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The Tortured Logic Continues
"Extraordinary rendition" is White House-speak for kidnapping. Just ask Maher Arar. He's a Canadian citizen who was "rendered" by the U.S. to Syria, where he was tortured for almost a year.
Just this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York City, dismissed Arar's case against the government officials (including FBI Director Robert Mueller, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former Attorney General John Ashcroft) who allegedly conspired to have him kidnapped and tortured. Arar is safe now, recovering in Canada with his family. But the decision sends a signal to the Obama administration that there will be no judicial intervention to halt the cruel excesses of the Bush-era "Global War on Terror," including extraordinary rendition, torture and the use of the "state secrets privilege" to hide these crimes.
Arar's life-altering odyssey is one of the best known and best investigated of those victimized by U.S. extraordinary rendition. After vacationing with his family in Tunisia, Arar attempted to fly home to Canada. On Sept. 26, 2002, while changing planes at JFK Airport, Arar was pulled aside for questioning. He was fingerprinted and searched by the FBI and the New York Police Department. He asked for a lawyer and was told he had no rights. He was then taken to another location and subjected to two days of aggressive interrogations, with no access to phone, food or a lawyer. He was asked about his membership with various terrorist groups, about Osama bin Laden, Iraq, Palestine and more. Shackled, he was then moved to a maximum-security federal detention center in Brooklyn, strip-searched and threatened with deportation to Syria.
Arar was born in Syria and told his captors that if he returned there, he would be tortured. As Arar's lawyers would later argue, however, that is exactly what they hoped would happen. Arar was eventually allowed a call-he got through to his mother-in-law, who got him a lawyer-and a visit from a Canadian Consulate official. For nearly two weeks, the U.S. authorities held the Syria threat over his head. Still, he denied any involvement with terrorism. So in the middle of the night, over a weekend, without normal immigration proceedings-without telling his lawyer or the Canadian Consulate-he was dragged in chains to a private jet contracted by the CIA and flown to Jordan, where he was then handed over to the Syrians.
For 10 months and 10 days, Maher was held in a dark, damp, cold cell, measuring 6 feet by 3 feet by 7 feet high, the size of a grave. He was beaten repeatedly with a thick electrical cable all over his body, punched, made to listen to the torture of others, denied food and threatened with electrical shock and an array of more horrors. To stop the torture, he falsely confessed to attending terrorist training in Afghanistan. Then, after nearly a year, he was abruptly released to Canada, 40 pounds lighter and emotionally destroyed.
The Canadian government, under conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, investigated, found its own culpability in relaying unreliable information to the FBI and settled with Arar, giving him an apology and $10 million. The U.S. government has offered no apology and has kept Arar on a terrorist watch list. He is not allowed to enter the U.S. Two years ago, he had to testify before Congress via video conference.
He said: "These past few years have been a nightmare for me. Since my return to Canada, my physical pain has slowly healed, but the cognitive and psychological scars from my ordeal remain with me on a daily basis. I still have nightmares and recurring flashbacks. I am not the same person that I was. I also hope to convey how fragile our human rights have become and how easily they can be taken from us by the same governments that have sworn to protect them."
Given the excesses of the Bush administration and Barack Obama's promise of change, it has surprised many that these policies are continuing, and that Congress and the courts have not closed this chapter of U.S. history. President Obama has never once condemned extraordinary rendition. Arar's lawyer, Maria LaHood of the Center for Constitutional Rights, calls the court decision against Arar "an outrage." In his dissent, Judge Guido Calabresi wrote, "I believe that when the history of this distinguished court is written, today's majority decision will be viewed with dismay." Given the torture that Arar suffered, his response was remarkably measured: "If anything, this decision is a loss to all Americans and to the rule of law."
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
36 Comments so far
Show AllIt is not safe in the USA anymore. Any angry offhand comment can get one kidnapped and sent overseas to be tortured. What the hell kind of God damned country has this become?
A Fascist dictatorship with really good PR.
One that needs to be rendered, perhaps?
"It is not safe in the USA anymore."
BS; the policy of the US is that the President has the right to kidnap anyone, anywhere on Earth and send them anywhere in perpetuity.
