ah, the war on terror
Nov. 21st, 2003 05:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisyphusshruggedour trusted ally Syria:
those evil bastards, Syria:
Both articles are from this morning.
I think Ashcroft needs to ask Uncle Karl if he can use the red phone - Our Fearless Leader could be making a big mistake here.
After all, we have assurances.
Here's the interesting part: we have nothing, zip, zilch on what criteria the government uses to put people on their little list - you remember, the one they used to ascertain that Ahar was not to be afforded the benefit of the law or probable cause or international law?
Well, hey, unless you're one of those peace protesters or nuns who can't get an explanation of why they can't get on a plane because they're on a list these days and there's no way to find out why or who to make an appeal to, that's not a problem for you, is it?
Except,
U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft says the Bush administration received - and believed - assurances from Syria that it would not torture Maher Arar before deporting the Ottawa man to that Middle Eastern country.
His statement Thursday was met with derision by human-rights groups because it appears to be at odds with official U.S. government reports that say torture is a routine interrogation tool in Syria.
Mr. Arar, 33, a Syrian-born Canadian software engineer, says he was tortured and kept in solitary confinement in a dark, small, rat-infested prison cell in Damascus for more than 10 months.
He says he pleaded with U.S. officials to deport him to Canada because he feared torture in Syria.
Nevertheless, Mr. Ashcroft maintained that the deportation order was legal because the Syrians promised that Mr. Arar would not face torture if he was returned to the country of his birth.
Noting the Syrian government's recent denial that Mr. Arar had been tortured, Mr. Ashcroft told reporters “that statement is fully consistent with the assurances that the United States government received prior to the removal of Mr. Arar.”
As recently as two weeks ago, U.S. President George W. Bush denounced the Syrian regime for leaving its people “a legacy of torture, oppression, misery and ruin.”
The U.S. State Department, in its most recent report on human-rights abuses in Syria, said torture is common and the methods include beatings, electric shocks, pulling out fingernails, forcing objects into the rectum, and bending prisoners into the frame of a wheel while whipping exposed body parts.
It is illegal for the U.S. government to deport any individual to a country where it can expect the person will be tortured, said Joe Stork, a Middle East expert with Human Rights Watch.
The use of torture is “well documented in the case of Syria and it is pretty shameful” for the U.S. to have deported Mr. Arar to that country, Mr. Stork said.
“It is preposterous that U.S. authorities would even consider asking the Syrian government —- a government that Washington itself has identified as having an abysmal human rights record —- to give that kind of assurance” that Mr. Arar would not be tortured, Alex Neve, the secretary-general of the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, said.
“It is outrageous that anybody in the U.S. government would believe such promises from a government like Syria, which regularly, consistently and cavalierly [flouts] international human-rights obligations,” Mr. Neve said.
The Arar case is receiving attention in U.S. news media and has started to raise uncomfortable questions for the Bush administration.
Mr. Ashcroft defended the decision to deport Mr. Arar to Syria on national security grounds even though he was travelling on his Canadian passport when he was arrested in September, 2002, at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“Mr. Arar was the subject of a lookout list for being a member of a known terrorist organization,” Mr. Ashcroft said. Thus, the deportation, he said, was “fully within our laws and the applicable international treaties and conventions.”
those evil bastards, Syria:
U.S. President George Bush said in remarks published on Friday that Washington would hold no rapprochement talks with Syria until it stopped supporting Palestinian and Islamist militant groups.
Bush, in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat Arabic daily during his visit to Britain, also told Damascus it had to halt the flow of fighters and weapons across its borders into Iraq.
Syria has said it is open to dialogue with Washington despite the threat of U.S. sanctions for its alleged support of terrorism.
''It is difficult to negotiate,'' the paper quoted Bush as saying.
''Let them stop terrorism. You either stop terrorism or you don't... they know what our position is and how we feel. The choice is theirs.''
The interview was conducted in English and published in Arabic.
The U.S. Congress this month voted for sanctions against Syria, but left it up to Bush to waive the penalties if he deemed it in the national interest.
