Arar #8: Guilt and Innocence, part A

Preliminary question: does it even matter whether Arar was guilty or innocent? If his allegations are true, what the government did was illegal and immoral regardless of guilt or innocence. But I think if he's innocent it's that much worse, and that much more likely that this has happened before and will happen again.

So, let me summarize the evidence as best I can. I'm listing the claims and counter-claims in the order they appeared in press accounts, since that may be relevant in determining sources' credibility.

This is a very very long post, so I'm going to leave my conclusions about Arar's guilt/innocence and about why he might have been suspected even if innocent for a separate post. And if you don't have time to read the whole thing I recommend items #3, #7, #8, and 9.

1) October 18, 2002. "U.S. authorities initially accused Arar of being linked to the Al Qaeda terror network, but foreign affairs department spokesperson Reynald Doiron said Canada has seen no evidence of any such connection." (Toronto Star, 10/18/02, p. A6).

2) October 19, 2002. "American officials declared Arar a member of Al Qaeda, the terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden, that they blame for the Sept. 11 attacks; there was "no ambiguity in the piece of paper that was given" to Canadian authorities, the [Canadian government] official said." (Toronto Star, 10/19/02, p. A14).

3) The Boston Globe interviewed Arar's colleagues at his old job, a software firm in Natick, on October 31, 2002. Excerpts:

David Hilf, a MathWorks manager who was on a business trip with Arar in San Diego on the day of the [9/11] terrorist attacks, said that when they flew back to Boston, Arar was frightened that authorities might stop him as a security risk through racial profiling.

"If you had to come up with a profile, he fit the profile to a T," Hilf said. "But I think I know Maher. I know him to be a very moral person. He values things like family and doing what's right. . . . We talked a lot about our careers. He had no time to be a terrorist."

....

Arar's former colleagues at MathWorks and Ginny Marino, a one-time neighbor in Framingham, said they find it hard to believe that he has been accused of belonging to Al Qaeda. They described an observant Muslim - one MathWorks employee said he prayed four times a day - who worked hard, was devoted to his wife and two children, and was appalled by the terrorist attacks last year.

"As someone who knew Maher reasonably well, I'd be completely shocked at any such connection," John Luczkow, a MathWorks salesman, said in a letter urging the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs to press for his release. "I'm not saying that it is impossible - for in these times it's tough to trust anyone absolutely - but I would be dismayed and amazed if Maher had any terrorist sympathies."

....

Hilf never detected any radical political views in his friend. He remembered calling Arar in his hotel room in San Diego on Sept. 11 to tell him to turn on the television after the hijacked jets flew into the World Trade Center.

"He was, as I was, in shock," Hilf recalled. When Al Qaeda was identified as the likely perpetrator, Hilf said, Arar "couldn't understand it. We talked about how un-Muslim the behavior was, and if Muslims were doing this, it was really twisted."

On occasion, Arar criticized Israel's treatment of the Palestinians on the West Bank, said Hilf, which created some awkwardness because Hilf is Jewish. Nonetheless, Hilf said, he himself had mixed feelings about Israel's position toward the Palestinians, although he ultimately supports Israel. "We kind of came to the conclusion to agree to disagree," he said. "It was always a very intellectual discussion. There was no radicalism or hatred against Americans or Israelis."

(Boston Globe, 10/31/02, Globe West section, p.1).

4) November 19, 2002. "A report in the Ottawa Citizen yesterday revealed that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Graham last week that the FBI had informed the RCMP weeks ago of Arar's suspected links." (Toronto Star, 11/19/02, p.A14) (sorry this is secondhand, the Ottawa Citizen is not in my school's version of Nexis. Again, the RCMP = the Royal Canadian Mounted Police = the Mounties. I should mention, the mounties suspected Arar of something, and much of the controversy in Canada centers on what they were telling U.S. intelligence and the Canadian government. But as an American I'm more concerned about what my government did, so that's a secondary question for me.)

5) October 7, 2003. Maher Arar returns to Ottawa, Canada from Syria and reunites with his family. His wife tells the press, "We are going to take some time to get together and to spend it with the children," she continued. "And I think after that time, we are going to answer all the questions, not all the questions of you, but all the questions of Canadians. They must know the truth." (Toronto Star, 10/7/03, p. A1.) Human rights groups had alleged that Arar was tortured by this point, but Arar did not speak to the press about those allegations.

