The Arar Mystery ( Doh! Canada )

The question that haunts the federal inquiry into Maher Arar's torture nightmare in Syria is whether Canada was behind it all. Did Canadian officials make it known to the United States that everyone would be better off if Mr. Arar, a citizen of Canada, were dispatched to his Syrian birthplace rather than sent back home to Ottawa?

Paul Cellucci, then the U.S. ambassador to Canada, was unequivocal in a letter he wrote to this newspaper, published last Canada Day, correcting what he said was an error in an editorial. "I have never said or implied that 'Canadian security officials gave the U.S. permission, tacit or explicit, to deal' with the case of Maher Arar." He went on to say the decision to deport Mr. Arar from New York was made "exclusively" by the United States.

But how to square that with testimony this week at the inquiry? Bill Graham, who was Canada's foreign minister when Mr. Arar was deported in October, 2002, said he was told by both Mr. Cellucci and Colin Powell, at the time the U.S. secretary of state, that Canada had given U.S. officials the green light to deport Mr. Arar to Syria.

"The real frustration I had with secretary Powell and the ambassador was that they consistently asserted that somebody in Canada had given them the go-ahead, if you like, to deport Mr. Arar," Mr. Graham told Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor, who heads the inquiry. "I was concerned about the level of briefing I was getting, and of course, when Mr. Powell looks you in the eye and says, 'Bill, you don't know what's going on and I do because I've talked to the people who know,' it always makes it difficult."

Mr. Graham has since concluded that Canada was not to blame for Mr. Arar's deportation, and as Mr. Cellucci's letter shows, the U.S. takes the same position, at least publicly. But unless the U.S. government agrees to look Canadians in the eye, as Colin Powell did with Mr. Graham, and explain who wanted Mr. Arar sent to his Syrian hellhole and why, the question of this country's complicity in torture may linger.

>Maybe Freepers could give the Globe and Mail some clue

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"Maher Arar is a 34-year-old wireless technology consultant. Arar was born in Syria and at the age of 17, came to Canada with his family. He became a Canadian citizen in 1991 and in 1997 moved to Ottawa.

"In September 2002, Arar was in Tunisia, vacationing with his wife Monia Mazigh and their two small children. On Sept. 26 while in transit in New York’s JFK airport, he was detained by US officials and interrogated about alleged links to al-Qaeda. Twelve days later, he was chained, shackled and flown to Jordan aboard a private plane and from there transferred to a Syrian prison.

"In Syria, he was held in a tiny “grave-like” cell for ten months and ten days before he was moved to a better cell in a different prison. He was beaten, tortured and forced to make a false confession. " --------------------------------------------------------

He's a Syrian
who became Canadian.
Torture's about right . . .

My understanding is that Arar had dual citizenship - his birth original Syrian plus his naturalized Canadian.

So when the Mounties told us he was a suspected terrorist, instead of just nabbing him themselves, that meant the Canadian government didn't want him. So we sent him to Syria where they did.

If Arar didn't want to end up in Syria, he could have given up his Syrian citizenship when he became a Canadian citizen.

Anti-Americanism is the only reason for complaining about this.

"If Arar didn't want to end up in Syria, he could have given up his Syrian citizenship when he became a Canadian citizen."

Once a Syrian, always a Syrian. You cannot "give up" your citizenship to this country - they don't allow it. We believed this was a bad guy, we had no evidence but deported him to a country where we KNEW he would be tortured. There is still not a scrap of evidence that this guy ever did anything wrong - even after he was physically tortured for a year.

We failed this guy (the Canadians failed him too) by not living up to the principles of our nation - due process - and justice before the courts.

It is customary in the U.S., Canada and most countries, upon becoming a naturalized citizen of that country, to give up citizenship in one's birth country. This normally happens by operation of law - it is part of the oath of citizenship.

Some exceptions are allowed - those create dual citizenship. In the U.S. the permitted exceptions are for Israel and Mexico. I understand that Canadian law is more lenient, and allows most anyone to hold dual citizenship, but the default is still to give up prior citizenship upon becoming a naturalized Canadian citizen. I think retaining prior citizenship requires a voluntary choice by a newly naturalized Canadian, rather than vice versa.

But Arar did have a choice. He could have renounced his Syrian citizenship under Canadian law, and become only a citizen of Canada. He didn't. It doesn't matter what Syria said - note that its government does not insist that Syrians who become naturalized citizens of the U.S. still retain their Syrian citizenship. The U.S. government is known to be touchy about such matters - it declared war on Britain over just this issue in 1812.