Washington has long placed Syria on its list of states which support terrorism. Israel last month bombed what it said was a Palestinian guerrilla camp in Syria, in response to a Palestinian suicide bombing inside Israel.
Syria denies supporting terrorists and disputes Washington's definitions of ''terrorism.'' It has repeatedly denied that foreign militants are crossing its border to fight U.S. forces occupying Iraq.
Both articles are from this morning.
I think Ashcroft needs to ask Uncle Karl if he can use the red phone - Our Fearless Leader could be making a big mistake here.
After all, we have assurances.
Here's the interesting part: we have nothing, zip, zilch on what criteria the government uses to put people on their little list - you remember, the one they used to ascertain that Ahar was not to be afforded the benefit of the law or probable cause or international law?
“Mr. Arar was the subject of a lookout list for being a member of a known terrorist organization,” Mr. Ashcroft said. Thus, the deportation, he said, was “fully within our laws and the applicable international treaties and conventions.”
Well, hey, unless you're one of those peace protesters or nuns who can't get an explanation of why they can't get on a plane because they're on a list these days and there's no way to find out why or who to make an appeal to, that's not a problem for you, is it?
Except,
[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] _blank">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]
<lj-cut text="also pretty long">our <a href="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031121.arar21/BNStory/Front/" target="_blank">trusted ally Syria</a>:
<blockquote>U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft says the Bush administration received - and believed - assurances from Syria that it would not torture Maher Arar before deporting the Ottawa man to that Middle Eastern country.
His statement Thursday was met with derision by human-rights groups because it appears to be at odds with official U.S. government reports that say torture is a routine interrogation tool in Syria.
Mr. Arar, 33, a Syrian-born Canadian software engineer, says he was tortured and kept in solitary confinement in a dark, small, rat-infested prison cell in Damascus for more than 10 months.
He says he pleaded with U.S. officials to deport him to Canada because he feared torture in Syria.
Nevertheless, Mr. Ashcroft maintained that the deportation order was legal because the Syrians promised that Mr. Arar would not face torture if he was returned to the country of his birth.
Noting the Syrian government's recent denial that Mr. Arar had been tortured, Mr. Ashcroft told reporters “that statement is fully consistent with the assurances that the United States government received prior to the removal of Mr. Arar.”
As recently as two weeks ago, U.S. President George W. Bush denounced the Syrian regime for leaving its people “a legacy of torture, oppression, misery and ruin.”
The U.S. State Department, in its most recent report on human-rights abuses in Syria, said torture is common and the methods include beatings, electric shocks, pulling out fingernails, forcing objects into the rectum, and bending prisoners into the frame of a wheel while whipping exposed body parts.
It is illegal for the U.S. government to deport any individual to a country where it can expect the person will be tortured, said Joe Stork, a Middle East expert with Human Rights Watch.
The use of torture is “well documented in the case of Syria and it is pretty shameful” for the U.S. to have deported Mr. Arar to that country, Mr. Stork said.
“It is preposterous that U.S. authorities would even consider asking the Syrian government —- a government that Washington itself has identified as having an abysmal human rights record —- to give that kind of assurance” that Mr. Arar would not be tortured, Alex Neve, the secretary-general of the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, said.
“It is outrageous that anybody in the U.S. government would believe such promises from a government like Syria, which regularly, consistently and cavalierly [flouts] international human-rights obligations,” Mr. Neve said.
The Arar case is receiving attention in U.S. news media and has started to raise uncomfortable questions for the Bush administration.
Mr. Ashcroft defended the decision to deport Mr. Arar to Syria on national security grounds even though he was travelling on his Canadian passport when he was arrested in September, 2002, at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“Mr. Arar was the subject of a lookout list for being a member of a known terrorist organization,” Mr. Ashcroft said. Thus, the deportation, he said, was “fully within our laws and the applicable international treaties and conventions.”</blockquote>
those <a href="http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-21-020125.asp?reg=MIDEAST#body" target="_blank">evil bastards, Syria</a>:
<blockquote>U.S. President George Bush said in remarks published on Friday that Washington would hold no rapprochement talks with Syria until it stopped supporting Palestinian and Islamist militant groups.