6) October 9, 2003. "A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in a telephone interview that Arar was detained in New York "after his name appeared on an immigration watch list." The official said Arar was refused entry into the United States. "U.S. immigration law gives the attorney general the discretion to deport an alien to the country in which he was born," the official said." (Washington Post, 10/9/03, p. A8)

7) October 9, 2003.

When it was noted that Arar was a Canadian, Canadian security was contacted. "They asked, 'Do you have anything on him,"' an official closely involved in the case said, on condition that he not be quoted by name.

"'Yes indeed,' they were told. 'He is watched because he has been to Afghanistan several times.'"

On the basis of that, the official said, Arar was arrested when the plane landed in New York.....

According to information compiled by those who worked to get Arar released, Arar travelled frequently on business to the U.S., but had his computer and Palm Pilot seized by Canada Customs on Dec. 20, 2001.

In January, 2002, his wife, Monia Mazigh, was visited by two RCMP officers from the National Security Investigation Section who wanted to talk to Arar, then in Tunisia visiting his wife's family.

When he returned and got in touch with the RCMP, he agreed to an interview, accompanied by a lawyer, but the RCMP never responded

In April, 2002, Arar had his U.S. work permit renewed without incident - but in September he was arrested and sent to Syria.

(Toronto Star, 10/9/03, p. A1, A4).

8) November 4, 2003. Maher Arar makes his statement to the press. Relevant excerpts:

I am not a terrorist. I am not a member of al-Qaeda and I do not know any one who belongs to this group. All I know about al-Qaeda is what I have seen in the media. I have never been to Afghanistan. I have never been anywhere near Afghanistan and I do not have any desire to ever go to Afghanistan....

Describing an interrogation in Washington:

They asked me about different people, some I know, and most I do not. They asked me about Abdullah Almalki, and I told them I worked with his brother at high-tech firms in Ottawa, and that the Almalki family had come from Syria about the same time as mine. I told them I did not know Abdullah well, but had seen him a few times and I described the times I could remember. I told them I had a casual relationship with him.

They were so rude with me, yelling at me that I had a selective memory. Then they pulled out a copy of my rental lease from 1997. I could not believe they had this. I was completely shocked. They pointed out that Abdullah had signed the lease as a witness. I had completely forgotten that he had signed it for me when we moved to Ottawa in 1997, we needed someone to witness our lease, and I phoned Abdullah's brother, and he could not come, so he sent Abdullah....

Describing interrogation in Syria:

Then on the third day, the interrogation lasted about 18 hours. They beat me from time to time and make me wait in the waiting room for one to two hours before resuming the interrogation. While in the waiting room I heard a lot of people screaming. They wanted me to say I went to Afghanistan. This was a surprise to me. They had not asked about this in the United States.

They kept beating me so I had to falsely confess and told them I did go to Afghanistan. I was ready to confess to anything if it would stop the torture. They wanted me to say I went to a training camp. I was so scared I urinated on myself twice. The beating was less severe each of the following days.

9) November 15, 2003. While the administration has yet to make its case publicly, American officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the evidence was strong that Mr. Arar had associated with suspected Islamic militants over a long period in Canada. They say he confessed under torture in Syria that he had gone to Afghanistan for terrorist training, named his instructors and gave other intimate details. (New York Times, 11/15/03, p.A4) (N.B.: Note that American officials admits Arar's torture here, contrary to later statements from Ashcroft.)

10) November 19, 2003. "One U.S. official said yesterday that when apprehended at the airport, Arar had the names of "a large number of known al Qaeda operatives, affiliates or associates" in his wallet or pockets." (Reported in the Washington Post, and look, I finally have a link.)

11) November 20, 2003. "[Arar's attorney Lorne] Waldman said such a claim was "laughable." "An Al Qaeda operative doesn't show up at JFK Airport, knowing he would have to go through U.S. customs, with his pockets bulging full of Al Qaeda phone numbers," Waldman said." (Toronto Star, 11/20/03, p. A4)

12) December 29, 2003. "Arar: Well, what they said in the article is, I had phone numbers on me that, in my wallet, in my pocket ... numbers of al-Qaeda agents or something. That's not true at all. I had phone numbers in my Palm Pilot of coworkers, relatives, and some friends. I didn't have any phone numbers of any terrorists on me." (CTV interview.)

13) December 31, 2003.

Maher Arar is renewing his calls for a public inquiry into his 10-month detention in Syria, complaining he is the victim of a new smear campaign involving anonymous Canadian and U.S. officials....

His statement followed a published account* that quoted unidentified officials, one of whom said he is "100-per-cent sure" that Mr. Arar trained at the Khalden camp in Afghanistan, operated by al-Qaeda, in 1993.

