[Vision2020] Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured
Dick Sherwin
rvrcowboy at clearwire.net
Thu Sep 21 07:55:57 PDT 2006
Joe,
I don't believe anyone is saying mistakes were not made. It is just that
some of you make it sound like no one gives a damn and that it may have even
been intentional.
It appears to be a case of erring on the side of the safety of the American
public and who can fault that after 9/11? Also, I am sure no one in
authority sent this man off to Syria to be tortured. Where are those who
find fault with Syria for torturing this "innocent man"? It is as if you
all just expect anyone, sent off to Syria, to be tortured but say nothing of
that travesty.
Admittedly, mistakes were made here in our country. I do not, for a
minute, believe they were intentional or deliberate. No one is having a
problem admitting that. The problem lies in the way some are trying to make
it appear as though it wasn't a mistake at all, but deliberate.
Also, the way some here gloat over every mistake made by anyone connected to
authority in the U.S., while ignoring the deliberate malfiesence of those
from other countries.
The mistake was made, it needs to be rectified, at least to the degree
possible, and we need to get on with life. We do not need to have it thrown
up in our face time after time. Remember, the only people who never make a
mistake are those who do nothing or just sit on the sidelines and judge
those who are trying to accomplish the task at hand. Unlike some here, who
believe they are in some elite catagory above the rest of us, everyone else
is not perfect.
Dick S
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Campbell" <joekc at adelphia.net>
To: "Donovan Arnold" <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
Cc: "Vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>; "Dick Sherwin"
<rvrcowboy at clearwire.net>; "Ted Moffett" <starbliss at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 3:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured
> Get a grip guys. The man was innocent, sent to Syria, and subsequently
tortured. If you cannot admit that the US made several mistakes in this
instance, what would it take to do so?
>
> --
> Joe Campbell
>
> ---- Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> =============
> I think we have to think about this for a moment. Obviously, nobody is
justifying torture.
>
> However, I don't think the United States just randomly picked on a guy.
This guy flew into NY City on Sept. 26, 2002. That was just after the
anniversary of September 11, 2001. The guy fit the profile of the those
that flew the airplanes, and they received a phone call from the country he
just came from saying to stop him because he was a terrorist and was
communicating with Bin Laudin and had a plane ticket to visit a middle
eastern country linked to terrorists. He also was not a native born
Westerner but Middle Easterner.
>
> The guy happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time matching the
description of someone the authorities were looking for. He had a really
bad stroke of luck.
>
> If you happened to be going for a midnight walk to get some fresh air
and a man matching your description, height, weight, hair and eye color,
and wearing the same thing as you, just raped a woman ten blocks away , and
a witness fingered you as "That's the guy!" to a police officer, could you
blame the officers for taking you in?
>
> What happened after that was upsetting. But let us be realistic about
this and how the world works.
>
> Best,
>
> _DJA
>
>
> Dick Sherwin <rvrcowboy at clearwire.net> wrote: As I
understand this story, the U.S. depended on Canadian officials as to the
status of this "Innocent Man" and he was deported to Syria based on
information from Canada. Is this true, or am I wrong?
>
> At any rate, mistakes do happen and perhaps the U.S. officials should
have checked out the validity of the claims by the Canadian Immigration
people more closely. I am sure that Ted and Joe would have made sure,
beyond the word of officials of this guy's own government, that he should
not have been deported to Syria.
>
> Point being, we have all heard the story now boys. You can stop trying
to make it appear the United States purposefully exiled an innocent man to
a country where our government knew he would be beaten and mistreated. I
know it is difficult for you both to just let such an opportunity drop but,
believe me, it is no longer current news. Get over it.
>
> Dick S
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ted Moffett
> To: Joe Campbell
> Cc: Vision 2020
> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 10:25 AM
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured
>
>
> Joe et. al.
>
> Of course not.
>
> What do you call those who seize an innocent man, kidnap him to a
foreign nation against his will beyond help, deny him access to review of
his imprisonment by any court or judge or any resemblance to the
fundamental legal protections of habeas corpus, beat him, interrogate him,
and take a year of his life away?
>
> Defenders of freedom!
>
> http://www.lectlaw.com/def/h001.htm
> In Brown v. Vasquez, 952 F.2d 1164, 1166 (9th Cir. 1991), cert.
denied, 112 S.Ct. 1778 (1992), the court observed that the Supreme Court
has "recognized the fact that`[t]he writ of habeas corpus is the
fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against
arbitrary and lawless state action.' Harris v. Nelson, 394 U.S. 286, 290-91
(1969). " Therefore, the writ must be "administered with the initiative and
flexibility essential to insure that miscarriages of justice within its
reach are surfaced and corrected." Harris, 394 U.S. at 291.
>
> Ted Moffett
>
>
> On 9/19/06, Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> wrote: Careful,
Ted! You don't want anyone to think that you're supporting terrorists with
this post, do you?
