Saturday, June 25, 2005

❄ THE CASE OF MAHER ARAR

On 26 September 2002 Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who had once worked for a software company in Natick, Massachusetts, arrived at JFK airport in New York, planning to change planes to Montreal. He was detained by US authorities, questioned and jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Brooklyn, and deported on 10 October 2002 to Syria. After his release from Syria, Arar stated that he had been tortured while interrogated in Syrian jails. The On 11 November 2002 The New York Times cited Reynald Doiron, a Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade official, to the effect that US authorities had yet to explain on what basis Mr. Arar was sent back to Syria and not to Canada.

On 2 June 2005 The New York Times reported further on the Arar case:


“CANADA: INQUIRY TOLD OF U.S. OFFER ON DETAINEE. A Canadian senator, Pierre De Bané testified at a federal inquiry that before United States officials deported Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, to Syria in 2002, they offered to return him to Canada on the condition that he be arrested, charged and jailed on arrival. The inquiry is investigating what role Canadian officials may have played in Mr. Arar’s deportation to Syria, where, he says, he was jailed and tortured for 10 months. Mr. De Bané, who said he was told of the American offer by an official in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said it was turned down because there were no grounds to arrest Mr. Arar. Colin Campbell (NYT).”

Bruce 7:07 PM

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❄ ADMINISTRATION ORDERED FLIMSY ORANGE ALERTS

Tom Ridge, former Secretary of Homeland Security, told a Washington forum that, according to USA Today


“The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.

“Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or ‘high’ risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.”


USA Today explains that the alert level is raised if a majority of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council favors it and President Bush concurs.

(Source: Mimi Hall, USA Today, 10 May 2005. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-10-ridge-alerts_x.htm The USA Today report was also cited by Frank Rich, The New York Times, 29 May 2005.)

Bruce 7:01 PM

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