Mr. Yoo and the DOJ seem to agree that kidnapping is a-ok. It appears that the NYS AG and the DA with jurisdiction over JFK agree with DOJ, kidnapping by federal agents is not kidnapping, no foul no blame.
Judges in Italy have been risking their lives to enforce laws against the mob, and one was bold enough to charge and convict CIA people of kidnapping in Italy.
We could think that means there is rule of law somewhere, a nice thought.
This is a very refreshing and encouraging development from my perspective.
The world will finally be given the opportunity to acquire the information needed to finally decide whether the USA is worthy of existing in its current manifestation; alter it to suit the needs of the world, or disband it altogether and allow the lessons of history to be delivered to the historians for recording.
The Native American people knew of the criminal nature of the USA from the beginning, and have altered our approach with each new manifestation. We are and have been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of offenses; but it now appears that we may in the future be allowed some assistance from the world; who has grown very tired of the USA, and for just cause.
In my opinion, the only thing that will save the USA is a very simple change.
Hey America, listen up!
Turn completely around. Start immediately to do EVERYTHING exactly the opposite way that you have done it in the past.
Tell the truth, do what you say you will do, stop meddling in the affairs of other nations, make amends for your many crimes; and get down on our collective knees and ask the world to forgive you and hope that they will.
If this is not suitable (and I am sure that it is not)---then --------------------
Put your collective heads down between your collective knees and kiss your collective ass good bye: the world has reached the absolute level of tolerance for the USA and the 'curtain is about to fall on the final act'.
For this Native Son, your prisoner of war from birth; it is long over due, and you will get all that you have worked very hard for. And your children's children's children will be ashamed that you were their ancestors; the few of them that survive that is.
"If the USA were another nation the USA would invade the USA to keep it safe; and they would be justified."
I'm afraid you have an overly optimistic view of the rest of the world. Many European countries colluded in the U.S. torture program, and many continue to help cover it up. The governments of most countries are happy to go on being sycophants to the U.S. regime.
There are a few rays of sunshine, though, such as Italy's conviction of 23 former C.I.A. agents for the abduction of Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from Milan in 2003, but these actions don't seem to amount to much.
"The world will finally be given the opportunity to acquire the information needed to finally decide whether the USA is worthy of existing in its current manifestation; "–(Native Son)
–This gets to the heart of the matter with all the brutality the matter deserves.
Large segments of the world have already decided, or to more accurate, know already what America is intuitively and don't require more 'information.' As always Americans will be the last to know, and even then would be incapable of admitting it, much less acting to rectify it.
There lies the intractable malignancy of a metastasis or a collective psychopathy. –(Jill Bains)
"...Barack Obama's promise of change, it has surprised many that these policies are continuing."
Maybe Barak should be rendered to Kenya until he changes his mind.
"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
I wrote to Pres. Obama last week after receiving a fund-raising letter from him (via the DNC) saying that he wished he could sit down at my kitchen table and discuss the issues with me.
I wrote back to him that when he ends rendition, closes Diego Garcia, Bagram and Guantanamo, and renounces the policy of holding people indefinitely without trial because there's no evidence against them that would hold up in US courts I would send him some money. Otherwise I will vote Green in 2010 and all future local and national elections and do my best to get rid of both Democrats and Republicans.
I haven't had any reply yet.
If you're gonna write a Republican or Democrat a letter, be sure it has a million dollar check attached to it. Don't wait to vote Green next year or they probably won't read it even if it gets to them. I say give it a go already. We've been too nice to both parties for far too long and he already made it clear that he has no plans on closing those prisons or ending rendition.
Welcome to the resistance movement: Green 2010 and 2012.
Meanwhile, the rich war criminals continue to give motivation speeches to fill their coffers with tainted money, and on Faux News the torturer in chief says he is proud of being a torturer. There is NO MORE RULE OF LAW! We are at the 'mercy' (they have no mercy) of the rich criminal class. When will the SHEEP wake up??? Just before they get sheared one last time, and sent to the slaughterhouse? IDIOCRACY IS HERE. IDIOCRACY IS NOW!
The justice system is working. Everybody is terrified of it.
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." -V
What would Ralph Nader do in this situation?
Would he continue rendition, war in middle east, corporate bailouts?
No. That's why he's unelectable.
Congress should pass a private bill awarding Arar $20 million and pass a resolution of apology both to him, and to the government of Canada.
