Did the government go too far with detentions and renditions?

2015-04-05T15:04:29-04:00

From the "CBC"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/maher-arar-s-arrest-torture-almost-stopped-by-cia-ex-spy-says-1.3021759

Maher Arar's arrest, torture almost stopped by CIA, ex-spy says

A former spy has described the debate within the CIA over the arrest, rendition and torture of Canadian Maher Arar, saying multiple colleagues warned against it because they were convinced they were punishing an innocent man.

The account from former CIA officer John Kiriakou sheds new light on decade-old events that caused a public inquiry in Canada, a $10 million payout from the federal government, and unsuccessful lawsuits in the U.S.

It's a rare peek into discussions within the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency — whose role in the 2002-03 events has never been publicly examined, having remained off-limits in Canada's inquiry.

It came during an interview at the ex-spy's Virginia home, where he described how he went from being the head of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9-11, to becoming the first CIA employee to publicly question the use of torture, to eventually spending two years in jail for leaking agency secrets.

During that interview, Kiriakou declined to discuss whether he'd interacted with Canada's spy services — because, he said, revealing details about a foreign partner remains a cardinal sin in the world of espionage.
'This is the wrong guy'

But he added: "We can talk about Maher Arar."

Kiriakou expressed disgust with his country's role in sending the engineer to be tortured in his native Syria, and with its continuing failure to issue an apology like Canada has.

He described a dynamic within the agency in which one mid-to-high-level officer ignored repeated objections from her subordinates, and insisted on pushing ahead.

"I can tell you that a lot of people inside the CIA objected to this," Kiriakou said.

"(They said), 'This is the wrong guy. He hasn't done anything.'"

EDITORIAL COMMENT:- Is there even the slightest possibility that this person is telling the truth and that the US government sent someone off to a situation where they knew that that person would likely be tortured without any actual proof that that person had done anything wrong?

Maher Arar's arrest, torture almost stopped by CIA, ex-spy says

A former spy says multiple colleagues within the CIA warned against the arrest, rendition and torture of Canadian Maher Arar, convinced they were punishing an innocent man.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 5 at 2015 3:06 PM

2015-04-05T15:06:23-04:00

No.

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 6 at 2015 9:15 AM

2015-04-06T09:15:37-04:00

I'm torn between we may never know (which is what I voted) and "No, and even if it did it was justifiable." No system is perfect. Mistakes will be made. Our government was under a lot of pressure after 9/11, so I forgive them their mistakes which were made to save lives and stop terror attacks. And that is precisely what it boils down to for me.