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VANCOUVER - The Canadian government released on Aug. 9 previously redacted information regarding the Maher Arar torture scandal, in response to a Canadian court order. The government had argued that the information should be withheld due to "national security" concerns.
The new information directly implicates the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Arar's rendition to Syria, according to a statement by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, based in New York.
The documentation reveals that the CIA, with the acquiescence of Canadian diplomacy, was directly involved in making Arar an unknowing victim of their policy of rendition -- a de facto U.S. policy which allows security agencies to send a subject, who cannot legally be held, to a country that is willing to use aggressive and illegal tactics to obtain information from detainees.
A Syrian-born Canadian citizen, Arar was flying back home from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002 when he was detained by U.S. authorities during a layover in New York on charges of having links to the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda.
Despite his Canadian passport, he was deported to his country of origin, Syria, where he was held for almost a year, and was tortured by Syrian officials.
Arar's lawsuit in the United States, Arar vs. Ashcroft, was dismissed in February 2006 on national security and foreign policy grounds, but an appeal is moving forward.
"The information released by Canada is significant because it confirms that governments cannot be trusted when they claim to withhold information on national security grounds," Maria LaHood, senior attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, told IPS.
"The information is also significant because it shows that the CIA was involved, and that two days after Maher was jetted out of the U.S., before anyone knew where he was, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officials thought the U.S. wanted to send him to a country that 'could have their way with him' -- confirming that the U.S. officials who sent Maher to Syria did so to have him interrogated under torture," she said.
"The revelations from last week about complicity and torture confirm our worst suspicions of the dangers of unchecked executive power in a democracy," Jason Gratl, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, told IPS in an interview.
"The willingness of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to mislead the judiciary with respect to the origins of the information derived from torture demonstrates once again that balance of power must be rectified."
Gratl added that Canadians support an institution of accountability that would have jurisdiction over all national security matters, no matter the level of government or the ministry or department involved.
"This would mean that municipal and provincial police would be subject to rigorous oversight, including CSIS, the RCMP, immigration authorities and border security, if they fall in to the context of national security issues.
"We continue to believe Commissioner O'Connor's decision to increase powers to the RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner and SIRC (Security Intelligence Review Committee) continues to fracture the lines of accountability between the RCMP and other institutions. We can see how this manifests itself in the treatment of Arar, which self-evidently, CSIS and the RCMP were jointly responsible," said Gratl.
Maher Arar came to Canada in 1987. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering and worked in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.
Then, in 2002, he fell victim to the U.S.'s xenophobic security measures in the wake of the Sep. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington, and his nightmarish Orwellian journey began -- a Canadian sent to torture in Syria by U.S. authorities.
During the year that he was being held and tortured by Syrian security, his wife ran a tireless campaign to raise public awareness of his predicament.
Upon returning to Canada, after months of Ottawa's diplomatic ineptitude, he accused the United States and Canada of knowingly sending him to a country where torture is practised.
The quiet and unassuming Arar has since become a reluctant national symbol for constitutional rights.
The added complicity with U.S. security agencies has only added fuel to the fire domestically in Canada.
Arar's case has been symbolically tied to the George W. Bush administration's unpopular foreign policy in Canada.
On Jan. 26, 2007, after years of legal wrangling, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to Maher Arar and announced that he would be receiving 12.5 million dollars in compensation.
In April 2005, Arar had accused Canadian government officials of being complicit with his torture after released documents revealed that they expressed an interest in information revealed during his interrogation.
In May 2007, Arar was selected by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people "whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming our world."
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from the state of Vermont, released a statement at the time that the Arar case "stands as a sad symbol" of how the post-9/11 United States has been willing to sacrifice basic human rights principles for the sake of security.
Duff Conacher, director of the Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, told IPS, "The information revealed last week was another example of the Government of Canada abusing its freedom of information laws and depriving the public's right to know basic information about their democratic process. What should be implemented is an exemption to the law that has a 'proof of harm' test and a public interest override -- the Commissioner should be given the power to order the release of documents."
(c) 2007 Inter Press Service
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
VANCOUVER - The Canadian government released on Aug. 9 previously redacted information regarding the Maher Arar torture scandal, in response to a Canadian court order. The government had argued that the information should be withheld due to "national security" concerns.
The new information directly implicates the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Arar's rendition to Syria, according to a statement by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, based in New York.
The documentation reveals that the CIA, with the acquiescence of Canadian diplomacy, was directly involved in making Arar an unknowing victim of their policy of rendition -- a de facto U.S. policy which allows security agencies to send a subject, who cannot legally be held, to a country that is willing to use aggressive and illegal tactics to obtain information from detainees.
A Syrian-born Canadian citizen, Arar was flying back home from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002 when he was detained by U.S. authorities during a layover in New York on charges of having links to the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda.
