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Arar Shocked and Depressed by Testimony Tying Him to Khadr
Torture victim Maher Arar says he was shocked when he learned earlier this month that Pentagon war crimes prosecutors had linked him to a terrorist safe house in Afghanistan through an interrogation of Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay.
Maher Arar voiced frustration over media coverage of his ordeal before a panel discussion at the University of Toronto's Victoria College. (Jan. 29, 2009) (Tony Bock/Toronto Star) "It was shocking," Arar said last night before a panel discussion about media coverage of his case was held at the University of Toronto's Victoria College. "For a week at least, I have been in deep depression mode and it's not easy, believe me it's not easy," Arar said.
An FBI interrogator told court in Guantanamo Bay last week that in 2002 Khadr said he recognized Arar in a photo because the Ottawa engineer had stayed at terrorist "safe houses" in Afghanistan.
The agent's claim was severely undermined, however, when court heard the following day that Arar was in North America during the time in question. The agent testified that Khadr saw Arar in Afghanistan during late September or October 2001. A Canadian judicial inquiry determined in 2006 that Arar was in San Diego on a business trip on the day of the 9/11 terror attacks - and back in Canada in October.
Arar yesterday vehemently denied he had ever been in Afghanistan, saying the only time he has ever seen Khadr before was on TV.
He then went on to blame journalists who blindly report unfounded allegations. "I'm not surprised because it's happened many times and probably will continue to happen as long as the media is willing to publish those (stories,)" said Arar.
Arar described his experience with the media that went from being disinterested in his story to discrediting him through anonymous government sources.
"I want reporters to consider who they serve, the powerful and the anonymous or the weak and the vulnerable," Arar later told the gathering. "Err on the side of the weak not the strong."
Arar slammed the reporting of the latest allegations linking him to Afghanistan, pouring particular scorn on sensational headline writers.
He said the latest attempts by the FBI prosecutors to link him to terrorist activities are part of an ongoing pattern of leaks meant to hurt at critical times. Arar said he couldn't be sure but it may be part an attempt to tar him at a time when his lawsuit against senior U.S. officials has been reopened by U.S. courts.
"I've had enough of this, my family has had enough of this," Arar said about the Khadr insinuation.
The panel discussion at last night's event organized by the Canadian Journalism Foundation probed the role of the media in Arar's rendition, his release and ongoing quest for accountability.
Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian origin was arrested in 2002 while switching planes in New York City.
Based on faulty RCMP information and suspected links to Al Qaeda, U.S. officials sent Arar to Syria where he spent 10 months in jail being beaten and tortured. An inquiry cleared him and ended with a $10.5 million apology from Ottawa.
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18 Comments so far
Show AllHammer the Press at every opportunity. They do respond to education, embarrassment and threats of War Crimes Tribunals.
"An FBI interrogator told court in Guantanamo Bay... that... Khadr said he recognized Arar in a photo..."
I'd like to hear Khadr state this. Not just under torture...
they are sick bastards those 'interrogators'
Sorry to hear about this Maher, If I were you I would hire the best lawyers in town and sue their a$$es off. They only care about money so hit them where it hurts the most.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days
It's bad enough that Maher suffered horribly, but now as an added insult, the US government is mentally abusing him as well. What monsters!
Torcher anybody for five years they will say anything you want them to say.
US has lost its crediability in the world maybe American believe their govt but the rest of the world thinks they are liars.
Isn't the real story here the willingness of the US authorities and the mainstream media to accept at face value - as true - the eyewitness identification of Mr. Arar that was obtained at Guantanamo from detainee Omar Khadr under God knows what interrogation circumstances?
Garbage in, garbage out. Torture invariably taints the entire process of conducting an honest search for truth.
Even though other substantial evidence squarely places Mr. Arar in a completely different hemisphere at the time he was supposedly seen in a safe house in Afghanistan, Khadr's accusation still is given credence in some quarters because it shores up the official narrative that everybody sucked up into the US global war on terror interrogation gulag just has to be guilty of something. They are all "the most dangerous..... the worst of the worst", and the facts be damned.