Bush, in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat Arabic daily during his visit to Britain, also told Damascus it had to halt the flow of fighters and weapons across its borders into Iraq.
Syria has said it is open to dialogue with Washington despite the threat of U.S. sanctions for its alleged support of terrorism.
''It is difficult to negotiate,'' the paper quoted Bush as saying.
''Let them stop terrorism. You either stop terrorism or you don't... they know what our position is and how we feel. The choice is theirs.''
The interview was conducted in English and published in Arabic.
The U.S. Congress this month voted for sanctions against Syria, but left it up to Bush to waive the penalties if he deemed it in the national interest.
Washington has long placed Syria on its list of states which support terrorism. Israel last month bombed what it said was a Palestinian guerrilla camp in Syria, in response to a Palestinian suicide bombing inside Israel.
Syria denies supporting terrorists and disputes Washington's definitions of ''terrorism.'' It has repeatedly denied that foreign militants are crossing its border to fight U.S. forces occupying Iraq.</blockquote>
Both articles are from this morning.
I think Ashcroft needs to ask Uncle Karl if he can use the red phone - Our Fearless Leader could be making a big mistake here.
After all, we have assurances.
Here's the interesting part: we have nothing, zip, zilch on what criteria the government uses to put people on their little list - you remember, the one they used to ascertain that Ahar was not to be afforded the benefit of the law or probable cause or international law?
<blockquote>“Mr. Arar was the subject of a lookout list for being a member of a known terrorist organization,” Mr. Ashcroft said. Thus, the deportation, he said, was “fully within our laws and the applicable international treaties and conventions.”</blockquote>
Well, hey, unless you're one of those peace protesters or nuns who can't get an explanation of why they can't get on a plane because they're on a list these days and there's no way to find out why or who to make an appeal to, that's not a problem for you, is it?
Except, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/21/politics/campaigns/21REPU.html" _blank"="_blank"">how d0 you vote?</a>
<blockquote>After months of sustained attacks against President Bush in Democratic primary debates and commercials, the Republican Party is responding this week with its first advertisement of the presidential race, portraying Mr. Bush as fighting terrorism while his potential challengers try to undermine him with their sniping.
The new commercial gives the first hint of the themes Mr. Bush's campaign is likely to press in its early days. It shows Mr. Bush, during the last State of the Union address, warning of continued threats to the nation: "Our war against terror is a contest of will, in which perseverance is power," he says after the screen flashes the words, "Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists."</blockquote>
You might want to stay out of the international departure area if you plan to do anything to distract our fearless leader between now and the election.<img height="1" src="http://ljutils.hopto.org/cgi-bin/count.cgi?code=jmhm" width="1">
I hear protesting his policies flat makes him lost his train of thought.
<blockquote>U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft says the Bush administration received - and believed - assurances from Syria that it would not torture Maher Arar before deporting the Ottawa man to that Middle Eastern country.
His statement Thursday was met with derision by human-rights groups because it appears to be at odds with official U.S. government reports that say torture is a routine interrogation tool in Syria.
Mr. Arar, 33, a Syrian-born Canadian software engineer, says he was tortured and kept in solitary confinement in a dark, small, rat-infested prison cell in Damascus for more than 10 months.
He says he pleaded with U.S. officials to deport him to Canada because he feared torture in Syria.
Nevertheless, Mr. Ashcroft maintained that the deportation order was legal because the Syrians promised that Mr. Arar would not face torture if he was returned to the country of his birth.
Noting the Syrian government's recent denial that Mr. Arar had been tortured, Mr. Ashcroft told reporters “that statement is fully consistent with the assurances that the United States government received prior to the removal of Mr. Arar.”
As recently as two weeks ago, U.S. President George W. Bush denounced the Syrian regime for leaving its people “a legacy of torture, oppression, misery and ruin.”
The U.S. State Department, in its most recent report on human-rights abuses in Syria, said torture is common and the methods include beatings, electric shocks, pulling out fingernails, forcing objects into the rectum, and bending prisoners into the frame of a wheel while whipping exposed body parts.
It is illegal for the U.S. government to deport any individual to a country where it can expect the person will be tortured, said Joe Stork, a Middle East expert with Human Rights Watch.
