US Extraordinary Rendition Program--good idea or bad idea?

by Merry Magdalene 8 Replies latest social current

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  Merry Magdalene

  TORONTO, Sept. 18 - Canadian intelligence officials passed false warnings and bad information to American agents about a Muslim Canadian citizen, after which U.S. authorities secretly whisked him to Syria, where he was tortured, a judicial report found Monday.

  The report, released in Ottawa, was the result of a 2 1/2-year inquiry that represented one of the first public investigations into mistakes made as part of the United States' "extraordinary rendition" program, which has secretly spirited suspects to foreign countries for interrogation by often brutal methods.

  Oh well, he was just a Muslim so who cares, right? More justifiable "collateral damage" in the war on terror.

  Just be glad this could never happen to you because you're not one of "them" and everyone knows "they" are all evil or will become so if push comes to shove...right? That's the feeling I've been getting from many of the threads I've been reading here lately and that's just as dangerous a mindset as those who feel that way accuse Muslims of having.

  The issue of racial profiling has been covered, so what about this? What do you think?

  You can read the rest of the article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14897315/ if so inclined.

  ~Merry
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  Gadget

  Oh well, he was just a Muslim so who cares, right? More justifiable "collateral damage" in the war on terror.

  Just be glad this could never happen to you because you're not one of "them" and everyone knows "they" are all evil or will become so if push comes to shove...right?

  To me the problem is not a religious intolerance one, but the fact that this sort of thing happens.

  Individually people can strive to do the right thing, but collectively the result can be catestrophic. Through my job I've seen this sort of thing happen in security departments before. People are under so much pressure to get a result, they only look at the information in front of them to make a decision, instead of looking at the bigger picture. Its not nice, certainly shouldn't happen, but does a lot more than people realise. Its cause is more to do with office politics than any racial/religous intolerance. I feel for this man and what he has been through.
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  Abaddon

  Okay, let's see; a government of a supposedly democratic nature with strong protections under law against things like detention without trial and torture ships people off to countries where they can be tortured and detained without trial.

  Well, for a strat is is obviously massively hypocritical. It makes the USA look like they will bend laws and go through lopholes to achieve whatever ends they wish.

  This behaviour proves the argument (that the USA is corrupt, partial and hypocritical and will bend laws and go through lopholes to achieve whatever ends they wish) put forward by the propogandists behind anti-American terrorist organsiations.

  So the US actual makes the propoganda of al-Q etc. come true.

  This adds credibility to such organisations in the eyes of those groups the terrorist orgainsations recruit from, and makes recruitment easier.

  As the US regulary kills brown Muslim civilians accidentally (so much so it is barely newsworthy now; compare this to when the US accidentally kills a Canadian), and supports the Israelis doing the same, the other arguments made by the propogandists of terror are also validated by US action.

  I think the question should be, in light of the above, how can ANYONE think such things are a good idea.

  The only people to benefit from them are terrorists.
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  Merry Magdalene

  Thank you both for your insightful comments.

  ~Merry
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  jstalin

  Shipping a citizen of Canada off to Syria to essentially be tortured. What ever happened to due process? These sorts of events destroy any credibility that the US had in asserting the moral high ground. I'm saddened by my government's behavior. This is so completely immoral and unconstitutional that I'm speechless. The Iraq war has turned out to be a disaster for American credibility, morality, and individual rights. A so-called conservative president has shown us for what he really is.
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  Kenneson

  I think that the governments of Canada, the U.S., and Syria should all have to pay restitution to this man and his family that they may live comfortably for as long as they live. They are entitled to it. These governments will never be able to pay back all that he endured, but at least it would be a gesture.
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  Seeker4

  This sort of thing makes me so angry with my government. Whatever credibility the US has had in the past, George W. Bush has soooo damaged.

  It's time for a regime change in the USA, and not a moment too soon. The big problem I see is that there is no one on the horizon who looks like they could salvage my nation. What an opportunity awaits the man or woman who could get the US out of this quagmire of a war and work to really create a world of peace and tolerance.

  The first thing is, they would have to know that God is not guiding their every step and decision. Let's get the fundamentalist zealots out of the White House - and keep them out. They have destroyed my nation.

  S4
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  Satanus

  It's interesting that the us govt goes to syria and countries like it to do it's torturing. How about that, shining one? Why don't christians do their dirty work at home? Why make a deal w an enemy country to do it there?

  S
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  Merry Magdalene

  This bit kind of worried me too:

  Since Sept. 11, the CIA, working with other intelligence agencies, has captured an estimated 3,000 people in its effort to dismantle terrorist networks. Many of them have been secretly taken by "extraordinary rendition" to other countries, hidden from U.S. legal requirements and often subject to torture.

  Will we ever know how many more mistakes like this one were made?

  It seems like virtually everyone was sympathetic and willing to help us after 9/11, but apparently the current admin can't stop shooting off its own toes. Is there any one, any plan, capable of turning things around for us? What would it take?

  ~Merry