Plenty of cults exist - every cult has its 'religious dogma', its idols, its 'prophets', its 'science', its 'proof' and its intolerant liturgy of demands. Cults everywhere: Corona, 'The Science' or Scientism, Islam, the State, the cult of Gender Fascism, Marxism, Darwin and Evolution, Globaloneywarming, Changing Climate, Abortion...
Tempus Fugit Memento Mori - Time Flies Remember Death
The Arar case - maybe the Syrian Canadian is a terrorist?
Multi-cult politics; 'justice' and not answering obvious questions.
by StFerdIII
‘Conservative’ leader and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper badly needs Arab votes to improve his political position. The Arab lobby in Montreal and Toronto is very strong. Arab and Muslim money already greases the wheels of the Liberal party federally and in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. In both major cities the Arabs and Muslims comprise 15 % of the voting populist. Harper, ever the populist, desires to maintain power and form a majority government. Welcome to the decadence of multi-cultural politics – regardless of what the truth is, or what good policy might be.
It is not a surprise then that Harper and his friends paid out $10 million to stop a court action from a Syrian born Canadian who claims he was unfairly tortured by the Syrians. Yes a federal commission found Arar not guilty and not linked to terrorism. Yet nagging questions and details persist. The commissions review; its conclusions and the government’s subsequent groveling all have a hollow ring to them.
The details of the case are dusky and the media, as usual, has done a pathetic job at giving us hoi-polloi some lucid details and facts. The payment of the $10 million to the ‘claimant’ Arar does a number of things for Harper. It quiets down the truculent Montreal and Arab lobby groups; it displays empathy and compassion which are apparently Canadian, [and only Canadian] ‘values’ held by no other nation-state; and it ends the media coverage [however unprofessional it was] which can only damage his government’s standing in public polls.
But what is the case really about?
Arar in his mid 30s, was born in Syria, moved to Canada and worked in the technology sector. The Canadian government put him on a list of suspected terrorists and shared this list with the Americans. Five years ago the Americans arrested Arar in New York who was on his way back to Canada from Tunisia [he said it was a family holiday but no proof of that was ever given]. The Americans in turn handed him over to the Assad government of Syria [who are minority Alawites or non-Sunni] who charged Arar with links to various terrorists within the Muslim Brotherhood – a terrorist group who has attacked Alawite governments and leaders in times past. For one year he was tortured and then released. He returned to Canada, claimed his innocence, filed a civil court case and was given $10 million and an apology by the government of Canada. Both Syria and the US maintain that Arar is affiliated with terrorist cells in Egypt and Syria [and perhaps in North America].
Why is this case interesting?
It is interesting in a number of ways – especially about some obvious factors. Where is the proof he was tortured? Why was he always traveling to the Middle East? Why did he have connections to terrorists that are being investigated? None of these questions were answered illustrating the poverty of our politically correct culture.
First there is scant evidence that Arar was ‘tortured’. When I think of torture I think of brutal beatings; battered faces and blood oozing from various orifices. There is not a mark on Arar. As the Globe and Mail reported, “..Oct. 11, 2002: Arar is tortured for the first time, beaten on his palms, wrists, lower back and hips with an electrical cable. He confesses — falsely — to terrorist training in Afghanistan….Oct. 23, 2002: Arar meets Canadian consul Leo Martel for the first time. The beatings have lessened since he was first jailed, and Martel later says he couldn't detect any signs of physical torture. There are several more consular visits in subsequent months but none is private; Syrian officials insist on being present.”
There is no independent proof other than Arar’s own testimony that he was tortured savagely for one year. That he may have been beaten and whipped seems evident given the Syrian penchant for brutality – but nary a mark now appears on Arar’s closely shaven face, nor did he provide any physical proof to back up his claims of being massively tortured. Harper's tearful apology about giving Arar money for his ‘suffering’ seems rather trite and a bit rich.
Another odd thing - under torture Arar admitted to training with jihadists in Afghanistan. Rather strange. Why would the Syrians be torturing a Canadian for training with fellow-travelers in Afghanistan? Syria supports terrorism world-wide after all. Why would someone under torture, admit to entering a country that he supposedly never set foot in? People do strange things under light torture but unless the Syrians had Arar on the rack and were pulling his vitals out, it seems very peculiar that he confessed to being in a country that has little to do with Syrian preoccupations. After all the Syrians maintained that Arar had links with Islamic jihadists in Egypt and Syria – they said nothing about Afghanistan before, during or after Arar’s imprisonment. Very odd indeed.
Second why was he so intent on Middle East travel? He worked in Canada as an independent consultant then as a network engineer. There is no evidence that his own business was successful. In fact he had to take a job. The average salary for a telco engineer position is about $60.000. On that wage you can’t jet around the world unless someone else is paying for it. He went to Syria and elsewhere in the Arab world no fewer than 6 times in a few years. Unless Arar has wealth from other sources, or took the money from his Phd holding wife, there is no way he could afford to jet-set whilst supporting a family.
Lastly why are some of his best friends terrorists? According to Canadian Security surveillance documents released to the Globe and Mail, Arar had a meeting with Abdullah Almalki on October 12, 2001. Almalki, an Ottawa engineer, was also born in Syria and was on the Canadian and US terrorist watch lists. He is still being investigated. Arar rented a place from Almalki who is tied to the infamous Khadr terrorist family who also received safe haven in Canada. The Khadr’s of course worked directly for Bin Laden.
The links to terrorism are thus not that far removed from Arar. And Almalki is only one of 3 terrorist suspects that Arar had ties to. The Syrians still maintain that Arar’s family members in Egypt [cousins apparently] are a part of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Americans still maintain that Arar’s post 9-11 activities still warrant surveillance. The Canadians will have none of it.
Yet there appear to be good reasons to be suspicious of Arar.
Another obvious point needs to be made. Why would 3 national governments lie, distort, plot and frame an ‘innocent’. Is it part of the fascist neo-con’s culture of Arab hate? Is it part of the Jewish conspiracy to turn America and Canada into large prisons full of tortured Arabs? Is it some devilish complicated story line to warn Arabs in North America that anyone of them could be ‘next’? Doubtful.
It seems rather incredible that there is NOTHING about Arar that warranted these actions. It is very dubious that 3 governments colluded to eradicate an innocent. It makes a good story line for Tom Wolfe, but even the ever inefficient and rather dumb services arms of governments would not waste their time on such a plot.
No I am pretty sure that Arar had the wrong friends, had indirect ties to terrorism and was a person of legitimate interest. I am less sure he was tortured and even less sure that he deserves $10 million. I trust that the geniuses in government will monitor, surreptitiously, the spending of this fortune. It will be interesting to see where the money goes. In the meantime Harper can close a difficult case and go on courting the Arab vote.
