White House Sides w/ Bush DOJ re: Canadian Rendition Victim:

Obama Administration Sides with Bush DOJ, Asks Supreme Court to Keep Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar from His Day in Court

NEW YORK - May 13 - Late yesterday, the Obama Department of Justice chose to weigh in for the first time on the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) case on behalf of Canadian citizen Maher Arar against U.S. officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured and detained for a year.

Lower courts concluded that Mr. Arar’s suit raised too many sensitive foreign policy and secrecy issues to allow his case to proceed. If the Court of Appeals decision is allowed to stand, say rights groups, the federal officials involved will remain free of any civil accountability for what they did to an innocent man.
The Obama Administration has opposed Mr. Arar’s petition for certiorari, arguing that his case was properly dismissed, and that the Supreme Court should not consider it. The Obama administration could have settled the case, recognizing the wrongs done to Mr. Arar – as Canada itself has done. Yet it chose to come to the defense of Bush administration officials, arguing that even if they conspired to send Maher Arar to torture, they should not be held accountable by the judiciary.

CCR attorneys say the Supreme Court should hear the case because the Court of Appeals’ decision not only contradicts other Supreme Court decisions but also raises issues of national importance by failing to hold federal officials accountable for violating Mr. Arar’s constitutional rights and preventing him from going to court to stop his removal to torture, a right explicitly provided by Congress.
Said Georgetown law professor and CCR cooperating attorney David Cole, “The Bush administration sent an innocent man to be tortured in Syria, and blocked his every opportunity to seek judicial protection. Now the Obama administration, instead of acknowledging the wrongs that were done, has continued its predecessor’s claim that there ought not be any accountability. We are deeply disappointed, and hope that the Supreme Court will step in and provide justice where the other branches have utterly failed to do so.”
Mr. Arar alleges that the U.S. officials named in the suit conspired with Syrian officials to have him tortured in Syria, delivered Mr. Arar to his torturers, provided them with a dossier on him and questions to ask him, and obtained the answers tortured out of him. The legal arguments in the case revolve around whether U.S. officials can be sued for damages if that is the only remedy available to the victim, whether the officials acted “under color of foreign law” with Syria, and whether Mr. Arar has a right to pursue his claims under the Torture Victim Protection Act, among others.

Said CCR Senior Attorney Maria LaHood, “The Obama administration did not have to support Bush administration officials in opposing Maher’s quest for justice in the courts. But instead of apologizing to Maher and righting the wrongs of its predecessors, the Obama administration has chosen to hold onto the unbridled power it has been granted and obstruct accountability for torture. That is certainly not ‘change...

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/05/13-3


more on Mr. Arar, here:

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8110065&mesg_id=8110065

with both this White House and the Justice Department. I'm certain that they must be terrified of what would come of allowing truth and information of the previous Administration to come out.

..I am done..

I hope they have more regard for Canadian citizenship than we do for American.

When they refused to hold the Bush administration accountable I knew we were in big trouble.

for over a year.

And it always blows back, always.

Not to mention treasonous.

You write, "When they refused to hold the Bush administration accountable I knew we were in big trouble."

I wanted indictments of everyone who committed crimes, up to and including Bush if the evidence would support it (as I suspect it would). Nevertheless, I recognized the political calculation (can't alienate millions of centrists by pursuing a course they'd see as vindictive). I thought that context would prevent any action against high-ranking officials. I was prepared, with reluctance, to live with that.

Here's why this is worse: Obama could have arranged to pay substantial compensation to this victim of gross U.S. misconduct, and it wouldn't have raised anywhere near the kind of political storm that would have followed indictments at the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld level. It would have been at least a small step toward acknowledging the crimes that were committed.

Yet he won't even do that.

Of course I don't regret voting for him in November. I do now regret traveling to Pennsylvania to go door-to-door for him, when there were worthier candidates I could've helped closer to home. I expect that, in 2012, he'll again get my vote, but this time that's all he'll get.

CSIS (our CIA) provided false information about Arar to American intelligence authorities. Of course, they didn't say WHAT the false information WAS.

:silly:

;)

:cry:

For some reason I'm not surprised, and yet on another level I'm appalled. Human and Civil Rights should ALWAYS be above "national security".

From Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.



These words express clear ideals. This decision betrays them.

I will continue holding him to the principles he espoused and the ones we supported.
He clearly needs the reminder of that.

Hope all is well with you.

:hi:

Posts about President Obama must contain one of the following:

1) Something about chess
2) Something about the Repukes doing it too
3) Something about criticism being racist

Learn the rules or gtfo.

:sarcasm:

American Crusade 2001+ is moving forward without a glitch. :wow: :grr: :wow:

http://yorick.infinitejest.org:81/1/img/card-human_rights.jpg http://yorick.infinitejest.org:81/1/img/card-secret_detainees.jpg