Letters from the Editor in Chief

There's more than the media who need to take responsibilty ... let's have a look at the Members of Parliament.

Why did opposition MPs stand up and call Arar a "terrorist" ??

What information did the opposition MPs have which made them "feel free" to do so ??

Who was the source of information for the opposition MPs ??

If having Zachardelli resign is supposed to be "the end of it" for Canada's investigation into this horrid affair ... then we have really lost our way in this country.

Yes the media does need to examine how it handles stories. I don't think anyone did well in this case. As for a source lying, there is such a thing as confirming the facts with other sources. Naming a less than reliable source may sound good, but what about those that provide accurate & truthful information? Do you think those sources would confide in the media if they thought they would be exposed? The well would dry up. I often have to rely on others for information, but I'm not gullible enough to take the word of one person; people do have hidden agendas. I confirm facts through other means & by doing my own research. Maybe the media should be doing the same thing instead of relying solely on informants.

What needs to be reviewed too is the Canadian psyche's view of American initiatives, good or bad. There's a tendancy to knee-jerking, either in supporting or in criticizing.

Are we conscious of our colonial-mindedness that pushes us to knee-jerk so?

If we are aware, how can we then attempt to look deeper into ourselves to decide what is the right thing to do.

That's the question we must ask.

I still don't understand why Canadian officials believe Arar's claims of torture. How would they have proof and would his claim be enough? Have the Syrians admitted it or is this claim based solely on the word of a questionable man?
As for him being or not being allowed into the USA, I support keeping him out. If Canada wants to bend over for him, fine, but there's no reason the U.S. must. And, he apparently has other connections not covered by the judge who declared him innocent in Canada. Makes me wonder with the recent revelations of incompetence by the RCMP if Canadian intelligence is simply poorly informed.

I think that normal investigative safe guards like getting confirmation from other sources would be very much in order here. i think that a source that deliberately lies to a journalist to "spin" a story should be definitely outed.
We have seen other cases of this sort of thing south of the border in the run-up to the Iraq war. This is about innocent peoples lives and an official or any other "spin meister" telling lies could hardly be considered "innocent" .
JWL

An earlier poster asks why Canadian authorities believe that Arar was tortured.
I suggest he go to the website of the Arar commission where he will find that there was a special paper commissioned that examines the torture issue. The report can be accessed.
The investigation concluded from all the evidence that he had been tortured. If you do even a bit of research on the issue you will find that even the US recognises that Syria tortures prisoners. Nevertheless the US authorities conveniently pretend to believe Syrian authorities when they promise not to torture those who are sent to Syria specifically to be tortured.
Media members could at least apologise and pen retractions when they find that their sources lie. When the media have obviously been used as tools by the person giving the leaks as well as lying to them I see no reason why they should not be exposed. In printing the material the reporter depended upon the veracity of the source. In the cases such as this independent verification might be impossible because of security issues.

To MPaul: You make an excellent point...why should we believe an innocent man who was deported illegally to a country where torture in prisons in a well known reality and accepted fact?

I suggest that you visit Syria to get better acquainted with what may or may not happen in Syrian prisons. Personally, I have spent time in Damascus and other places in the Middle-East and torture in prison is not a surprise or taboo, but an accepted fact of life.

However, since you have serious doubts on claims of torture in Syrian prisons and since the Syrian government has not owned up to torture either, I suggest that you find out for yourself if torture really does occur in Syrian prisons. Maybe you can stay a few months in one and see if they do torture prisoners, or if Syrian prisons are Middle Eastern versions of ClubMed. We would all be happy to hear back on your first-hand experiences.

A vacation in a Syrian prison is easily booked, I suggest you get into any cab in Damascus and criticize the government…that will most assuredly get you a all expenses paid vacation to the Adra prison near Damascus. Don’t forget to send us a postcard!

