VBS.TV Blog

STATE SECRETS

November 03, 2009
by IAN WINTHROP

Non-terrorist Maher Arar was detained by US officials on a stopover at JFK airport on his way back to Canada after vacation. His captors accused Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, of being a terrorist and shipped him off to the Palestine Branch of the Syrian Military Intelligence where he was tortured, starved, and forced to live in a closet-sized prison cell, or “grave” cell as it’s known in the biz. In case you hear the “T” word so often that it’s lost all meaning for you, here’s a brief idea list of what that means: Arar was hung upside-down in a tire; beaten with electrical cords, fists, and feet; forced to sit in a “spine-breaking” chair; and, of course, shocked with electric charges. A few forced confessions later, Arar was put on trial and found guilty of absolutely nothing. The Canadian Prime Minister apologized and paid $9 million for Canada’s part in rendering Arar to the United States and their Syrian henchmen. The good ol’ US of A, on the other hand, dismissed Arar’s case against the government because the court, basically, refuses to scrutinize government action for fear of reveal state secrets or undermining the executive branch, or something. In the words of the ruling:

“Providing a damages remedy against senior officials who implement an extraordinary rendition policy would enmesh the courts ineluctably in an assessment of the validity of the rationale of that policy and its implementation in this particular case, matters that directly affect significant diplomatic and national security concerns”

At times like this a system of checks and balances sounds like a pretty good idea.