It is a fact that our government - first through former President Bush and now through President Obama - is complicit in the kidnapping and torture of an innocent man. It is also a fact that our government, through President Obama's Department of Justice and the U.S. Supreme Court, refuse to make amends for this egregious violation of our values and principles.
In the last few days the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Mr. Maher Arar. Mr. Arar filed suit to seek redress for our government's illegal and immoral acts against Mr. Arar. Now, with the U.S. Supreme Court denying to hear Mr. Arar's appeal, the dismissal of his lawsuit by the lower courts will stand.
Today's New York Times editorial summarized it best:
The Supreme Court’s refusal to consider the claims of Maher Arar, an innocent Canadian who was sent to Syria to be tortured in 2002, was a bitterly disappointing abdication of its duty to hold officials accountable for illegal acts. The Bush administration sent Mr. Arar to outsourced torment, but it was the Obama administration that urged this course of inaction.
I for one do not want this stain on my conscience so I am going to speak out. That is the least I can do. If I fail to even speak out then I am tacitly lending my support to the kidnapping and to the torture. You know, like President Obama has done.**
But about more then just feeling good about myself. I feel compelled to speak out because I know that the world watches us very closely. One thing that I've learned from recently becoming networked with family members abroad is the perception the world has of the United States. Sure, we've heard about how people around the world view us and world affairs very differently then we view ourselves and these same matters. But as of late I've read first-hand, and much to my dismay, the negative perception that my friends and family abroad have of us.
It's hard to criticize the misdeeds of other nations when we don't have our own house in order. This latest news of the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear Mr. Arar's appeal and of President Obama's advocacy through his solicitor general in support of former President Bush's policies is being consumed by readers via the internet and in particular through the 500 million or so Facebook users where this issue is being discussed.
If we love our freedom and our system of government, then we need to defend it. At the very least we can speak out against this miscarriage of justice. At the very least we can use our rights to free speech, assembly and the right to petition our elected leaders and demand that the U.S. Congress and President Obama fashion a resolution to Mr. Arar's grievances.
Mr. Arar, speaking through his attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said this about the latest developments:
Today's decision eliminates my last bit of hope in the judicial system of the United States. When it comes to ‘national security’ matters the judicial system has willingly abandoned its sacred role of ensuring that no one is above the law. My case and other cases brought by human beings who were tortured have been thrown out by U.S. courts based on dubious government claims. Unless the American people stand up for justice they will soon see their hard-won civil liberties taken away from them as well.
Mr. Arar can't be any more clear - he is asking us to stand up in defense of our civil liberties. He is asking us to get up out of our chairs and sofas and actually take some action. It's not about standing up for him. It's about standing up for ourselves.
How long are we going to let this go on? How long are we going to let our government chip away at our civil liberties? Shame on us if we don't stand up and take positive action to reclaim our country from the not-so-slow slide towards a more police-like state. Shame on us if we lose our compassion for others and for one another. Shame on us if we allow extrajudicial renditions and torture to be done in our names.
We are better than this but we've got to shake free from the complacency brought on by the many challenges and diversions of our own lives and think more broadly and more long term.
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**It's very hard for me to write this about President Obama because I had such hopes and expectations of him during that long, long campaign and into the inauguration. To say that I am disappointed with my president is an understatement. May God Guide him and help him to make better decisions henceforth.
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