Despite his Canadian passport, he was deported to his country of origin, Syria, where he was held for almost a year, and was tortured by Syrian officials.
Arar's lawsuit in the United States, Arar vs. Ashcroft, was dismissed in February 2006 on national security and foreign policy grounds, but an appeal is moving forward.
"The information released by Canada is significant because it confirms that governments cannot be trusted when they claim to withhold information on national security grounds," Maria LaHood, senior attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, told IPS.
"The information is also significant because it shows that the CIA was involved, and that two days after Maher was jetted out of the U.S., before anyone knew where he was, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officials thought the U.S. wanted to send him to a country that 'could have their way with him' -- confirming that the U.S. officials who sent Maher to Syria did so to have him interrogated under torture," she said.
"The revelations from last week about complicity and torture confirm our worst suspicions of the dangers of unchecked executive power in a democracy," Jason Gratl, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, told IPS in an interview.
"The willingness of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to mislead the judiciary with respect to the origins of the information derived from torture demonstrates once again that balance of power must be rectified."
Gratl added that Canadians support an institution of accountability that would have jurisdiction over all national security matters, no matter the level of government or the ministry or department involved.
"This would mean that municipal and provincial police would be subject to rigorous oversight, including CSIS, the RCMP, immigration authorities and border security, if they fall in to the context of national security issues.
"We continue to believe Commissioner O'Connor's decision to increase powers to the RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner and SIRC (Security Intelligence Review Committee) continues to fracture the lines of accountability between the RCMP and other institutions. We can see how this manifests itself in the treatment of Arar, which self-evidently, CSIS and the RCMP were jointly responsible," said Gratl.
Maher Arar came to Canada in 1987. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering and worked in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.
Then, in 2002, he fell victim to the U.S.'s xenophobic security measures in the wake of the Sep. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington, and his nightmarish Orwellian journey began -- a Canadian sent to torture in Syria by U.S. authorities.
During the year that he was being held and tortured by Syrian security, his wife ran a tireless campaign to raise public awareness of his predicament.
Upon returning to Canada, after months of Ottawa's diplomatic ineptitude, he accused the United States and Canada of knowingly sending him to a country where torture is practised.
The quiet and unassuming Arar has since become a reluctant national symbol for constitutional rights.
The added complicity with U.S. security agencies has only added fuel to the fire domestically in Canada.
Arar's case has been symbolically tied to the George W. Bush administration's unpopular foreign policy in Canada.
On Jan. 26, 2007, after years of legal wrangling, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to Maher Arar and announced that he would be receiving 12.5 million dollars in compensation.
In April 2005, Arar had accused Canadian government officials of being complicit with his torture after released documents revealed that they expressed an interest in information revealed during his interrogation.
In May 2007, Arar was selected by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people "whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming our world."
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from the state of Vermont, released a statement at the time that the Arar case "stands as a sad symbol" of how the post-9/11 United States has been willing to sacrifice basic human rights principles for the sake of security.
Duff Conacher, director of the Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, told IPS, "The information revealed last week was another example of the Government of Canada abusing its freedom of information laws and depriving the public's right to know basic information about their democratic process. What should be implemented is an exemption to the law that has a 'proof of harm' test and a public interest override -- the Commissioner should be given the power to order the release of documents."
(c) 2007 Inter Press Service
VANCOUVER - The Canadian government released on Aug. 9 previously redacted information regarding the Maher Arar torture scandal, in response to a Canadian court order. The government had argued that the information should be withheld due to "national security" concerns.
The new information directly implicates the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Arar's rendition to Syria, according to a statement by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, based in New York.
The documentation reveals that the CIA, with the acquiescence of Canadian diplomacy, was directly involved in making Arar an unknowing victim of their policy of rendition -- a de facto U.S. policy which allows security agencies to send a subject, who cannot legally be held, to a country that is willing to use aggressive and illegal tactics to obtain information from detainees.
A Syrian-born Canadian citizen, Arar was flying back home from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002 when he was detained by U.S. authorities during a layover in New York on charges of having links to the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda.
Despite his Canadian passport, he was deported to his country of origin, Syria, where he was held for almost a year, and was tortured by Syrian officials.
Arar's lawsuit in the United States, Arar vs. Ashcroft, was dismissed in February 2006 on national security and foreign policy grounds, but an appeal is moving forward.
"The information released by Canada is significant because it confirms that governments cannot be trusted when they claim to withhold information on national security grounds," Maria LaHood, senior attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, told IPS.
"The information is also significant because it shows that the CIA was involved, and that two days after Maher was jetted out of the U.S., before anyone knew where he was, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officials thought the U.S. wanted to send him to a country that 'could have their way with him' -- confirming that the U.S. officials who sent Maher to Syria did so to have him interrogated under torture," she said.
"The revelations from last week about complicity and torture confirm our worst suspicions of the dangers of unchecked executive power in a democracy," Jason Gratl, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, told IPS in an interview.
