Where are the moderate Americans?

Of course we are.
We don't torture. We use "aggressive interrogation techniques." Nor do we render people to countries that do.
What's wrong with you people anyway?

 

The Globe & Mail, normally pretty staid in their editorials, lets loose:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060919.wearar19/BNStory/Front

The Arar tragedy has much to teach Canada, and indeed all Western democracies. This is that rare story deserving of the overused label "Kafkaesque," a story that viscerally reminds us why a civilized justice system always insists on due process, even -- especially -- in times of stress. The reason is to protect and preserve human dignity. And human dignity has a most eloquent spokesman in Maher Arar, now living quietly with his wife and two small children in Kamloops, B.C., a community that has taken him to its heart, on behalf (we wish to think) of all Canadians.

 

Ragu --
You and I have had our disagreements hereabouts, but that's a solid post.
Why we have decided to fight a war that depends so vitally on intelligence in the stupidest ways possible is a question that historians are going to puzzle over for decades.

 

Bravo, Ragu.
Cut and paste that and post it over on the "Clerics" thread.

 

Swell.

The leader of the "they're gonna kill us all" gang shows up.

 

Shotty -- that would be a solid topic, and maybe Ill start it.

But for now, I'm wating for the same folks who were demanding that "moderate muslims" apologize for terrorists over on the Somali thread to call on President Bush to apologize for what happened to this guy.

It's an open invitation for boom to rant about Canada, but I thought it was a worthwhile excercise nonetheless.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Oh, F_H, I agree.

I was merely trying to point out the silliness of the congruent argument on the other thread.

I have no doubt it will be missed by most, if not all, who perpetrated the laughable logic in the first place. But I thought it would be fun anyway.

And Ragu, that was an excellent post. We don't always agree on things, but I enjoyed reading that.

 

Here's who's to blame for this: Syria, the United States and Canada.

Here's a quote from an online discussion with Jeff Sallot, Pulitzer Prize winning Globe & Mail correspondent (he won a Pulitzer for his coverage of Kent State while at the Globe).

"There is a hierarchy of responsibility here. Obviously, the Syrian torturers of Mr. Arar have the most to answer for. They are also the most likely to never be held to account. Civil law suits in Syria against the military don't go very far.

Next come the Americans, who are responsible for deporting Mr. Arar. He has launched a civil action in U.S. courts but it is being tied up with appeals and issues of national security, raised by the Bush administration. The wheels of justice grind slowly in the U.S. But he has the backing of an American constitutional law group and they will push the case as far as they can.

Then, of course, we have Canadian officials — notably RCMP officers — who first flagged Mr. Arar and his wife, Monia Mazigh, for U.S. officials as Islamic extremists and terrorist suspects. They did this without any evidence, Judge O'Connor says. His mandate was limited to examining conduct by Canadian officials. And he is strongly suggesting that the federal government owes the Arar family compensation of some sort. I suspect the Harper government will try to negotiate something.

 

Isn't there a way to blame terrorists?

Or maybe Jews?