Terrible War on Terror

[ckBejug]

I think the first article that talks about the guy's experience should be required reading for anyone, regardless of political ideology, who believes in the principles upon which America was founded.

The screaming-heads on talk radio like to remind us that "as long as you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to fear."

Well. Maher Arar wasn't doing anything wrong. He was getting on a plane to go home to his family. I'd say he had quite a bit to fear.

When did this happen? Is this that great "freedom" we're always told we have that "The Terrorists" hate? If the government will take this man and ship him off to Syria -- SYRIA! Holy crap, even I know that damascus is somewhere you send someone to be tortured and I haven't the slightest bit of 'intelligence information' that the US has on Syria -- to be tortured, on the flimsiest of evidence . . . what else will they do?

That this is how we do things in the US makes my stomach turn. Hoe many times so far has Bush said that "They hate us because of our Freedom," so is this a new tactic in Bush's War on Terror? Maybe if we just give our freedoms away -- our right to privacy, our right to peaceably assemble, our right to dissent -- to the likes of John Ashcroft . . . if we allow our Congress and Supreme Court to abandon their constitutional responsibilities to check and balance the Executive branch . . . if we sit idly by while The American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century seize the reins of American power . . . if we allow the basic rights upon which America was founded to be slowly but steadily eroded, if we allow the very things that set America apart from the so-called "Axis of Evil" to be taken away . . . maybe then The Terrorists won't have anything left to hate.

I never thought I'd see the day when my government sent someone off to be tortured by a foreign country, seems we're moving backwards instead of forwards. A pity that is. And all this not found in a single one of the reputable "news" sources around here. Strange, sad and shocking indeed.

[Anonymouse]

Patlajan will disagree since those with the mental capacity of eggplants like to be spoonfed what to believe and how to think.

[ckBejug]

Did you know that when you do a search CNN.com for Britney Spears, the site returns a billion entries, but when you do a search on Maher Arar it returns nothing? I guess I should understand why an American pop star's 55 hours of... wedded bliss... should generate more human interest than a computer geek's deportation and 374 days of questionable imprisonment, but I don't. CNN did not find this story important or interesting enough to report even once.

You will also not find anything on Reuters, ABC, MSNBC, or NYT, but you will find very brief mention on CBS from 2002, a month after the event and no follow-up. You will also find reporting from England's BBC on his deportation and return and of course very good coverage from Canada .

So, hmmm... other countries find this story newsworthy enough to write more than one article, but every major news outlet in America covers it NOT AT ALL?

Ok - I found one. The Washington Post has a good bit, but for some reason the link wont work here...