We should all be proud. Recently, when President Bush was asked a question by a reporter he replied emphatically, “We don”t torture.” Maybe in this case he told the truth, but it is clear from many news reports the Bush administration is not only promoting the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries, they are also outsourcing people who are suspected of being terrorists or having connections to such groups, to be tortured. They call this outsourcing “renditioning.”
A case in point is that of a Canadian man, Mr. Maher Arar, who was arrested at JFK airport in New York on suspicion of his involvement in terrorist organizations based on inaccurate information from Canadian authorities. He was questioned for several days in New York without access to a lawyer, then deported to Syria where he was born.
In Syria, he was imprisoned for almost one year and tortured, all because he was suspected of wrongdoing. The Canadian authorities have since made it abundantly clear that this was a tragic mistake.
Apparently, the same kind of grievous mistake has befallen other suspects.
Yes, we can be proud when Bush declares, “We don”t torture.”
Charles S. Nicoll
Lucerne
