(CBS/AP) 
President Bush acknowledged earlier this month that terrorism suspects had been held in secret CIA-run prisons in other countries. They included the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

U.S. and Syrian officials refused to cooperate in 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 being linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist movement," the report said.

They did this after Arar met with another man who was under surveillance, a meeting Arar has said in interviews was merely about where to find inexpensive computer equipment.

Police had no evidence linking Arar to terrorist activity yet they asked the U.S. to put him on a watch list as an "Islamic extremist."

"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 in reference to the climate after 9-11.

"Mr. Arar has, for a long time, said that he was innocent of any terrorism charges. Innocent of being any kind of security threat. We've known that and believed that for a long time," Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, tells CBS News

"This report agrees with that, and says there was never any evidence that Mr. Arar was involved in terrorism or was a security threat. what Mr. Arar wants is an apology from the United States," Ratner adds.

The force also described him as the "target" of a domestic anti-terrorist investigation in Canada when he was a peripheral figure seen in the company of the man who was under surveillance.

O'Connor said much of the material had not been double-checked to ensure its accuracy and reliability — a violation of the RCMP rules for sharing information with foreign agencies.

O'Connor concluded 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. "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.

"It did not occur to them that the American authorities were contemplating sending Mr. Arar to Syria,” the commission said, according to the New York Times.

But O'Connor recommends 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 regularly been 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 Arab-Canadians, 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 or Canada's spy agency 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 will be withheld due to security concerns.

©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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