Extraordinary

I've been in the United States for over thirty years, but I still check in with British news sources regularly. It's a way of staying connected, I guess. Well, I came across this article at the Beeb. While the United States government has refused to officially apologize to Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen "renditioned" to Syria, at least two members of Congress have.

Syrian-born Maher Arar told a congressional hearing his 10 months in a Syrian jail had been "hell".

Mr Arar appeared by video link from Canada because he remains on a US government watch list.

[snip]

Mr Arar described being detained by US homeland security agents at New York's JFK airport and of later being sent by private jet to Syria, where he spent 10 months in a prison cell he described as a grave.

"I was beaten with an electrical cable and threatened with a metal chair, the tyre and electric shocks. I was forced to falsely confess that I had been to Afghanistan," he said.

"When I was not being beaten I was put in a waiting room so that I could hear the screams of other prisoners. The cries of the women still haunt me the most."

What horror that man endured simply because he had a Muslim last name. The Canadians have admitted that they had categorized him incorrectly and have offered him remuneration for his pain and suffering, yet the U.S. government keeps him on its silly watch list!

Now to the apologies offered by the House Members. I think you will find the differences quite illuminating.

"On behalf of my fellow citizens I want to apologise to you, Mr Arar, for the reprehensible conduct of our government for kidnapping you, for turning you over to Syria - a nation that our own state department recognises as routinely practising torture. This conduct does not reflect the values of the American people," he said.

Rep Dana Rohrabacher also apologised, saying the US should be ashamed of what happened to Mr Arar.

But, he said, "that is no excuse to end a programme which has protected the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans... We are at war. Mistakes happen. People die".

Mistakes happen.

People die.

What a flawed vision Mr. Rohrabacher has.