Ashcroft Deserves To Be Sued

Jan 28 2004
Counterbias.com
Robert Furs

  I’m sure we were all touched and mired in deep gratitude when the US government promised to let our government know before sending our non-terrorist citizens off to be tortured in a nation known for inhumane treatment of prisoners. Somehow, this unbelievably weak agreement had been painted as one of the biggest achievements between President Bush and Prime Minister Martin on their first meeting.

 You can just imagine how incredibly important and successful an epiphany this agreement was to US-Canada relations, and fundamental human rights in general. Well, not quite.

 The Canadian government, unsurprisingly, has chosen to take a rather soft stance on the Issue.

 Fortunately, Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen sent off to Syria for no good reason and then tortured for no good reason (no, American government incompetence and arrogance are not “good reasons”), is taking the matter into his own scarred hands.

 Arar is suing US Attorney General John Ashcroft, the czar of the rights-assailing campaign to apprehend terrorists in the US . Ashcroft is loved by few, and hated by many worried about infringements upon civil rights by Ashcroft’s actions, especially the Orwellian-named Patriot Act.

 The US State Department has, for years, listed Syria as a nation that engages in systematic torture of prisoners. George W Bush, in a recent speech, referred to Syria as having “a legacy of torture and oppression.” Yet, oddly enough, the US recently attempted to defend themselves against the deportation of Arar by claiming that Syria had told them that he’d be treated “humanely.”

Common sense would insist that it's not In America's best Interest to trust the claims of a nation that they themselves denounce for a “legacy of torture and oppression.” But when did common sense ever play a part In the US government's oft-occurring spin on the facts?

According to the 21 January broadcast of 60 Minutes II, “Torture in Syrian prisons is well-documented. The state department’s own report cites an array of gruesome tortures routinely used in Syrian jails.” When Arar was told where he was being deported, he said, “the first thing I did was I started crying, because everyone knows that Syria practices torture.” He continued, “When I arrived there, I saw the photos of the Syrian president, and that’s why I realized I was indeed in Syria ... I wished I had a knife in my hand to kill myself.”

The actions of Ashcroft & Co., specifically, deportation of an Individual with full knowledge of the torture awaiting them at their destination, Is Illegal according to the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991. Signed Into law by none other than George W. Bush's father.

Of course, there is fault on the Canadian side, as well. The possibility that our own officials passively allowed a Canadian, with no proof of any wrongdoing, to be deported to Syria , Is an ugly one. The matter must be looked into, and as the facts unfold, it surely will be--but It Is so far clear that Ashcroft's crime-busters have committed a crime of their own, with or without some Canadian assistance.

The actions of the US government in this affair, as well as the marginally weak Canadian response, are unacceptable. Arar’s decision to sue John Ashcroft (and seventeen other American officials, including Tom Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller) is certainly an appropriate one. Ashcroft, who by many accounts is an extremist, is the main man responsible for apprehending terrorists. Is America ’s top job in the “war on terror,” the task of finding and apprehending extremists, capable of being performed optimally by a man who himself is often considered an extremist? Ashcroft and the Patriot Act are not staying true to American ideals in the fight against terrorists—American rights and liberties—and by association Canadian ones—are being diluted. Hopefully a dose of that other form of American justice, the lawsuit, will show the negligent American authorities that arrogance and negligence don’t pay when dealing with Canadian citizens.