"The willingness of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to mislead the judiciary with respect to the origins of the information derived from torture demonstrates once again that balance of power must be rectified."
Gratl added that Canadians support an institution of accountability that would have jurisdiction over all national security matters, no matter the level of government or the ministry or department involved.
"This would mean that municipal and provincial police would be subject to rigorous oversight, including CSIS, the RCMP, immigration authorities and border security, if they fall in to the context of national security issues.
"We continue to believe Commissioner O'Connor's decision to increase powers to the RCMP Public Complaints Commissioner and SIRC (Security Intelligence Review Committee) continues to fracture the lines of accountability between the RCMP and other institutions. We can see how this manifests itself in the treatment of Arar, which self-evidently, CSIS and the RCMP were jointly responsible," said Gratl.
Maher Arar came to Canada in 1987. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering and worked in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.
Then, in 2002, he fell victim to the U.S.'s xenophobic security measures in the wake of the Sep. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington, and his nightmarish Orwellian journey began -- a Canadian sent to torture in Syria by U.S. authorities.
During the year that he was being held and tortured by Syrian security, his wife ran a tireless campaign to raise public awareness of his predicament.
Upon returning to Canada, after months of Ottawa's diplomatic ineptitude, he accused the United States and Canada of knowingly sending him to a country where torture is practised.
The quiet and unassuming Arar has since become a reluctant national symbol for constitutional rights.
The added complicity with U.S. security agencies has only added fuel to the fire domestically in Canada.
Arar's case has been symbolically tied to the George W. Bush administration's unpopular foreign policy in Canada.
On Jan. 26, 2007, after years of legal wrangling, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology to Maher Arar and announced that he would be receiving 12.5 million dollars in compensation.
In April 2005, Arar had accused Canadian government officials of being complicit with his torture after released documents revealed that they expressed an interest in information revealed during his interrogation.
In May 2007, Arar was selected by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people "whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming our world."
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from the state of Vermont, released a statement at the time that the Arar case "stands as a sad symbol" of how the post-9/11 United States has been willing to sacrifice basic human rights principles for the sake of security.
Duff Conacher, director of the Ottawa-based Democracy Watch, told IPS, "The information revealed last week was another example of the Government of Canada abusing its freedom of information laws and depriving the public's right to know basic information about their democratic process. What should be implemented is an exemption to the law that has a 'proof of harm' test and a public interest override -- the Commissioner should be given the power to order the release of documents."
(c) 2007 Inter Press Service
"I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away," said the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde.
The inaugural interfaith service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday proceeded with the usual prayers and music, but after delivering her sermon, the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde appeared to go off-script and made a direct appeal to President Donald Trump.
Recalling the Republican president's assertion on Monday that he was "saved by God" after a bullet hit his ear in an assassination attempt in July, Budde asked Trump, who was seated in the church, "in the name of our God... to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now."
"There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families," said Budde, "some who fear for their lives. And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals."
"I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here," said Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C.
Budde's appeal followed Trump's signing of 26 executive orders in his first day in office, with dozens more expected in the first days of his second term. The president signed orders ending birthright citizenship—provoking legal challenges from immigrant rights groups and state attorneys general—and pausing refugee admissions, leading to devastation among people who had been waiting for asylum appointments at ports of entry. Official proclamations declared a national emergency at the southern border and asserted that the entry of migrants there is an "invasion."
Trump also took executive action to declare that the federal government recognizes only two sexes, male and female.
"May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people in this nation and the world," said Budde in her address to Trump.
The president kept his eyes on Budde for much of her speech, at one point looking annoyed and casting his eyes downward. Vice President JD Vance leaned over and spoke to his wife, Usha Vance, as Budde talked about undocumented immigrants, and raised his eyebrows when she said the majority of immigrants are not criminals.
Trump later told reporters that the service was "not too exciting."
"I didn't think it was a good service," he said. "They can do much better."
Democratic strategist Keith Edwards applauded Budde's decision to speak directly to the president, calling her "incredibly brave."
Budde "confronted Trump's fascism to his face," he said on the social media platform Bluesky.
The study was published as President Donald Trump was blasted for an executive order that one critic said shows he wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the "the world's largest gas station."
For thousands of years, the land areas of the Arctic have served as a "carbon sink," storing potential carbon emissions in the permafrost. But according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change Tuesday, more than 34% of the Arctic is now a source of carbon to the atmosphere, as permafrost melts and the Arctic becomes greener.
"When emissions from fire were added, the percentage grew to 40%," according to the Woodwell Climate Research Center, which led the international team that conducted the research.
The study, which was first reported on by The Guardian, was released the day after President Donald Trump issued multiple presidential actions influencing the United States' ability to confront the climate crisis, which is primarily caused by fossil fuel emissions, including one directly impacting resource extraction in Alaska, a section of which is within the Arctic Circle.
