2008 Woodie Awards
Use of secret detainment, torture program violates human rights
By: Kevin Huelsmann
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Opinion & Editorial
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President George Bush is a beacon of human rights, an exemplary model of human decency and honesty. He ushered in a fruitful era of compassionate conservatism and has helped fight the good fight against democracy-hating terrorists.
What doesn't make sense is why he would secretly send people to clandestine prisons to be tortured and held without any scrap of a charge. This just can't be. These two things cannot co-exist. On one hand, Bush has repeatedly said the U.S. government doesn't support torture, nor does it have knowledge of any secret prisons.
"Torture is never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture," Bush said in an interview with the New York Times. In an April 2005 press conference he said, "We operate within the law and send people to countries where they say they're not going to torture people ... We're going to do everything we can to protect us. And we've got guidelines. We've got law."
Maybe someone should let Maher Arar and Khaled El-Masri know the United States is "honoring our commitment to not torture people," and that "we've got law."
Arar, a Canadian engineer of Syrian descent, was apprehended September 2002 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He was returning home from a family vacation in Tunisia. Arar had been placed on the United States' Watch List because of his ties to a suspected terrorist.
The man was the brother of someone Arar had worked with and whom Arar said he barely knew. After being detained in New York for 13 days, Arar was flown to Syria and detained. In Syria, Arar said he was interrogated and repeatedly tortured.
In an interview with Jane Mayer from The New Yorker, Arar said the pain was so bad that, " ... you forget the milk that you have been fed from the breast of your mother ... You just give up. You become like an animal."
In October 2003, more than a year after his initial detainment, Arar was released. There had been no formal charges against him at any point of his detention. The Ambassador for Syria, Imad Moustapha, announced his country had found no connection between Arar and any terrorists nor any terror activity. Moustapha said Arar had been sent to Syria on orders from the U.S. government. The orders had been given as part of a program known as extraordinary rendition.
What doesn't make sense is why he would secretly send people to clandestine prisons to be tortured and held without any scrap of a charge. This just can't be. These two things cannot co-exist. On one hand, Bush has repeatedly said the U.S. government doesn't support torture, nor does it have knowledge of any secret prisons.
"Torture is never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture," Bush said in an interview with the New York Times. In an April 2005 press conference he said, "We operate within the law and send people to countries where they say they're not going to torture people ... We're going to do everything we can to protect us. And we've got guidelines. We've got law."
Maybe someone should let Maher Arar and Khaled El-Masri know the United States is "honoring our commitment to not torture people," and that "we've got law."
Arar, a Canadian engineer of Syrian descent, was apprehended September 2002 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. He was returning home from a family vacation in Tunisia. Arar had been placed on the United States' Watch List because of his ties to a suspected terrorist.
The man was the brother of someone Arar had worked with and whom Arar said he barely knew. After being detained in New York for 13 days, Arar was flown to Syria and detained. In Syria, Arar said he was interrogated and repeatedly tortured.
In an interview with Jane Mayer from The New Yorker, Arar said the pain was so bad that, " ... you forget the milk that you have been fed from the breast of your mother ... You just give up. You become like an animal."
In October 2003, more than a year after his initial detainment, Arar was released. There had been no formal charges against him at any point of his detention. The Ambassador for Syria, Imad Moustapha, announced his country had found no connection between Arar and any terrorists nor any terror activity. Moustapha said Arar had been sent to Syria on orders from the U.S. government. The orders had been given as part of a program known as extraordinary rendition.
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