Mar. 30, 2005 - 16:52 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

In The Name Of What Justice ?

There has been much talk of such things recently, enough that the old, "Where's there's smoke there's fire," might well have a bearing on things. An article in the Rocky Mountain News this morning by Scott Shane of The New York Times is a case in point. In full:

Suit: U.S. forced suspect to Syria

WASHINGTON -- "Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States, saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 when he changed planes in New York and transported him to Syria."

"There, he says he was held for 10 months in a dank, tiny cell and brutally beaten with a metal cable."

"Federal aviation records examined by The New York Times appear to corroborate Arar's account of his flight, during which, he says, he sat chained on the leather seats of a luxury executive jet while his American guards watched movies and ignored his protests."

"The tale of Arar, the subject of a year long inquiry by the Canadian government, is perhaps the best documented of a number of cases since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in which suspects have accused the United States of secretly delivering them to other countries, a practice known as RENDITION, for interrogation under torture."

"In papers filed in a New York court replying to Arar's lawsuit, Justice Department lawyers say the case was not one of rendition but of deportation. They say Arar was deported to Syria based on secret information that he was a member of al-Qaida, an accusation he denies."

"The discovery of the aircraft, in a database compiled from Federal Aviation Agency records, appears to corroborate part of the story Arar has told many times since his release in 2003. The records show that a Gulfstream III jet, tail number N829MG, followed a flight path matching the route he described. The flight, hopscotching from New Jersey to Virginia to Maine to Rome and beyond, took place of Oct. 8, 2002, the day after Arar's deportation order was signed."

After seeing a photograph of the plane and hearing its path, Arar, 35, of Ottawa, said: "I think that's it. I think you've found the plane that took me." He added: "Finding this plane is going really to help me. It does remind me of this trip, which is painful, but it should make people understand that this is for real and everything happened the way I said."

"Records of the jet's travels also show a trip in December 2003 to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States holds hundreds of "detainees", suggesting that it was used by the government on at least one other occasion."

"Maria LaHood, a lawyer for Arar, said the new information on the Gulfstream jet lends support to his lawsuit. "The facts we got from Maher right after he was released are now corroborated by public records," LaHood said."

Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, said the government had no comment on the case."

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Opinion goes here:

Of course Justice won't comment on a suit pending.

Rendition, now that is a strange word. Reminds me of "rendering" wherein the fat is cooked off from meat. Rendition perhaps cooking off suspected information ? Under torture ? Eeeew, is our country doing things like this ?

And they sent him to Syria, a country which is dictatorial, one which I think we do not have great friendship for and that we should send anyone from our country to a country like that for "interrogation" makes me shudder.

And if he was suspected of being al Qaida, why was he shipped to Syria ? ? ? ? ?

To how many other countries are we shipping people we think might have a connection of some kind or other with people we suspect have ulterior motives ? To be rendered ?

Secret information rears its ugly head as it always seems to do nowadays. I wonder if that "secret information" is just some one in our governments idea that someone might just be an enemy, and why isn't the source of the information and its viability let out to the public ? Someday, will I or some acquaintance of mine be shipped off to some country which condones torture just because we don't agree with our administration ?

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In the same paper, the same day is an Associated Press article. In part:

"Thirty eight detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been declared not to be "enemy combatants" and are eligible for release, the Pentagon said Tuesday."

"The people held at Guantanamo are mostly Afghans, Pakistanis and others captured after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. They were labeled "enemy combatants," which the Bush administration decided did not afford them status as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions."

"Navy Secretary Gordon England, who is overseeing that and another related review of the detainee cases, told a Pentagon news conference that five of the 38 have been sent to their home countries. The 33 others are still at the U.S. Navy base awaiting transportation."

"Asked whether there was a common thread in the 38 cases in which detainees were said to no longer be enemy combatants, England said they had "thin files" -- meaning insufficient supporting evidence." The State Department is making arrangements for their return home. England also is overseeing a review of detainees to determine whether they remain a security threat to the United States."

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Of course I am an old fogey, but weren't most "prisoners of war" combatants " Dog tags and all ?

Some of those people have been held since October 2001 it seems. October 2004 would be three years plus since October 2004 to March 2005. No longer labeled as "enemy combatants", now all of a sudden they are not "enemy combatants" (a feral oops ! federal definition) and pose no threat to our country now -- if they really ever did.

I see nothing about apologies from our country, nothing about recompense to them and nothing about the mode of travel nor amenities they will have in transit. Wonder if Gulfstream III jet, tail number N829Mg will be pressed into service ? They just aren't "enemy combatants" anymore - - - nuff said by our government. Seems like they don't want to talk anymore about any of it.

All of this has taken place In The Name Of What Justice ? . . . . . . . . . . .

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