The U.S. certainly does recognize that naturalized Canadian citizens are citizens only of Canada when they have renounced, by operation of law or voluntarily, all prior citizenship. I believe there is a reciprocity statute or treaty on the subject.

But Arar had dual Syrian citizenship, the Canadian government didn't want him as it was their national police force who reported Arar to us as a suspected terrorist, so we sent him to his other country of choice - Syria. That was normal and proper.

Those who contend otherwise do so in defiance of Canadian law, American law, and international law. And thereby reveal their real motivation is anti-Americanism.

Sick of the bleeding hearts.
Obviously this guy was connected to Al Qaida or he
would not have gotten into this trouble in the first
place. Whether he was just sympathetic or more than that.
A spade is a spade. There is no excuse for a terrorist
or terrorist sympathizer who has anything negative
to say with words or do with actions regarding the security
of America.

You need to get your facts straight. It is possible to become an American (or Canadian) citizen without renouncing citizenship in many other countries. For example, I have friends here in NY who are dual citizens with Britain, Canada, Spain and others.

Secondly, the Syrians consider you their citizen whether you renounce them or not. Arar was on record as saying he did not want to go to Syria (he suspected he would be tortured) that he was Canadian but we sent him there anyway. What does that say about us?

Thirdly, we are Americans, we are not omnipotent. We made a mistake in this instance and we are going to have to wear it. It's time we start owning up to our mistakes and not blame them on some bogus ant-American nonsense...

Arar could have renounced his Syrian citizenship when he was naturalized as a Canadian citizen. Most people renounce prior citizenship upon becoming naturalized citizens of other countries.

But Arar did not renounce his Syrian citizenship, and paid the consequences. Tough for him. Even now you are careful not to say that he renounced his Syrian citizenship. What counted was what the Canadian government said about the status of his citizenship at the time. They said he was a dual citizen of Canada and Syria. And they didn't want him themselves - that's why the Mounties tipped us about him.

We weren't about to let Arar run around here given what Canada said about him, so we shipped him back to a country he was a citizen of which did want him. Sure he didn't want to go there. He could have avoided that by renouncing his Syrian citizenship when he became a Canadian. But he didn't.

Once the Canadian government said he had dual citizenship with Syria, it was perfectly normal, legal and proper to deport him to Syria.

Either tell us, with citations to sources we can look up for ourselves, that Arar had renounced his Syrian citizenship under Canadian law, not Syrian law, when he obtained his Canadian citizenship or stand proven as what I said.

"They said he was a dual citizen of Canada and Syria. And they didn't want him themselves - that's why the Mounties tipped us about him."

That is false. This guy is a Canadian and had every legal right to return to Canada. He asked to be returned to Canada. The Canadians never said they wouldn't take him back. If you have evidence to to the contrary, please cite it.

We chose to deport him to Syria, knowing full well he would be tortured. As Americans we renounced torture as an inefficent and fundamentally wrong practice a very long time ago. The reason we live in a society that is superior to an islamic hell-hole like Syria, is that we are civilized - and civilized people do not torture fellow human beings - regardless of their religion.

If we thought he was guilty of terrorist related activities, we should have charged him and prosecuted him. This is how a civilized nation behaves. We were wrong and we need to admit it...

You lose. The Canadian government didn't want him at the time. Domestic politics changed that later - if hypocrisy isn't in the defintion of being Canadian, it ought to be.

Arar's feelings upon being arrested meant, and mean, nothing. Zero, zilch, nada, zip. His prior actions determined what happened to him. He chose to keep his Syrian citizenship by an affirmative act when he became a naturalized Canadian citizen.

Your posts are full of weasel words. The Canadian government said at the time it didn't want him back, not that it wouldn't take him back. The U.S. government would have sent Arar to Canada, not Syria, if the Canadian government had said they wanted him, but they said they didn't want him. And Syria did. He had dual citizenship under Canadian law so our sending Arar to Syria was normal, legal and proper under Canadian law.

The rest of your post is flaming nonsense. I'm a lawyer.

You stand revealed as anti-American.

"You stand revealed as anti-American."

You stand revealed as an idiot with no grasp of the facts. If you had done some research on this story, you would know that at no time did the Canadians say or imply that Arar wouldn't be allowed back into their country or that he wasn't wanted back.

If you want to debate me, it would help if you avail yourself of the facts. Complete coverage and a timeline can be found here. I suggest you read it before you humiliate yourself further.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/

Your tacit support of torture and torturers is surprising, even from an ideologue who sees anti-Americanisms behind every tree.

p.s. I'm a proud conservative American occasionally embarrassed by witless endomorphs who do not know the difference between right and wrong.

The rest of your post is flaming nonsense. I'm an oncologist.

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