THE REALLITY IS THAT MR. ARAR DID NOT HAVE A CHANCE OR ONE BIT OF "OFFICIAL" HELP FROM THE BEGINING. NOW , WHEN WE SEE HIM(MR.ARAR) ON TV WITHOUT A MARK ON HIM ITS' GOING TO BE EASIER TO BELIEVE THAT HE WASN'T AS HARD DONE BY AS THE HYPE SAYS HE IS. IT SEEMS THERE WERE ALOT OF "OFFICIALS" INVOLVED IN DOING THIS TO MR. ARAR (it wasn't just 3 people).
"OFFICIALS" GOVERNMENT OR NOT, THE NEWS MEDIA HAS TO BE ABLE TO PROTECT THE CIVILLIAN POPULATION OF CANADA BY QUESTIONING THOSE "OFFICIALS" THE SAME WAY YOU WOULD YOUR OWN CHILDEREN ,IF YOU REALLY WANTED TO KNOW THE TRUTH. DON'T BE AFFRAID OF BRODCASTING THE TRUTH, YOUR NOT GOING TO OFFEND OR HURT MY FEELINGS WE ARE ALL ADULTS HERE. JUST SAY IT LIKE IT IS!!!!

The Maher Arar case goes deep into the bedrock of society.
The truth is people lie! People lie to promote themselves; people lie to promote their cause; people lie to get ahead.
Get involved with any social, political, or religious group and you will find the evidence of people who lie.
To think that we will change human behavior by exposing the facts of one case is to live with one’s head buried deeply in the sand.
As M Paul said, “I still don't understand why Canadian officials believe Arar's claims of torture.” Paul's statement was made from a comfortable pew.
Once a lie is out there it is impossible to capture it and put it back in the box.
Mahar Arar is every man. That is why we must give him a huge settlement and debate his case for a very long time.

Far too many Conservative supporters clearly don't give a damn about the civil rights of Mr. Arar. You can find their ignorant, racist, anti-civil rights venom in many, many places on the web.

How does this reflect on the Conservative party, that among all parties in Canada these people feel comfortable not only being supporters but also expressing their bigotry in such a fashion as to make it clear that they are Harper fans and supporters.

What should it tell us about the Conservative Party's willlingness to tolerate intolerance or bigotry? There's been no formal repudiation from Conservative leadership to tell us any different.

Free speech has this double edged nature. On the one hand everyone's free to say what they wish. On the other hand everyone else is free to find out who the crazy assed redneck racists and bigots are.

And, perhaps even more importantly, what political party they support.

mr. arar, take my advice, sue them, they, everyone throw them in jail too and have a relieved x'mas. period.

the law in canada says, punish the wrongdoers and compensate the victims, and harper's law says, ssshhh, do it quietly and no press around.

M. Paul's ludicrous analysis comes from the arrogant American perspective that anyone who isn't white and at least 80 lbs. overweight must automatically be a terrorist. I suggest we ignore him/her and get back to discussing reality.

I would like to see Maher Arar sit as head of a committee that investigates and authenticates terrorist charges against Canadians. Who could possibly know better how to identify what might go awry and where in the processing of suspects?

When I read Ambassador Wilkins comments, I feel like I need to shower. Good luck with your lawsuit, Mr. Arar. Your victory is a victory for humanity everywhere.

I recently heard an interview with Mr. Arar on The Current where he has become, unfortunately, a semi-regular guest.

Mr. Arar's and his wife's presence on the US watch list doesn't seem to be his greatest concern, however the fact that his children have been placed on both CSIS and Homeland Security watchlists (they are both children, not even teenagers yet), is what brings him (and me) to tears every time.

He did nothing wrong, he was hung out to dry by Canada and viciously tortured by the United States...uh... I mean Syria.

Many people have been wrongfully convicted in Canada, and the one constant is that it usually takes upwards of 10 years before any retribution is payed to the victim. So, Mr. Arar should probably be greatful that he doesn't spend 10 years in jail waiting for his vindication.

It deeply troubled me when the media got into a frenzy over the RCMP's raid on the Ottawa Citizen's reporter's home and office. They said nothing about the smear conducted in the name of journalistic free speech. It took the Arar Commission to finally bring this issue to the fore. Then the media did a few mea culpas. It's not enough folks. To be given freedom of expression you must practice your profession without violating other's human rights. Someone in the media has to pay as well as government/police officials. That journalist should lose her job and maybe her editor too. If not, I hope Mr Arar successfully sues them.

