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In the fall of 2002, Mr. Arar was returning to his home in Ottawa
from visiting relatives in Tunisia. Changing planes at Kennedy
Airport, he was seized by American authorities, thrown in a holding
cell, and interrogated for hours. Federal officials were unable to
convince Mr. Arar to admit his ties to Al Qaeda–to the best of our
knowledge, a connection substantiated only a spurious intelligence
report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Rather than comply
with standard practices and deport Mr. Arar to Canada, then Attorney
General John Ashcroft invoked extraordinary rendition. Overnight, Mr.
Arar was taken from his cell and flown to Jordan. From there he was
driven to Syria.

And there he was tortured.

Mr. Arar was kept underground in a narrow, unlit, rat infested cell.
He was tortured and beaten regularly until, after ten months, Syrian
officials announced that he could not ossibly be associated with Al
Qaeda. Mr. Arar, who has since returned to Canada, was never charged
with any crime.

In December 2003, I requested the Inspectors General of the Justice
Department and Department of Homeland Security investigate their
respective roles in turning over Mr. Arar to the Syrian government.
After nearly six months without response, then DHS Inspector General
Clark Kent Ervin sent word that Immigration and Customs Enforcement
personnel were obstructing any attempt to learn how Mr. Arar became
the victim of an extraordinary rendition order in violation of
federal law and international convention.

The White House has since replaced Mr. Ervin. Earlier this week, I
wrote to newly confirmed DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and asked for
his cooperation in bringing this disgrace to an end. I am cautiously
hopeful. Sometimes a little public outrage is necessary to build
momentum, but I believe this injustice will and must be resolved.

The genius of American government lies in recognizing of the
fallibility of our public leaders. Nobody in the federal government
is perfect, and the system is set up to protect innocent people from
the poor decisions and bad judgement of even the most decent
politicians. The Republican leadership has worked tirelessly to tear
down these protections under the banner of "homeland security." Maher
Arar, and others like him, have suffered the consequences.

–J.C.