>
> Best, Joe
>
> ---- Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> =============
>
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/innocent-man-sent-to-syria-and-tortured/20060918232609990016?ncid=NWS00010000000001
>
> Innocent Man Sent to Syria and Tortured, Probe Finds
> Canadian Report Faults Mounties, U.S. for Deportation
> By ROB GILLIES, AP
>
>
> TORONTO (Sept. 19) - The United States "very likely" sent a Canadian
> software engineer to Syria, where he was tortured, based on the
false
> accusation by Canadian authorities that he was suspected of links to
> al-Qaida, according to a new government report.
>
> Syrian-born Maher Arar was exonerated of all suspicion of terrorist
activity
> by the 2 1/2-year commission of inquiry into his case, which urged
the
> Canadian government to offer him financial compensation. Arar is
perhaps the
> world's best-known case of extraordinary rendition -- the U.S.
transfer of
> foreign terror suspects to third countries without court approval.
>
> "I am able to say categorically that there is no evidence to
indicate that
> Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constitute
a
> threat to the security of Canada," Justice Dennis O'Connor said
Monday in a
> three-volume report on the findings of the inquiry, part of which
was made
> public.
>
> Arar was traveling on a Canadian passport when he was detained at
New York's
> Kennedy Airport on Sept. 26, 2002, on his way home from vacation in
Tunisia.
>
> Arar said U.S. authorities sent him to Syria for interrogation as a
> suspected member of al-Qaida, a link he denied.
>
> He spent nearly a year in prison in Syria and made detailed
allegations
> after his release in 2003 about extensive interrogation, beatings
and
> whippings with electrical cables.
>
> O'Connor criticized the U.S. and recommended that Ottawa file formal
> protests with both Washington and the Syrian government over Arar's
> treatment.
>
> "The American authorities who handled Mr. Arar's case treated Mr.
Arar in a
> most regrettable fashion," O'Connor wrote. "They removed him to
Syria
> against his wishes and in the face of his statements that he would
be
> tortured if sent there. Moreover, they dealt with Canadian officials
> involved with Mr. Arar's case in a less than forthcoming manner."
>
> The U.S. is already under intense criticism from human rights groups
over
> the practice of sending suspects to countries where they could be
tortured.
>
> U.S. and Syrian officials refused to cooperate with the Canadian
inquiry.
>
> The commission found the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shared
information
> about Arar with American anti-terrorist agencies both before and
after he
> was detained.
>
> The RCMP asked the U.S. to put Arar on a watch list as an "Islamic
extremist
> individual" suspected of links to the al-Qaida terrorist movement,
the
> report said.
>
> The request was issued after Arar met with another man who was under
> surveillance, a meeting Arar has said was about how to find
inexpensive
> computer equipment.
>
> "The RCMP had no basis for this description, which had the potential
to
> create serious consequences for Mr. Arar in light of American
attitudes and
> practices," the report said.
>
> The RCMP described Arar as the "target" of a domestic anti-terrorist
> investigation in Canada when in fact he was a peripheral figure who
had come
> under suspicion only because he had been seen in the company of the
man who
> was under surveillance, the report found.
>
> O'Connor said that much of the material shared with U.S. authorities
had not
> been double-checked to ensure its accuracy and reliability -- a
violation of
> the RCMP's usual rules for divulging information to foreign
agencies.
>
> O'Connor concluded that the inaccurate information passed by
Canadian police
> to U.S. authorities "very likely" led to their decision to send Arar
to
> Syria.
>
> "It's quite clear that the RCMP sent inaccurate information to U.S.
> officials," Arar said at a news conference in Ottawa. "I would have
not have
> even been sent to Syria had this information not been given to
them."
>
> "I have waited a long time to have my name cleared. I was tortured
and lost
> a year of my life. I will never be the same," Arar said. "The United
States
> must take responsibility for what it did to me and must stop
destroying more
> innocent lives with its unlawful actions."
>
> The commission concluded there was no evidence Canadian
officials
> participated in or agreed to the decision to send Arar to Syria. But
> O'Connor recommended that in the future, information should never be
> provided to a foreign country where there is a credible risk that it
will
> cause or contribute to the use of torture.
>
> Most of the judge's 23 policy recommendations centered on the RCMP
and
> emphasized the need to improve the force's internal policies for
national
> security investigations and the sharing of information with other
countries.
>
> Arar's case has been regularly featured on the front pages of
Canadian
> newspapers and public outcry led to the government calling an
inquiry.
> Canada's federal government established the inquiry in 2004 to
determine the
> role Canadian officials played.
>
> O'Connor also found "troubling questions" about the role played by
Canadian
> officials in the cases of three other Canadians of Arab descent --
Ahmad El
> Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin. All claim they were
tortured
> in Syria after traveling there on personal business, and all suspect
that
> the RCMP, Canadian intelligence or both collaborated with their
captors.
>
> O'Connor said he could not get to the bottom of those cases because
of the
> limited nature of his mandate. But he urged the government to
appoint an
> independent investigator -- something short of a full-fledged public
inquiry
> -- to look into those cases.
>
> O'Connor sifted through thousands of pages of documents and sat
through
> testimony from more than 40 witnesses. He delivered two versions of
his
> report to the government: one classified, the other public. But
portions of
> even the public edition of the long-awaited document were withheld
due to
> security concerns.
>
> 9/19/2006 06:23:35
>
> -----------
>
> Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
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