Five Years Late, An Apology
Posted on | October 20, 2007
A Canadian wrongly detained in the United States and wrongly given over to torture in Syria has finally won an apology from some in Congress–who had little directly to do with the matter:
Members of a Congressional committee have issued an apology to Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was wrongly detained at JFK Airport in 2002 as a suspected terrorist and subjected to extraordinary rendition to Syria, where he was tortured into making a false confession.
Arar thanked the Congressmembers by video link because, even though an investigation has cleared him of any terrorist connections, he is still on a watch list and not allowed into the United States. The Bush administration has never apologized to Arar and is working to block his lawsuit against the US government.
However, now Congressmen of both parties, even some like Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) who still support the practice of rendition, have come together to acknowledge the wrong that was committed.
No apology is forthcoming from the White House that oversaw it all, and the media continue to ignore Arar’s story.