Then Congress should legislate a ban upon extraordinary rendition. And dare Obama to veto it.
Bill from Saginaw
Jeevee
RIGHT!!!
"Congress should pass a private bill awarding Arar $20 million and pass a resolution of apology...Then Congress should legislate a ban upon extraordinary rendition. And dare Obama to veto it."–(Bill from Saginaw)
This would indeed be the conscionable thing to do and is precisely why Congress will do nothing of the sort.That America does not exist, nor can it.
Any such gesture of sympathy would be viewed as an imprecation against the shameless fascism which has consumed and become identified with the entire nation. Prideful and unrepentant barbarism brooks no arguments or insults against it.
To do so would be a contravention of what America is at heart. The American Congress does not respond to such imploring appeals for moral rectitude; nor does it have the slightest motivation to appear graceful in apology; to continue to believe that it is capable of such gestures–even symbolic ones– is the very apotheosis of naïveté and delusional thinking.
Even the slightest indulgence of hope here indicates a failure to understand America for what it is. The Arar ruling has irredeemably concluded that in substance, beyond the point of disputation.
As Glenn Greenwald as all but unequivocally stated– the Arar ruling can be seen as a defining moment of revelation– or a glimpse into what is irrevocable about America; it is a 'totalizing' summation that goes beyond the malfeasance of the political classes; it implicates the entire country and its peoples as well. It is a false distinction to attempt to sever culpability. As a 'meta' moment it is all inclusive and systemic. It is the quintessential ethos of American 'civilization.'
And beyond that, if truth be told, Obama would take great pride in vetoing such legislation.
Can anyone in their right mind argue convincingly against the eventuality of that in a state that has all but crossed over into a prideful fascism?
–(Jill Bains)
Dr, Bains,
Absolutely. The constant exposure to the actual barbaric thinking process in the USA is key in tearing off that mother, god and country bullshit that the PR media push as patriotism.
Thanks again.
P.S. Do you think the H1N1 vaccination program is above board? I am NOT going to get that shot.
AGG,
On this one Van Mungo is right. I have to separate my medical work from my blogging and am reluctant to offer advisory information to patients not under my care.
Generally though, if you do not have a clinical history of influenza, that should influence you; similarly the opposite is true as well. How's that for being evasive if not dissembling! See you around the neighborhood time permitting!
–(Jill)
I see your point and I understand.
As for van mungo, Van gogh probably had some great thoughts while he was painting his fellow inmates in the looney bin, but he was, as is van mungo, mentally ill. This is not a joke. I am not a psychiatrist but have I have some experience with danger signs of mental disease among friends. Van mungo may be brilliant but he is still mentally ill.
AGG,
I would tend to agree with you regarding our mutual 'friend.' Reading 'between the lines' and more by intuition–I see and sense the same vague and disturbing warning signs that you do. He is most certainly, at the very least, someone who imparts an unhinged and queasy sense of cringing unease. This seems to me beyond what is permissible or normal. It is a gratuitous exercise in malice and power for its own sake with no real reason behind it. And that is what makes it spooky. I regret having collaborated in his 'blood sport' and feel diminished by my participation in what in retrospect was ugly and malicious.
It is best to disengage from him completely and let him spin off on his own axis isolated in a corner with his obsessions. Even when one finds oneself in agreement with his insights, it is best to stay away lest he contrives to show up at one's door. Having said that I feel he is on 'the right side' politically where I cannot say the same of posters such as R.L. Love who attempt to justify torture, despite their claims they are doing anything but. One can have no patience with those types, who are more disturbing yet.
–(Jill Bains)
"... it implicates the entire country and its peoples as well. It is a false distinction to attempt to sever culpability."
Why do you think so? Many people in the U.S. were and still are horrified at our government's torture program. Are we all equally guilty because we didn't stop it?
I don't think Arar wants or needs any money, he merely wants an apology and a court finding of government malfeasance.
I think a private bill would disgust him, as it is the same attitude as paying off relatives of dead Iraqis.
The government of Canada was complicit in this.
To paraphrase Keith Olbermann one more time, "There is little difference in the two parties....there's just one party, the Money Party, and its symbol is the vulture!" If the man's name was Smith or Jones instead of Arar would we feel any different?
