U.S. 'knew damn well' Arar to be tortured! - Leahy

CBC News pretty well said it all, so I will just give you this!

[CBC News] After sitting through withering criticism in a Senate hearing, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has promised more information on the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian who ended up in a cell in Syria after U.S. officials grabbed him on a stopover in New York.

Gonzales was grilled relentlessly on Thursday by Senate judiciary committee chairman Patrick Leahy. Leahy said that when Arar — a citizen of both Canada and Syria travelling on a Canadian passport — was detained in 2002, American authorities knew he would be tortured if they deported him to Syria.

"We knew damn well if he went to Canada he wouldn't be tortured," said Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont. "He'd be held and he'd be investigated.

"We also knew damn well if he went to Syria, he'd be tortured. And it's beneath the dignity of this country — a country that has always been a beacon of human rights — to send somebody to another country to be tortured.

"You know and I know that has happened a number of times in the past five years by this country. It is a black mark on us."

Leahy noted that U.S. officials claimed to have had assurances that people sent to Syria would not be tortured.

"Assurances," he snorted, "from a country that we also say now that we can't talk to them because we can't take their word for anything."

Arar, then an Ottawa-based engineer, was detained as a terrorism suspect, apparently because of a bad tip from the RCMP. He was flown to Syria, where he was held for a year.

In 2006, a Canadian public inquiry cleared him of any involvement in terrorism.

It was clear that officials from the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush would face a rough questioning on Capitol Hill after the Democrats gained majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the November 2006 elections.

Your 'capital hill' scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Hey boys and girls, let's get real here! If the Bush administration can tap anyone's phone at will, - what's a little thing like sending a foreigner to be tortured!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

Oh really!

A few quick observations before the day gets underway.

*I normaly hate those "cutsy" messages on church and store signs (Like one one a high school billboard that said "seven days of this makes one weak!") and bumper stickers.

But, yesterday I actually saw a couple that I really liked .

The first was a sign in front of a travel agency. It said "GO AWAY!"

Then a bumper sticker that really struck home since I'm not nearly in as much of a hurry as I used to be. It said:

"I may be slow, but I'm ahead of YOU!"

*Next - some legislators in the States are starting to talk about putting up a fence between the U.S. and Canada as well as the one down by Mexico. Personally I think it's a great idea.

Maybe it will keep those assholes OUT!

(I remeber back in the 80's I was going from Sarnia to Port Huron for a bit of shopping and when I stopped at Customs the guy asked me for a passport. I told him I only had a drivers license and why did he suddenly want a passport or visa to get in. He replied: "We have to be carefull you know, there are a lot of people that want to get into this Country by any means possible! I looked him straight in the eye and said: "Why?" A minute later I was back on the Canadian side with a "refused entry" slip in my hand! I thought to myself, "fuck em," and went to our own mall. It's also one of the last times I felt an urge to go to the States.)

*Thailand has an unusual political system. It's a democaracy with a twist. They just had their 18th coup d'e-tat in a row.

It seems that when the government gets too rank they send in the army to throw them out and then have democratic elections to get a new government.

Until that elected government gets too smelly. Then they have another coup d'e-tat. Then they have a democratic election to............ well you get the idea!

*All sorts of fallout about that Maher Arar case I wrote about yesterday. People are starting to call for officials in the R.C.M.P. and C.S.I..S. to be fired.

These assholes shouldn't be fired!
They should be going to JAIL!

Your faithfull scribe
Allan w Janssen