For the naysayers, please read the annual report of the Dept of State in the US. It lists countries which violate human rights (I know, I know - they're very hypocritical!). Syria is on that list!

The journalist who accepted and printed the secret information on Arar should be fired. This newspaper story was the first time Canadians were aware that Arar may be a terrorist. Of course everyone believed it, who else are we going to trust with the news, right??

Arar was found not to have terrorist ties by a panel including a judge. This decision was based on the only information available in Canada. The American government has not revealed to date the information they had in their possession on Arar that sent him to Syria, nor the reason for his continued ban from their country.

The question I have is why has the press spent so much time on the Arar file, his case is certainly not the worst for a Canadian?

We have in our country scores of wrongly convicted Canadians for murder, who have been released from prison after serving 10, 15, 20, 25 years for crimes they did not commit. They also suffered a another form of torture, lost freedom, being raped by violent prisoners, living every day in terror of being attacked by prison gangs, being separated from wives, children, other close family members, losing jobs. Where is their justice ? Where are the public apologies? Where are the $38,000,000 payouts? Where is the public outrage? Why is our press so silent on this outrage??????

From my perspective as this Arar tale is coming to a close, I can not help wondering if there are facts in the possession of the US that we are unaware of to date. They after all made the decision to send him to Syria without notifying Canada's officials. I know, I know, the judge at the inquiry found no evidence in Canada, but, WE DID Not Send Arar to Syria, nor were we ever given access to US officials, or information from their security file on Arar. The US states they had information on Arar from many sources. From that can we assume Canada's role may not have contributed at all to their decision. This is what we do not know, therefore, this may never be finished for Arar, the US has no obligation to allow any foreign aliens into their country.

As far as the press is concerned, they have to accept their share of blame in how events unfolded (especially in print). Most Canadians were unaware of Arar until the Ottawa citizen printed a story from unnamed and secret sources stating Arar was a terrorist. Everyone believed this story including many people in politics. Doesn't everyone believe the press?

Ladies and Gents, may I enlighten those individuals who appear to not know the full political story on Arar. His problems began in 2001, while the liberals were in power, it was a liberal government who had to call the Arar inquiry, led by Judge O'Connor.

Meanwhile the liberals were turfed out of power January 23, 2006, before the report was released. The results of the inquiry were presented to the new Government led by Stephen Harper in 2006.

It takes some strange thinking by some of you to place blame on the Conservative Government. I repeat "This happened under the LIBERAL WATCH". THE INQUIRY BEGAN & ENDED UNDER THE Liberal Watch.

The present government happens to be the ones who has to clear this mess up re: Dollars!!!

I can't understand why people are blaming the Conservatives for Arars misfortune. The Liberal party was in power at the time and I'm sure that they had made a few mistakes as well as the news media. I remember very well that they the Liberal's seemed to take their sweet time trying to get to the bottom of this. As far as condeming the conservatives for making remarks about Arar being a terrorist. You can blame the news papers and the Liberal's for misleading the public. I know that I got the impression that he might be because of the way it was handled. I feel that the people most responsible for his treatment will never come to be. This will all be covered up to protect the guilty ones. I feel bad for him and his family and I know that this will never be over for these people because of the attitudes towards him this has caused. Thank you Steven Harper for giving him compensation for what he had to go through.

Mr. Burman says: "the controversial statements by the American ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins"
I see nothing controversial in his statement. He just told Canadian politicians to mind their own business, as they should have. They played for domestic audience and the press and some of the public bought into it.
The press has made him and martyr and continues to do so.
The Commission and the press generally overlooked Arar's actions and behaviour prior to his detention in the US.
Why did he maintain an apartment in the US when having a "permanent" residence in Canada?
Why was he returning from "a family vacation" in Tunisia alone? How many other times did he visit Tunisia or other Arab country before?
How come he felt safe in Tunisia? If Syria wanted him Tunisia would have obliged.
How can his association and friendship with questionable characters be explained?
I am sure the US authorities know much more and it is their right to keep anybody out, regardless what our politically correct media and politicians think.
Thank you.