Torture: reason for "Court" reform!
"Given the excesses of the Bush administration and Barack Obama's promise of change, it has surprised many that these policies are continuing, and that Congress and the courts have not closed this chapter of U.S. history."
Uhhh... Seriously? Show me someone who believed Obama's hype and I'll show you someone who should've paid more attention in history/social studies class...
Obama's actions are so predictable they could be scripted... and probably are!
What we're really seeing is authoritarian deliberation (http://sophrosyne.radical.r30.net/wordpress/?p=2132). Until we stop empowering the system with our naivete and participation, nothing is going to change!
You are cruel, and un-American.
American values are those of decency and abiding by the law.
Based upon what you write, you are neither.
Shame on you. You are scum.
And, maybe you will be next. That might be REALLY tiresome.
Bring America Back !!!!.......!!..Thanks for this horror story right on track with the halloween season!
***But, just as Amy Goodman misses the point on Building #7,
World Trade Center, on 9/11/01, she fails to convey the point on Torture !!
***In the middle of her article, Amy does deliver the crucial
fact from this Victim that He:...falsely confessed under the onslaught of tortures, that He attended terrorist training camps in Afghan.
***Ergo, the main purpose of the Torture program was achieved; that is finding Patsies==Fall Guys==who would confess to 9/11 and related crimes to Cover-Up the real
truth of the monumental attacks of that Day of Infamy.
***The military-industrial/intelligence complex also achieved the same in the Kangaroo Courts of Gitmo !! You have several Waterboarded Muslims willingly taking claim and fame to "masterminding" 9/11, and begging for martyrdom to gain their Islamic reward in heaven, and their 40 Virgins !
***The Neocons and their enablers knew the boogieman fantasy of bin Laden would not hold water for long==so they desperately needed to create Patsies==those good old Terrorists who 'hate us for our freedoms' !!!!
***The inhumane horror of the Torture and Rendition enables the mainstream media to concentrate on those myriad of details without touching or reporting on the underlying cause for which the programs were instituted.
***Patsies--the US Intelligence community is great at coming up with Patsies==just as John McCain admits to cracking under pressure in North Vietnam, our People sure know how to create fall-guys.
Just as Mainstream Media allows the fairytale of 'Fire' to be the Party Line of the cause of the collapse of the Twin Towers of the NYC?WTC=====it enables them to deflect from the truth of the planned, intentional Demolition of those steel reinforced skyscrapers !! The Jumbo Jets were the
Patsies, once again !!
You are right on the money TruthKnoller,,,,
The 9/11 lies are slowly being discovered by Americans, the rest of the world already know the truth,
We are the stupidist people on the planet, and the most Gullible. But , what can you expect from a country thats glued to the TV set watching, Springer, Povich, Survivor, Lost, etc,etc,etc.
The guilt that most Americans felt after 9/11 has been poured into fear mongering and building a network of spys. Money,money, money for the security industry.
And all these fake super hero spy wanna be's are helping this runaway government crush our constitutional rights.
FREEDOM IS FREE, FREE TO GIVE UP IF YOUR STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THAT SPYING ON YOUR FELLOW AMERICANS WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE AND A SIGNED COURT ORDER IS AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE PROTECTION OF AMERICA.
Even a single, little, teensy bit of torture on one human being condoned by the United States government is wholly reprehensible and to be repudiated at every level of our society, from the hills of Tennessee to Capitol Hill.
One teensy thing in this article bothers me, a preposition: "a signal TO the Obama administration that there will be no judicial intervention to halt the cruel excesses of the Bush-era "Global War on Terror."
Isn't this decision really a signal FROM the Obama administration? I think that long secret tête à tête between the incoming President Obama and the outgoing Mr. Bush was a deal-making, promise-making session in which Mr. Obama sold his soul. I think he promised Mr. Bush immunity from special prosecutors and any karmic responsibility for crimes committed.
In any event, Amy Goodman is to be trusted and I thank her for this article and the compassion it extends to a very unfortunate young man who has been the victim of extreme injustice. I certainly don't like its being done in my name. We citizens all share the blame.
President Obama has a small window of opportunity to demonstrate that he is different in any meaningful way from the previous administration.
I hope he will do that.