Andrew Sullivan, Patrick Leahy, Alberto Gonzales, and Maher Arar
Technorati Tags: Patrick Leahy, Alberto Gonzales, Maher Arar, Canada, Syria, renditioning, torture
Do yourself a favor, and listen to the audio Andrew Sullivan has posted, of Sen. Patrick Leahy blasting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, after Gonzales tells Leahy that the U.S. was assured by the Syrian government that Maher Arar would not be tortured:
It was a highlight of the Senate Judiciary Hearings on detainee policies last week. Senator Leahy rightly dragged the legal lickspittle Gonzales over the coals. The rage in Leahy's voice is completely justified: the idea that the U.S. sent a terror suspect to Syria for interrogation, and didn't expect him to be tortured, is preposterous. Gonzales, Bush and Ashcroft were comfortable with that because they are comfortable with torture. There's not a freedom Gonzales wouldn't undermine, not a right he wouldn't qualify, if his political patrons asked him to. Listen to the section of the hearings related to the rendition of Canadian Maher Arar, a man tortured by a vile regime at the behest of the United States. Listen and get angry again. Anger is necessary. Extreme anger is necessary. Don't get numb. Get mad.
1 comment:
Leahy's questioning was certainly forceful. It remains to be seen if Gonzales comes up with any significant new evidence. Canadian authorities saw the data and did not change their mind--and our justice minister Stockwell Day is himself a right wing evangelical type.
There is a new inquiry called into the case of three Canadians imprisoned and tortured in SYria: The Iacobucci inquiry. It may very well show Canadian intelligence complicity in having these three arrested.
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