The use of torture is “well documented in the case of Syria and it is pretty shameful” for the U.S. to have deported Mr. Arar to that country, Mr. Stork said.
“It is preposterous that U.S. authorities would even consider asking the Syrian government —- a government that Washington itself has identified as having an abysmal human rights record —- to give that kind of assurance” that Mr. Arar would not be tortured, Alex Neve, the secretary-general of the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, said.
“It is outrageous that anybody in the U.S. government would believe such promises from a government like Syria, which regularly, consistently and cavalierly [flouts] international human-rights obligations,” Mr. Neve said.
The Arar case is receiving attention in U.S. news media and has started to raise uncomfortable questions for the Bush administration.
Mr. Ashcroft defended the decision to deport Mr. Arar to Syria on national security grounds even though he was travelling on his Canadian passport when he was arrested in September, 2002, at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“Mr. Arar was the subject of a lookout list for being a member of a known terrorist organization,” Mr. Ashcroft said. Thus, the deportation, he said, was “fully within our laws and the applicable international treaties and conventions.”</blockquote>
those <a href="http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-21-020125.asp?reg=MIDEAST#body" target="_blank">evil bastards, Syria</a>:
<blockquote>U.S. President George Bush said in remarks published on Friday that Washington would hold no rapprochement talks with Syria until it stopped supporting Palestinian and Islamist militant groups.
Bush, in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat Arabic daily during his visit to Britain, also told Damascus it had to halt the flow of fighters and weapons across its borders into Iraq.
Syria has said it is open to dialogue with Washington despite the threat of U.S. sanctions for its alleged support of terrorism.
''It is difficult to negotiate,'' the paper quoted Bush as saying.
''Let them stop terrorism. You either stop terrorism or you don't... they know what our position is and how we feel. The choice is theirs.''
The interview was conducted in English and published in Arabic.
The U.S. Congress this month voted for sanctions against Syria, but left it up to Bush to waive the penalties if he deemed it in the national interest.
Washington has long placed Syria on its list of states which support terrorism. Israel last month bombed what it said was a Palestinian guerrilla camp in Syria, in response to a Palestinian suicide bombing inside Israel.
Syria denies supporting terrorists and disputes Washington's definitions of ''terrorism.'' It has repeatedly denied that foreign militants are crossing its border to fight U.S. forces occupying Iraq.</blockquote>
Both articles are from this morning.
I think Ashcroft needs to ask Uncle Karl if he can use the red phone - Our Fearless Leader could be making a big mistake here.
After all, we have assurances.
Here's the interesting part: we have nothing, zip, zilch on what criteria the government uses to put people on their little list - you remember, the one they used to ascertain that Ahar was not to be afforded the benefit of the law or probable cause or international law?
<blockquote>“Mr. Arar was the subject of a lookout list for being a member of a known terrorist organization,” Mr. Ashcroft said. Thus, the deportation, he said, was “fully within our laws and the applicable international treaties and conventions.”</blockquote>
Well, hey, unless you're one of those peace protesters or nuns who can't get an explanation of why they can't get on a plane because they're on a list these days and there's no way to find out why or who to make an appeal to, that's not a problem for you, is it?
Except, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/21/politics/campaigns/21REPU.html" _blank"="_blank"">how d0 you vote?</a>
<blockquote>After months of sustained attacks against President Bush in Democratic primary debates and commercials, the Republican Party is responding this week with its first advertisement of the presidential race, portraying Mr. Bush as fighting terrorism while his potential challengers try to undermine him with their sniping.
The new commercial gives the first hint of the themes Mr. Bush's campaign is likely to press in its early days. It shows Mr. Bush, during the last State of the Union address, warning of continued threats to the nation: "Our war against terror is a contest of will, in which perseverance is power," he says after the screen flashes the words, "Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists."</blockquote>
You might want to stay out of the international departure area if you plan to do anything to distract our fearless leader between now and the election.<img height="1" src="http://ljutils.hopto.org/cgi-bin/count.cgi?code=jmhm" width="1">
I hear protesting his policies flat makes him lost his train of thought.
