While speaking at Notre Dame's 2001 Commencement, President George W. Bush praised the "great tradition of
social teaching" and its call "to protect life in all its stages." In Brussels, Bush recently noted that democracies are marked by "the rule of law and the respect for human rights and human dignity." I wonder if there was a hint of nostalgia in his remarks. In what stage of life would Bush place Maher Arar? What does he think about his human rights and dignity?
Arar is a 34-year-old Canadian citizen who moved from his native Syria as a teenager. On September 26, 2002 Arar was taken into custody in Kennedy Airport by American authorities while changing planes. He was interrogated and placed in jail for thirteen days, then shipped to Syria. In Syria, he was tortured. Over one year later, he was released home to Canada, a free man. <snip>
Accounts of torture beyond Abu Ghraib are not mere liberal speculation. The FBI reported in July that Guantanamo prisoners were subject to physical mistreatment, extreme temperatures and lack of food and water. One individual was left in a cell heated over 100 degrees and found unconscious, having pulled out much of his own hair. The military acknowledged that in 2003 two female interrogators at Guantanamo were reprimanded for sexually tinged techniques aimed at humiliating detainees. Among the 550 individuals detained in Guantanamo only four currently face charges. In 2002 the FBI's director refused a CIA request to send a few agents to a secret facility in Thailand to assist in "sweating" a suspect. These incidents occurred outside of American territory, in a realm without law, inhabited by "enemy combatants," devoid of Geneva Convention protections and due process. <snip>
In dismissing the rule of law and embracing an ethic justifying "any means at our disposal" the government endangers respect for human life and dignity. Yet this issue is not a new one. Extraordinary rendition began during the Clinton administration, which itself did little to investigate accusations of torture. Absent public opposition to practices such as those that led to Maher Arar's torture in Syria will continue. It is not surprising that a president who sent 152 people to their death while Texas Governor and who mockingly imitated Karla Faye Tucker's plea for life should witness such lack of concern for human life and dignity. When considering who is his neighbor it appears Bush is more than willing to draw the circle tighter and tighter.
http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/news/2005/03/04/Viewpoint/Tortured.Policies.In.The.U-885406.shtml
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