Lost in the glare of New Brunswick’s elections and post-election reporting last week were two events of significance to Canadians;

• the release of Ontario Justice Dennis O’Connor’s “Findings of Inquiry” in respect to Maher Arar, and,
• the bizarre spectacle of U.S. President George W. Bush lobbying the U.S. Congress for permissible torture legislation.

Mahar Arar was the Canadian of Syrian birth who in 2002, following the attacks of 9/11 was deported to Syria by U.S. Immigration officials (or the CIA) and allegedly tortured by the Syrians. The RCMP had suspected Arar of being part of a group of Islamic extremists linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist movement and provided this information to U.S. officials. Mr. Arar was returning from Tunisia via New York when he was detained by U.S. Immigration.

At issue in Justice O’Connor’s inquiry were four things:

• Was Canada complicit in Arar’s removal to Syria?
• Did the RCMP knowingly provide the U.S. with false information?
• Was Arar tortured by Syrian Intelligence?
• Could Canada have done more to secure Mr. Arar’s release from U.S. Immigration and later imprisonment in Syria?

Justice O’Connor concluded that the decision to ship Arar to Syria was made by the United States Immigration Service (or the CIA) without agreement or knowledge of the Canadian Government.

Indeed Canada had provided legal assistance for Mr. Arar in New York but apparently the Americans hustled him off to Syria in the middle of the night before the legals could help him. Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that when the United States sent Arar to Syria, “the deportation order stated unequivocally that Mr. Arar was a member of Al Qaeda but a few days earlier, Canadian investigators had told the F.B.I. that they had not been able to link Arar to the terrorist group”.

Context is important here.

Post 9/11, the Muslim community was put under intense scrutiny and anyone associating with known or suspected supporters of al Qaeda, casually or otherwise was put on a watch list.

Justice Connor concluded that information provided by the RCMP in respect to Arar had no basis in fact. The Mounties may have erred in judgment when they passed Mr. Arar’s name to the U.S. and for that they need reprimand but not the abuse heaped on them by our national media and Justice O’Connor.

As to the matter of torture, there are conflicting reports. Some suggest Mr. Arar was not tortured. Apparently the Canadian Consul in Damascus visited Mr. Arar in prison and did not observe signs of torture.

Justice Connor says unequivocally that Arar was tortured but doesn’t tell us how he arrived at this conclusion. U.S. officials refused to testify at the inquiry. I’m not sure if Arar testified yet Justice O’Connor concluded that he was tortured and says Canadian officials should have assumed he was tortured.

Some of the Commission’s testimony was taken in-camera (no public allowed) so we may never know the full story. What we do know is that Arar has surrounded himself with a high priced legal team. He orchestrates a very professional public relations campaign and I understand he has launched a $5 million lawsuit against the Government of Canada, the RCMP and others he blames for his deportation.

Could Canada have done more to prevent Arar’s deportation or his alleged torture? Not likely.

Canada has no authority and no influence in Syria. Could the U.S. have intervened with Syria on Arar’s behalf? Theoretically yes, but keep in mind it was the U.S. that deported the man to Syria. A U.S. Administration obsessed with terrorists and the right to torture is not likely to intervene on behalf of a torturee.

Consider that U.S. President George W. Bush asserted before Congress recently that U.S. laws against torture and Congressional oversight of such activity should apply only to interrogations that take place on American soil. In his view, if the CIA uses "alternative procedures" in Iraq, or Syria, or in secret CIA prisons abroad, those should not be considered illegal

The Geneva Convention’s Common Article III on the treatment of captured prisoners is quite clear and specific: no country is permitted to use "cruel" treatment or "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment" on prisoners in its care.

Bush says that’s too vague and CIA interrogators need "latitude" in interrogating and torturing suspects.

The Pentagon's senior lawyers accept the clarity of Geneva and openly disagree with the Bush interpretation. Colin Powell, Bush's former Secretary of State joins in opposing the President’s legislation, warning that "the world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism."

Senator John McCain (who was tortured as a POW in Hanoi) and others point out that the U.S. would put its captured troops in great jeopardy of "cruel and degrading" treatment - torture - similar to what the CIA or its proxies are/were meting out in secret prisons abroad.

At a recent news conference, Bush suggested that Senators McCain and his Senate colleagues were endangering U.S. security by opposing his legislation to allow harsh interrogation of detainees. The Bill passed Congress on Wednesday. On Thursday, it was passed by the Senate.

For the first time in the history of the planet, a government may have legalized torture.

On Thursday Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli apologized for the RCMP’s contribution to the U.S. decision to deport Arar to Syria. The Government of Canada is considering making a formal protest to Washington on the matter.

Good luck, so long as George W. Bush is President, there will be no apology from the United States for mid-night transfers of suspected terrorists to countries of torture and there will be no apology for Mr. Arar’s deportation to Syria and his alleged torture.

W.E. (Bill) Belliveau is a Shediac resident and Moncton business consultant. He can be contacted at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com Atlantic Insight is a published Blog inventory of opinion articles published weekly in New Brunswick's print media as written by W.E. (Bill) Belliveau, who is a resident of Shediac, New Brunswick, and small business owner, operating his Moncton-based marketing consultancy, Bell Strategic. He can be reached by e-mail at bill.bellstrategic@nb.aibn.com