Freedom’s prize in disturbing war

Bill Kaufmann

Given their record as the ultimate rogue state, we should expect nothing different from them, nothwithstanding frivolous diplomatic tinsel from Condoleezza Rice.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins’ revelation Maher Arar is still considered a threat to his nation and is barred from entering it should be seen in the context of the Bush administration’s rap sheet on abduction, torture, rendition, false imprisonment and kangaroo justice.

Data from the U.S. Defence Department itself shows that of 517 Guantanamo detainees, only 8% were considered al-Qaida fighters, while 40% had no connection with the terror outfit at all and only 5% had been arrested by U.S. forces.

Nearly 90% of those detained were handed over by Pakistanis or Afghans at a time when the U.S. blindly paid bounties. Some were young teens and ancient, incapacitated men.

We now know nearly all the hundreds released from Guantanamo — itself an admission of their innocence — after years without charge or trial have been quickly freed in their home countries. That, despite an “understanding” they’d be incarcerated there. It’s been an agonising farce.

Including Arar among the “worst of the worst,” puts him in pretty good company.

Expecting Wilkins and company to dish what exactly it is they “have” on Arar is an exercise in naivete. This is the same gang that refuses to inform its terror war captives on what grounds they’re being held, often for the reason they don’t exist.

So much for “if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about” from those doing all the hiding.

If they paused long enough from sucking up to their political mentors to the south, our government would determine which CIA agents were responsible for sending Arar to his torture in Syria and permanently blacklist them from Canadian soil and airspace.

They unapologetically pose a danger to the liberty and welfare of Canadians.

Then again, we’ve got our own house to put in order.

Politicians on the Liberal and Tory benches can’t even bring themselves to apologize to one of our own. There’s no intention among our leaders to hold accountable any Canadians responsible for serving up Arar to a gulag of secret dungeons.

Now, three more Canadians of Mideast descent are forcing an inquiry into allegations they too were tortured in Syria — abetted by Canadian officials.

Kuwaiti-born Ahmad El Maati spent 790 days in jail and — in shades of Guantanamo — was never charged.

If all of this doesn’t raise serious questions over Canada’s use of security certificates, nobody’s listening.

Under the certificates, terrorism suspects can be held indefinitely and without charge or disclosure of evidence to them on the whim of governments notoriously faulty in their judgment and use of intelligence.

For good reason, the three suspects still being held under the certificates fear being deported to countries where they’re likely to be tortured.

Evidence against those held is kept secret under the rubric of “national security” — a stance identical to that taken by U.S. federal Judge David Trager who last February dismissed Arar’s suit against American officials.

“The need for much secrecy can hardly be doubted,” he said.

An Ontario Superior Court ruling last October stymied a shameful RCMP bid to crush Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliette O’Neill’s efforts to uncover Mountie wrongdoing in the Arar affair.

Mounties had blithely ransacked O’Neill’s Ottawa home in a raid obviously meant to deter others from reporting the truth.

We’re still learning from our U.S. friends that when you fight a war for “freedom” you can easily end up losing exactly that

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc