tortured in Syria based on false confessions that two other Canadian citizens made under torture in Syria.
The evidence is circumstantial, but strong.
Posted by: Katherine at September 27, 2006 11:42 PMno html, huh?
Here's the URL of the post I attempted to link above:
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2006/09/false_confessio_1.html
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