In an interview with CanWest, Mr Arar tells reporter James Gordon that his fight to clear his name and get the real story out has been done for his children. He still suffers from PTSD symptoms and is trying to reclaim his life by completing his university studies while looking for a job - a proposition made difficult because, as he told CanWest, some companies would rather not deal with the fact that he is now a well-known figure who might attract publicity. It will take his family many years to overcome the damage done to Mr Arar and the psychological scars will be with him for life while he will always be treated with suspicion by those who believe that the mere fact that he was detained is proof of his guilt.
In the meantime, Canadians will most likely never know the extent to which our security services cooperated with the US government when they became aware of his detention and torture flight to Syria. Everyone knows that countries share their intel with others. That's not a secret. Yet, the 'national security' excuse is hauled out whenever the US or Canadian governments are faced with taking responsibility for their actions. Earlier this year, Mr Arar's lawsuit against the US government was dismissed in an American court citing that very reason.
How many of us ever considered that, during our lifetimes, we would not only witness a US president admitting that the CIA uses torture (disguised by Bush in the phrase 'alternative methods') but that legal justifications would openly be sought to defend its use to allow immunity from prosecution for those who practice it? It's a very strange and distrubing time indeed. For decades, torture required no detailed definition because it was understood that the wording of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions provided enough of a guideline to that so-called 'civilized' world that Bush so often refers to as being clearly indicative of which actions would constitute torture.
The good thing to come out of all of this, thanks also to the fight between Bush and some major Republican senators who are causing him grief over the issue, is that people are actually talking about it on a wider scale. There was much discussion, of course, following the release of the Abu Ghraib torture photos but that quickly faded. Torture is an uncomfortable topic to deal with, especially when you must face the fact that your government and fellow countrymen are the perpetrators. The CIA has been using torture for decades around the world but has never been held accountable. It's just a reality that too many people have accepted as being necessary and normal, even though it's been proven over and over that torture doesn't produce reliable results and that it is the most vile way of attempting to extract information from and dehumanize its victims.
There's a reason Bush wants congress to deal with legislation as quickly as possible - to get it off the public's radar screen. But, his public tantrums and admonishments to congress have only shown him to be a heartless ruler who would rather shield torturers than to examine the broader issues of its ineffectiveness, inhumanity and incivility. How many Republican supporters will look at this current bind and suddenly wake up to the fact that their party supports torturers? How many Democratic politicians will finally stand up and demand an end to all torture done in their country's name - with no exceptions for the CIA? They certainly give lip service to the matter, but that is far from being enough.
On Friday, in response to a reporter's question at his rose garden press conference, Bush had this to say:
If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic.
You don't defeat your enemy by becoming them or employing their most extreme tactics. Torture is not an expression of 'compassion and decency' yet, if Americans are doing it Bush believes that they are somehow morally above those who use exactly the same methods. That is the flawed logic at work here. Torture is torture no matter who's doing the torturing. This idea that since America is such an exceptional country it can torture with impunity and claim some moral high ground because of it is not only insulting, it's dangerous. Just ask Maher Arar or any of the other victims who were subjected to horrendous abuse in the name of American or Canadian so-called 'national security'. If Canada's security services enabled Mr Arar's rendition to Syria, they are just as responsible as those who actually deprived Mr Arar of his human rights for his many months of absolute hell while he was hidden away and being tortured in a Syrian prison cell.
The only way for Canada to redeem itself in this matter is to show the world that it is willing to expose its sources and methods to ensure that this type of so-called cooperation with America's intelligence agencies will indeed be heavily scrutinized in a public manner so that, in the end, Maher Arar's children will know exactly what happened to their father and why. Anything less would show that our government is just as willing to be complicit in the most inhumane of practices: torture.
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