Sue Natali, one of the researchers who worked on the study published in Nature Climate Change, told NPR in December (in reference to similar research) that the Arctic's warming "is not an issue of what party you support."
"This is something that impacts everyone," she said.
As the permafrost—ground that remains frozen for two or more years—holds less carbon, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere that could "considerably exacerbate climate change," according to the study.
"There is a load of carbon in the Arctic soils. It's close to half of the Earth's soil carbon pool. That's much more than there is in the atmosphere. There's a huge potential reservoir that should ideally stay in the ground," said Anna Virkkala, the lead author of the study, in an interview with The Guardian.
The dire warning was released on the heels of Trump's executive order titled "Unleashing the Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential" that calls for expedited "permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska," as well as for the prioritization of "development of Alaska's liquefied natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region."
The order also rolls back a number of Biden-era restrictions on drilling and extraction in Alaska, which included protecting areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas leasing.
"Alaska is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, a trend that is wreaking havoc on communities, ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and ways of life that depend on healthy lands and waters," said Carole Holley, managing attorney for the Alaska Office of the environmental group Earthjustice, in a statement Monday.
"Earthjustice and its clients will not stand idly by while Trump once again forces a harmful industry-driven agenda on our state for political gain and the benefit of a wealthy few," she added.
Trump wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the "the world's largest gas station," said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, in a statement Monday. "Make no mistake, Trump's rushed and sloppy actions today are an existential threat to these lands and waters, and the communities and wildlife that depend on them."
The U.N. ambassador nominee also shrugged off the Nazi salutes made by Elon Musk on Inauguration Day.
As U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik faced questioning by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday regarding her nomination for a top diplomatic position, the rights group Jewish Voice for Peace Action called on lawmakers to consider her "record of antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, anti-immigrant, and anti-democracy rhetoric and policy" and block her confirmation.
Stefanik's (R-N.Y.) record was reinforced at the hearing as she was asked about her views on Palestine, expressions of antisemitism in the United States, and far-right Israeli leaders' political agenda, with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) recalling a meeting he had with the congresswoman after President Donald Trump nominated her to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
At the meeting, Van Hollen said, Stefanik had expressed support for the idea that Israel has a Biblical right to control the entire West Bank—a position that is held by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, but runs counter to the two-state solution that the U.S. government has long supported.
"Is that your view today?" asked Van Hollen, to which Stefanik replied, "Yes."
Van Hollen noted that Stefanik's viewpoint also flies in the face of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions and international consensus about the Middle East conflict.
"If the president is going to succeed at bringing peace and stability to the Middle East, we're going to have to look at the U.N. Security Council resolutions," said the senator. "And it's going to be very difficult to achieve that if you continue to hold the view that you just expressed, which is a view that was not held by the founders of the state of Israel."
Stefanik also refused to answer a direct question from Van Hollen regarding whether Palestinian people have the right to self-determination, saying only that she supports "human rights for all" and pivoting to a call for Israeli hostages to be released by Hamas.
Jenin Younes, litigation counsel with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, said Stefanik expressed "religious fanaticism, pure and simple" at the confirmation hearing—which was held as Israeli settlers and soldiers ramped up attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
"That [Stefanik] will now play a major role with respect to our foreign policy in the region is terrifying," said Younes.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Action noted that in addition to supporting "the Israeli government's brutal genocide of Palestinians," Stefanik has also "amplified the antisemitic Great Replacement theory"—which claims the influence and power of white Christian Americans is being deliberately diminished by Jewish Americans and immigration policy.
Despite her support for the debunked conspiracy theory, Stefanik made headlines last year for her accusations against college students, faculty, and administrators over the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that exploded across campuses as Americans spoke out against Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza. The congresswoman said the protests were expressions of antisemitism and pushed for the resignation of university leaders who declined to discipline students who spoke out against Israel.
The hearings where Stefanik lambasted college leaders "were part of a broader campaign to silence anti-war activism and dissent on college campuses while forwarding the MAGA culture war campaign against [diversity, equity, and inclusion], critical race theory, and LGBTQ+ rights," said JVP Action.
An exchange between Stefanik and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Tuesday also raised questions over Stefanik's views on antisemitism. Murphy asked the nominee about the Nazi salute twice displayed by billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk—whom the president has named to lead his proposed Department of Government Efficiency—at an event Monday night.
" Elon Musk did not do those salutes," Stefanik asserted.
Murphy countered by reading several comments from right-wing commentators who applauded Musk's "Heil Hitler" salute.
"Over and over again last night, white supremacist groups and neo-Nazi groups in this country rallied around that visual," said Murphy.
JVP Action said Stefanik has "deeply embraced Trump's anti-democratic agenda."
"Her nomination must be blocked," said the group.