(Reported in The Globe and Mail.)

*In the Canadian Post, which I believe is a right wing paper (might be wrong on that). Correction: The National Post, not the Canadian Post.

(Congratulations! You have finished reading the longest post ever.)

Comments

[Brian Weatherson]

Excellent stuff! In a perfect world a major newspaper would pick this up for a large investigative piece. But in a perfect world Arar would never have been tortured.

[Brian Weatherson]

One small footnote. Off the top of my head, I think one of the big Canadian papers changed ownership recently and went from being extremely right-wing to solidly pro-Liberal, and it could have been the Post. I could be completely wrong on that though, since I don't normally read Canadian papers.

[Katherine]

whoops. The National Post, not the Canadian Post. Off to make a correction.

[James Casey]

But I think if he's innocent it's that much worse, and that much more likely that this has happened before and will happen again.

Maybe it's happening now.

[von]

Well done, Katherine.

[Jesurgislac]

Yes, James, it is.

[James Casey]

Jesurgislac: Yeah, and I bet we in the UK are doing it to. Hey, I'm sure there's not a government on Earth that hasn't/isn't. Mind you, in my comment above I strictly meant the ridiculous (and surely utterly indefensible?) hand-over to a foreign regime that one would, like Syria, expect to disrespect human rights.

But then who really respects them these days?

Anyone: How much of a stink would there have been in the US press had this been an 'American' citizen?

[Jesurgislac]

There would have been slightly more fuss: but presumably, if Maher Arar had been a US citizen, he would have gone to join Jose Padilla and Yaser Hamdi, and he would most likely still be there. (It's just possible that he would have been released, as Youssef Yee eventually had to be released.)

The US government still distinguishes between US citizens (who go to indefinite imprisonment inside the borders of the US) and non-US citizens, who may be shipped (effectively) to anywhere the US decides to send them: Syria, Bagram Airbase, Guantanamo Bay. It will certainly be yet a further step if the Bush administration decides to treat US citizens exactly the same as non-US citizens.

[Jesurgislac]

You asked how much of a fuss there would be in the US press. It is, honestly, hard to say: most of the US press appears to have decided that if the Bush administration says a US citizen is guilty, they must be guilty (of something). However, even anong those who simply take for granted that the Bush administration's determination of guilt is unquestionable, there is a significant proportion who still believe that all US citizens have a Constitutional rights, even if the administration says they're guilty.

If Maher Arar had been a US citizen, reaction would have ranged from the extreme right, who would still believe him guilty (otherwise why would he have been sent to Syria?) to the middle-of-the-road press like the New York Times, which would probably have said cautiously that it was a very bad precedent even if Maher Arar was a terrorist. Only the very small, very left-wing press would ever have said outright that it was a crime.

[David Lloyd-Jones]

The National Post was foiunded by Conrad Black as a right wing foil to the progressive conservative Globe and Mail, Canada's long-time major English-language daily. The Post is now owned by the Asper family,who are deeply involved with the Liberal Party -- but it remains the home of Ann Coulter in Canada, and a number of equally nutty right-wing Canadian columnists.

Here's the line up of Toronto-based newspapers the day before the world ended:

National Post: World to End Tomorrow. Markets Close Early. Major Positions Said Liquidated.

Globe and Mail: World Said Ending Tomorrow. Cabinet Meets. Martin Said "Concerned."

Toronto Sun: God To World: The End.

Toronto Star: World Ending Tomorrow. Women and Minorities Affected.

[tadhgin]

I was once suspected of gun smuggling and armed robbery, I was visiting my girlfriend's family in Switzerland (who I had lived with for a few months before) when the police came to the house with a search warrant and took me in for questioning.

Now the crazy thing is that the bank robbery I was suspected in was committed while I was in Ireland studying (as you can imagine it was not too difficult to get an alibi for that - although it didn't get that far)

The fact was that the nearest I had ever been to a gun was toys when I was a kid - and by that stage the police were begining to see that they were in danger of making complete fools of themselves (they had actually wasted money on the investigation)

The other point of interest to them was that my girlfriends father was a very respected member of the community (CEO of large insurance company, on the Board of the Basel Kunstmuseum, etc.)

I always wondered what would have happened if the police were too embarased to admit that they had wasted money on a useless investigation and I wasn't from a priveleged background. I had always thought that it would be deportation, made up evidence etc. Looks like it can be a lot worse than I imagined!