Meet the new boss...same as the old

So it is no secret that I have a thing about torture and its practice in these United States. To say that I pay attention to the cases involving alleged torture of detainees or laws with circumvent or abridge civil liberties would probably be an understatement.

That all being said I have to look on this development, brought to us by Glenn Greenwald, as an amazing disappointment.

Yesterday, the Second Circuit -- by a vote of 7-4 -- agreed with the government and dismissed Arar's case in its entirety. It held that even if the government violated Arar's Constitutional rights as well as statutes banning participation in torture, he still has no right to sue for what was done to him. Why? Because "providing a damages remedy against senior officials who implement an extraordinary rendition policy would enmesh the courts ineluctably in an assessment of the validity of the rationale of that policy and its implementation in this particular case, matters that directly affect significant diplomatic and national security concerns" (p. 39). In other words, government officials are free to do anything they want in the national security context -- even violate the law and purposely cause someone to be tortured -- and courts should honor and defer to their actions by refusing to scrutinize them.

We tortured an innocent man, and we will not even admit it. The president promised a better policy, where these sorts of things did not happen. But more importantly, he promised a country in which people were accountable for their actions. This was breaking the law. Those involved should face some punishment and the individual deserves some redress or at the very least the chance to confront his captures in court.

To deny him that, is a denial of our most fundamental values. The very values that this country was found on. The very values that the current occupant of the White House campaigned on and was swept into office on.

I understand that governing is hard, and that the world is dangerous. But when you succumb to this sort of barbarism you are no better then terrorists you vilify.

It is not necessary to act in this way. Hell Canada gave a good example of how you actually handle this.

In January, 2007, the Canadian Prime Minister publicly apologized to Arar for the role Canada played in these events, and the Canadian government paid him $9 million in compensation. That was preceded by a full investigation by Canadian authorities and the public disclosure of a detailed report which concluded"categorically that there is no evidence to indicate that Mr. Arar has committed any offense or that his activities constituted a threat to the security of Canada."

You want to change how we are perceived worldwide. Own up to what we did.

-Cheers