Lawmakers Apologize To Rendition Victim

(CBS/AP)  Lawmakers apologized Thursday to a Canadian engineer for his detention by U.S. officials, who took him to Syria where the man says he was tortured and held for nearly a year without charges.

Maher Arar, 37, appeared before a joint hearing of House subcommittees by video, because he is still on a U.S. government watch list.

"Let me personally give you what our government has not: an apology," said Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., as he opened the hearing. "Let me apologize to you and the Canadian people for our government's role in a mistake."

Republican Dana Rohrabacher also apologized, but said he would fight any efforts by Democrats to end the practice of extraordinary rendition, whereby terror suspects are grabbed by government agents and taken to another country where local authorities may torture confessions out of them.

"Yes, we should be ashamed" of what happened in the case, Rohrabacher said. "That is no excuse to end a program which has protected the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of American lives."

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was detained by Homeland Security agents on Sept. 26, 2002, as he stopped over in New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport en route home from a vacation. Days later, he was sent by private jet to Syria where, according to Canadian officials, he was tortured.

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Visit Maher Arar's Web site

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After nearly a year in a Syrian prison, he was released without charges and returned to Canada.

The Canadian government has apologized to Arar for its role in the case, and agreed to pay him almost $10 million in compensation. The Bush administration has not apologized.

The administration has refused to say much about its extraordinary rendition program, other than it is an extremely important tool in combatting terrorists.

The hearing comes a day before Hollywood is to offer its own take on the contentious anti-terror program: "Rendition," starring Reese Witherspoon, opens in U.S. theaters Friday.

[prinzowhales]

At first thought, one might imagine that a barbed anal probe might change Congressman Rohrabacher''s mind about torture and rendition...but, he is, afterall, a Republican...and may well enjoy the kind of Abu Ghraib fun that Rush Limbaugh likened to fraternity hazing.

His suggestion that the Regime''s barbarism and sadism has saved any American lives is--like the Regime''s 9-11 fairy tale--little more than a bald-faced lie.

Troops Home Now! Down with the Washington Regime!

[forthepeopl1]

Finance officials called on China to move faster on efforts to let its currency, the yuan, rise in value. That would raise the price of Chinese goods on world markets. China''''s undervalued currency is blamed for contributing to the United States'''' swollen trade deficits and the loss of millions of U.S. factory jobs. "We stress its (China''''s) need to allow an accelerated appreciation of its effective exchange rate," the G-7 said.

The G-7 statement did not mention the big drop in the U.S. dollar, which has hit a record low against the euro, giving some European companies heartburn.

that why everyone in germany have taken all their cash out of banks.

one thing still assmazes me, they complain and complain all day and all night about china this and china that..WAKE UP ALL YOU DUESH BAGS CHINA HAS BEEN AND WILL PUT CHINA FIRST..AT WHAT EVER THE COST IS, THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT CHINA,.AS THEY DESTROY AMERICA..

CANT ANYONE SEE THIS TO??? NOTHING SHOULD BE ALLOUD INTO THIS COUNTRY FROM CHINA WE NEED NOTHING FROM THEM THINK ABOUT IT, NOTHING AT ALL TO SERVIVE..

AMERICAN BETTER START WAKEING UP, AND IF THEY ELECT MISS PIGGY HILLARY THEN ALL BETS OFF WE WILL LOSE AMERICA,,SHE''''S THE CLOKE AND DAGGER

[abbe91]

PS abbe91 - I DON''''t Work for CBS, nor am I an AP Correspondent. I DON''''T know why they didn''''t choose to put any sigificant information in this piece (of *******) article. The article was NOT informative, merely inflamitory - WHICH YOU ATE RIGHT UP!!!
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ
Posted by speakinup at 11:19 AM : Oct 19, 2007"

They could not answer the question why the guy was deported because the administration didn''t give the reason. Hungry is right. CBS is not to blame for it.
And besides, this administration doesn''t need CBS to propagate its propaganda. When needed, they just "leak" it.

[abbe91]

That he was tortured is not good, that he was taken without APPARENT reason in the article is not good. But, somehow, I find it really hard to believe, that without motive government agents whisked him away.
Posted by speakinup at 11:16 AM : Oct 19, 2007

He made the claim, and our government isn''''t disputing that it ever happened. Find it hard to believe if you want, but it doesn''''t appear the guy is lying, and our government''''s silence is deafening.

Posted by hungry1968 at 11:22 AM : Oct 19, 2007

That''s what I tried to explain too, but he seems to be a lost case, accusing others of his own shortcomings.

[zootallures2]

To Damascus???? Gee, isn''t that in Syria?
Back in WWII, did the US take nazis to Japan, Japanese to Italy and Italians to Japan?

To Syria? Really? So when did they go from the US''s fun house to being the enemy again?

[jankebenz]

Mr mahars claims of torture are very dubvious at best mainly because no scars or injury marks could be found on him.Why would somone of syrian birth be so foolish as to travel to the U.S. so soon after 9|11, and since his own country alledgedly tortured him,why blame others? Who knows, maybe he was punished for crimes commited in his homeland.Then to top it off ,Canada gives him $10 mil. for his 1 year incarceration in a syrian jail. Not surprising that all of a sudden more Canadian immigrants are claiming torture abroad -easy money !

[rickstas]

Very astute observation Azmka.

[azmka]

If I would have heard about the U.S. government doing this pre-bush, I would never have believed that we would go so against what we are as Americans.
Now we are just like those sinister freedom hating governments that we used to despise.

[forthepeopl1]

so speakinup--go ahead and tell anyone what we few million true americans are ready to do..you loser,chicken s/h/i/t/ like bush,rove,cheney,rice, go ahead put your head between your legs and lick your self

[jackiepw]

"The Bush administration has not apologized." The Bush Administration hasn''t apologized to the American people for ruining our economy, sending our young people to die in Iraq/Afganistan, or any of the multitude of other asinine things they''ve done to us, why should he apologize to a mere torture victim?