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Apologies to Mr. Baer. He is, of course, no
longer "a memeber of the CIA". The CIA is probably anxious to ship him off
to Egypt.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 10:51
AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] The Arar
Case
After I sent my posting off, I listened to an
interview with Robert Baer, a member of the CIA who worked in the Middle
East as a field officer. What Baer said was that the CIA could not
use the kind of methods other countries use to elicit information.
Syria, he said, was where they sent people who needed pretty rough treatment
to get them to talk. The fact that Syrian authorities let Arar go
suggests that he is innocent. However, the Syrians continue to hold and
torture another Canadian with suspected Al Qada ties because they are not yet
convinced he has told them everything he knows.
Why is Syria doing this for the Americans?
According to Baer, it is very worried about becoming the next Iraq, so it
plays covert ball in whatever way it can.
Baer also said that suspects are sent to other
countries, depending on what the CIA wants done with them. If it want
them to disappear without a trace, it sends them to Egypt.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 8:46
AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] The Arar
Case
Ed, you wrote:
Send the bastard to Syria.
They'll know how to look after him.
What this suggests is that there is closer collaboration between the
Bush Administration and Syria than had been thought.
Bill
It is rather odd how people come out of the woodwork when there isn’t
much reason to stay in anymore. Responding to public outrage over the
Maher Arar case, Canadian politicians are now getting mildly bellicose, or
at least making some pretense at doing so. Our Prime Minister, who said
absolutely nothing about the case when Arar was being confined and
tortured in Syria is going to demand answers from the Americans, but he’s
leaving politics so he won’t be around to field the answers, if they come,
which is unlikely. Bill Graham, the Canadian foreign affairs minister, who
exudes about as much energy as a wet mop, is going to ask Colin Powell
about Arar’s deportation. Well, good luck there too.
Arar, for those very few who are not familiar with the case, is the
Canadian citizen and software engineer who was detained in New York while
changing planes on his way back to Canada. Strangely instead of being
allowed to continue on to Canada, he was deported to Syria, his
birthplace. An alternative might have been to detain him in the US, along
with ever so many other people who are in secret detention without being
charged. However, it would seem that wasn’t an option either. Send the
bastard to Syria. They’ll know how to look after him.
Arar is now back in Canada after suffering ten months of isolated
detention and torture. Explanations are needed. Is he a genuine threat or
was he a victim of circumstances? What circumstances, and if mistakes were
made, who made them? Rights were violated and no charges were laid.
Please, somebody, tell us why. Don’t worry, says our soon to be gone Prime
Minister, the RCMP is conducting an internal inquiry, but what if the
Mounties have something to hide, as is probable? What role did the now
endemic paranoia in the US Administration play?
What is needed is a full public inquiry which will either vindicate Mr.
Arar or prove that we have something to fear from him. Mr. Arar is not
afraid of an inquiry so why, politicians, are you?
Ed
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