As a Canadian who was born in Syria, I was very aware of the Michael Arar case mentioned in this clip. It was a scary wake-up call for me, making me realize how the “war on terror” had diverged from its original mission.
Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was detained in 2002 at JFK airport in New York and rather than being sent home to Canada was “rendered” to Syria, where he was detained in a coffin-sized cell for a year and tortured by the authorities. The U.S. government alleged that Arar has connections to Al Qaeda, but a judicial inquiry in Canada concluded that there is no evidence to support that. Eventually, Arar received an apology from the Canadian government, along with $10.5 million in damages. {hat tip to Alternet}
By the way, it gets really good halfway through.
Wow, he tore right into Gonzalez! We were all relived when the Canadian government recognized the error of its ways and compensated Maher Arar. There was also amazement expressed that the US government did not follow suit in recognizing any wrong-doing on their part. I understand how the US government can’t just follow suit with what another government does, but Canadians don’t take the high road just for the heck of it.