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Maher Arar

Maher Arar

The sponsorship scandal https://www.cbc.ca/news/background/groupaction/ and the Maher Arar's deportation, detention and torture in Syria: https://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/ are just few of the things that helped the governing Liberals out the door as they had become arrogant and out of touch with Canadians.

At present the government in Canada is a Conservative minority led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and with the defection of Wajid Khan (MP for Mississauga) making Conservative seat count to 125 and the Liberals drop to 101 which effectively means that the Conservatives only need the support of the New Democratic Party to pass legislation and a stave off non-confidence motions (parliamentary rules deem that the government has lost the confidence of the people if the motion is passed and an election has to be called) until they feel that they get the green light from the pollsters to call and election.

Harper's roots are in the Reform Party, which was a right wing Western Canadian Populist Party that didn't have much support federally or in geographical terms east of Manitoba and had some dubious connections to the Heritage Front (Canadian KKK) and Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada. The party morphed into the Alliance Party and joined with the Progressive Conservative Party, which was in still in shambles after Brian Mulroney to become the Conservative Party of Canada. So if you are reading this right immigrants, aboriginals, women's group, unions, visible minorities and the gay population of the country have never embraced the pedigree of party.

In my estimation, this is good scenario for Canadians for a good number of reasons. With a minority government, the government has to be prudent and collaborative; they can't do what ever they like and it provides them with an opportunity to become familiar with the operations of their cabinets and responsibilities. The New Democratic Party (NDP) holds the balance of power and seeing that they have never formed a government federally it stand to reasons that they want this relationship to endure because it is a means that they have an opportunity introduce bills that are a part of their agenda/platform. It should be noted that for a party that has never held power federally, the NDP in coalition governments have passed some of the most significant legislation in the history of the country to the overall of the benefit of average Canadian that includes universal health care, education and social assistance. It is quite an amazing political story in itself.

To date, Harper's Conservative's have done a good job in running the country and his policies are more centrists that one would expect. The Conservative strategy is to lure the liberal centrist vote and woo the immigrant vote and in my opinion are doing an excellent job at it and when pollsters Angus Ried, Golfarb-Decima tells them that the numbers are up and that they can win with a majority, then they will call an election. Time will tell"¦.

Arar Maher

"We Knew darn Well He"d Be Tortured" -- Sen. Patrick Leahy Questions Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Extraordinary Rendition Victim Maher Arar

The Bush administration's handling of the case of Maher Arar came under new scrutiny Thursday when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, now controlled by the Democrats. Arar is the Canadian citizen who was seized by U.S. officials during a stopover flight in New York in 2002. He was secretly sent to Syria as part of the Bush administration's extraordinary rendition program.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/19/1432225

Maher Arar History & Civil Business Politics

Maher Arar

The United States sent Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured. Canadian Prime Minister Harper has apologized to Arar, and the Canadian government has awarded him $9 million. Canada is demanding Arar's removal from the U.S. terror no-fly list. The U.S. government response: no apology, no fly.
Ref. https://www.commondreams.org/views07/0125-30.htm

Arar Maher

I do not understand this, is it that the US is too proud or do they think that acting upon intelligence be it right or wrong is justified regardless of what happens to innocent people?

Rather off topic, but... I wonder if the person was a US Citizen if it would have gone down this way?

Arar Maher

The way I see it, if we assume the US is incorrect in identifying and continuing to identify this man as a risk, they have to be continuing this stance for a defense in against crimes on a world court or a court in another land (like Germany). If the US admits to anything, then they would already be admitting guilt if this were to come to trail for some reason.

I don't know if this guy is as squeaky clean as he his coming off in these recent interviews. However, there obviously was not enough material there to hold him or he would still be in held in captivity. Hopefully, there was actually something there to hold the guy and not a mistaken identity like the Cat Stevens incident where he ended up on a no fly list because of his name.

Maher Arar

Canada Suspected US

Newly released documents show that Canadian security officials suspected that their U.S. counterparts would ship Syrian-Canadian Maher Arar to a third country to be tortured. Previously censored parts of the Arar commission report were released Thursday morning, citing a memo from the deputy director of CSIS.
Ref. CBC News

Maher Arar

Testifying Before Congress, Rendition Victim Maher Arar Gets Apology from Bipartisan Lawmakers but None from White House

A bipartisan group of Congress members have personally apologized to Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen seized by U.S. officials, secretly flown to Syria, where he was tortured. Arar testified last week before a House panel, the first time he has had a chance to tell his story to U.S. lawmakers. But he couldn¹t testify in person. Even though the Canadian government has cleared his name, Arar remains barred from the U.S. because the Bush administration says he poses a national security threat.
Ref. https://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/24/1528217

Maher Arar Politics Business Civil & History

Supreme Court: Torture and Rendition Victim Maher Arar Cannot Sue in US Courts

In a major setback for holding US officials accountable for rendition and torture, the Supreme Court has rejected Arar's lawsuit against the US government. Arar was seized at New York's Kennedy Airport in 2002 on a stopover from a vacation abroad. Instead of allowing him to return home to Canada, Arar was sent to his native Syria, where he was tortured and interrogated in a tiny underground cell for nearly a year. Just after the Court's decision was announced, Arar revealed a major new development: Canada's federal law enforcement agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is conducting a criminal investigation into US and Syrian officials for their role in Arar's rendition and torture. We speak to Maher Arar. Ref. Source 4