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Canadian Inquiry Finds Torture Survivor Maher Arar Completely
Innocent, Criticizes U.S. For 'Rendition' to Syria
Attorneys Argue Senate Bills Would Allow for Lifelong Detention
Without Trial, Torture Without Accountability
Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentlemen: Lieutenant
Ehren Watada Charged Again for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq
Business Owners, Workers Charge Israel Deliberately Targeted
Lebanon's Economy
Canadian Inquiry Finds Torture Survivor Maher Arar
Completely Innocent, Criticizes U.S. For 'Rendition' to Syria
The Canadian government has acknowledged for the first time
that one of the most well-known victims of CIA 'extraordinary
rendition' is a completely innocent man. On Monday, a judge
concluded a major investigation into the case of Maher Arar.
The Syrian-born Canadian was detained nearly four years ago
by U.S. authorities at JFK airport and was sent to Syria where
he was jailed for a year and repeatedly tortured. We speak
with Arar's attorney, Maria LaHood. [includes rush
transcript]
Four years ago this month, a Canadian citizen named Maher
Arar was on his way back to Canada from a family vacation
in Tunisia. The Syrian-born man had a stopover at JFK airport
in New York. The date was September 26, 2002. He wouldn't
see his family for another 374 days.
After being questioned at the airport, U.S. officials took
him to an immigration facility in New York. Two weeks later
he was secretly flown to Jordan aboard a Gulfstream Jet. Maher
Arar ended up in Syria where he was held in a cell, the size
of a grave. He was repeatedly tortured. For weeks his family
didn't even know where he was.
On Monday, the Canadian government admitted for the first
time that Arar was a completely innocent man. Justice Dennis
O'Connor released the findings of a two-year major investigation
into the disappearance of Arar. The judge wrote, "I am
able to say categorically that there is no evidence to indicate
that Mr. Arar has committed any offence or that his activities
constituted a threat to the security of Canada."
The official inquiry said that there is no evidence that
Canadian officials played a direct role in his detention or
deportation. However Justice O'Connor found that the U.S.
government's decision to send Arar to Syria was likely based
on inaccurate and misleading information provided by Canadian
authorities. The judge also criticized the Bush administration's
actions. The judge wrote, "They removed him to Syria
against his wishes and in the face of his statements that
he would be tortured if sent there."
Attorneys Argue Senate Bills Would Allow for Lifelong
Detention Without Trial, Torture Without Accountability
As the debate on Capitol Hill continues over the Bush administration's
plan for the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, we take
a look at what is not being discussed: how both proposed bills
in the Senate strip away the right to habeas corpus and cut
back the ability of rape survivors of to hold their perpetrators
accountable. We speak with Michael Ratner of the Center for
Constitutional Rights. [includes rush
transcript]
New details have been revealed on the Republican divide
over the Bush administration's plan for the treatment of prisoners
in US custody. Newsweek magazine reports the administration
wants to maintain at 77least seven existing CIA interrogation
methods for use against high-level detainees. The techniques
include induced hypothermia; long periods of forced standing;
sleep deprivation and so called "attention slapping."
The administration is facing resistance from three key Republican
Senators on the Armed Services Committee: John McCain, Lindsey
Graham and John Warner. The three helped pass a measure last
week affirming Common Article Three of the Geneva Conventions,
which prohibits inhumane treatment.
Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Gentlemen: Lieutenant
Ehren Watada Charged Again for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq
Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first officer to publicly refuse
to serve in Iraq, has been charged again by the military,
this time for 'conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentlemen.'
We speak with Watada about the latest charges. [includes rush
transcript]
Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentlemen. That is the
latest charge that Lieutenant Ehren Watada was hit with on
Friday by the Army. Watada is the first officer to publicly
refuse to serve in Iraq. On June 22nd, Watada refused to deploy
with his Fort Lewis based unit and he was subsequently charged
with one count of missing troop movement, two counts of speaking
contemptuously of the president and four counts of acts unbecoming
an officer. Army spokesman Joe Piek said that this latest
charge is based on Watada's remarks last month at the national
convention for Veterans for Peace. At that convention Watada
attacked the Bush administration for waging a war "for
profit and imperialistic domination" and urged soldiers
to refuse to fight. Watada faces eight years in prison.
I spoke to Lieutenant Watada on Saturday night at the Seattle
Town Hall. I began by asking him his response to the latest
charges.
- 1st Lieutenant Ehren Watada, first officer to publicly
refuse to serve in Iraq.
Business Owners, Workers Charge Israel Deliberately
Targeted Lebanon's Economy
Business owners and factory workers in Lebanon are charging
that Israel deliberately targeted the Lebanese economy in
its month-long offensive. Democracy Now! producer Ana Nogueira
files a report from Beirut on the long-lasting effects of
the conflict on Lebanon's economy.
We turn now to Lebanon. The Israeli military's chief of staff
was quoted as saying the Israeli army will complete a pullout
from southern Lebanon within a few days.
Ran Cohen, a legislator with the left-wing Meretz party,
said Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz told him all troops would
return to Israel by the Jewish New Year, which begins at sunset
on Friday.
There are currently 4,600 international troops in southern
Lebanon under a United Nations mandate. The UN-brokered ceasefire
in August ended the 34-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The month-long conflict killed over 1,000 Lebanese, mostly
civilians and wounded many more. Over 150 Israelis, mostly
soldiers, were also killed. While the death toll and destruction
of infrastructure in Lebanon have been widely reported. What
are the long-lasting effects on Lebanon's economy? Democracy
Now producer Ana Nogueira filed this report from Beirut.
See
all of Ana Nogueira's reports from Lebanon
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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