The same is true of the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed. This mentally unstable detainee's rambling, incoherent confessions at the Gitmo military commission proceedings speak volumes about the reliablity of KSM as a source of credible intelligence information concerning al Qaeda, a source who was relied heavily upon by 911 Commission in its fact findings concerning the inner workings of the high jackers' conspiracy to carry out the WTC attack.
Sure, sometimes people do tell the truth in response to being tortured.
But what you most assuredly will never get is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but.
It's the false confessions and the false accusations which inevitably flow from the use of torture that corrupt the whole system to its self-serving core.
Bill from Saginaw
Exactly. Another good one Bill.
And also, the process of paying for info meant that exactly the wrong kind of people (slimeballs) came out with info-for-cash that has to be the least reliable you can imagine.
On the strengh of that, people were picked up and tortured. Obviously, as we assuredly all would, they sang something to stop the pain...lots of people implicating innocent people they disliked, etc.
Those got picked up in turn and the false singing to stop the pain continued. Horrific and pathetic.
One could also point out that the legal environment at Guantanamo has been corrupted by ideology, both religious and political. When the rule of law has been discarded, as well as protections under the law, then the judges have no credibility. By repeating often anonymous or unproven pronouncements made by the military court and its representatives, the press also has no credibility. This is another area that should be investigated: how the Pentagon and the White House got to suspend constitutional protections for prisoners.
"yeah, he was the swarthy fellow with the dark hair and beard...yeah, that was him..."
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
So Maher got several million and an apology for the torture. I don't care how much money or how abject an apology, nothing, nothing could make up for what he endured. He is going to continue to suffer because of this all the rest of his life.
"Arar said he couldn't be sure but it may be part an attempt to tar him at a time when his lawsuit against senior U.S. officials has been reopened by U.S. courts."
Gee, ya think?
Such an ugly game is being played by the sadists who run the American government.
Maybe our financial crisis is God's way of saying "you've gone too far!" Heckuva Job.
Stop the pain. Yes, yes, that's the guy. Yes, in Afghanistan. Or Cuba. I don't know. Yes, yes, yes. Stop the pain. It was him. Stop the pain.
arar got the shaft from the wannabe ciaers at the nickle and dime shop that is csis
kadr is in prison for allegedly engaging in a fire fight with american soldiers while defending his country
he was 15 years of age at the time
the war on terror is a farce and it really shows the sickness that is american justice
good thing for both of them that they aren't black
they would have been lynched years ago if they were
cheers, b
Sami Al-Arian must be really depressed.
He didnt get $10 million and he is still in jail.
"Give me liberty or at least two shoes to hurl"
Webber, Dr. Al Arian is a remarkable man that I've had the privilege of communicating with when he was in Norfolk VA & Richmond VA jails. They kept moving him around to make it difficult for his family to visit.
He was steadfast in his faith, he said if good things happen they are a test from Allah, to see if you were generous & virtuous, if bad things happen that is also a test, to see if you remained strong in your faith and accepted the will of God.
He actually comforted me! When I told him that he was so pleased, I'm sure he was a great teacher.
I have to check on his status after reading your post. I was under the impression that he was under house arrest, living with his family.
As to Mr. Arar, it is disgusting that US is incapable of letting go. He deserves every cent that the Canadians gave him, more because there is no price on freedom and security from torture.
This is a time honored tactic used by republicans in general, and by the Bush administration in particular. Discredit the reputation and lives of all those who bare witness against them.
"Give me liberty or at least two shoes to hurl"
The US gov knows exactly what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. With all their sophisticated surveillance and eavesdropping they would have connected the dots if they wanted to.
They either did not want to because they needed a Pearl Harbor, or worse yet, they hired & conspired with the whole plan.
When they came out the next day with photos of the hijackers & started the war chant of Osama BinLaden, the gig was up. They knew so much & prevented nothing.
Who benefitted? Why did building 7 pancake? Why did the BBC report on building 7 pancaking while it was still standing? Why did they spirit away all the evidence at the crime scene immediately? Who were the dancing, celebrating Israelis? Why were the Bin Laden family hustled out of the US when even US officials were not permitted to fly?
And those questions are just the tip of the iceberg.
Some sick kelb ibn kelbs wanted war, wanted torture, wanted a police state.
WHO BENEFITTED?