Arar report puts U.S. 'rendition' policy into spotlight

As the report into the arrest and deportation of Maher Arar makes headlines in the United States, the former Ottawa engineer has called on Washington to acknowledge its role in his detention.

American news organizations have prominently featured coverage of an inquiry report Monday thatsaid Canadian officials didn't play a direct role in Arar's 2002 arrest or deportation to Syria, but that inaccurate RCMP information supplied to the U.S. "very likely" led to those events.

A false RCMP claim that Arar was linked to al-Qaeda led to the American decision to detain and deport him to Syria, where he was tortured in a dingy prison for a year, said the report.

U.S. newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times linked the report withthe U.S. administration'ssecretive extraordinary rendition program, which sends terror suspects to foreign countries.

An editorial in the Post on Wednesday said the policy of secret detentions and harsh interrogation techniques results in "bad intelligence… the criminal mistreatment of some innocent people, and damage to U.S. prestige and alliances."

The Times story pointed out that report author Justice Dennis O'Connor concludedAmerican authorities treated the Arar case "in a most regrettable fashion" and dealt with Canadian officials "in a less than forthcoming manner.

"As one of the infamous examples of rendition," said the Times, the Arar case draws new attention to the Bush administration's handling of detainees just as the White House and Congress are battling over legislation setting standards for the treatment and interrogation of prisoners.

Arar wants recognition

Arar, who gave an interview toAmerican news network CNN on Wednesday morning, said he doesn't believe his deportation to Syria was a simple mistake.

"They took the decision to send me to a country they acknowledge practises torture on detainees. This was a deliberate attempt to extract information under torture," he said.

The 37-year-old called on Washington to acknowledge the contents of the inquiry.

"I would like the U.S. government to accept the findings of the inquiry and clear my name," he said.

In an interview with the Times pubished Wednesday, Arar said he wanted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to personally ask U.S. President George W. Bush to formally clear his name in the U.S.

Harper sidesteps calls for apology

Harper has faced opposition calls to apologize and offer compensation to Arar,sayingthe former engineersuffered a "tremendous injustice."However, Harperstopped short of offering an apology on Tuesday.

Arar received a unanimous apology from the House of Commons on Wednesday, with the prime minister en route to New York ahead of a scheduled address to the United Nations.

Conservatives afterwards drew a distinction between a parliamentary apology and an official government apology, calling it the former.

Former solicitor general Wayne Easter, who was in charge of Canada'sspy agency and the RCMP when Arar was detained in New York, said the U.S. should offer an apology.

"I definitely think they should," said Easter, who spoke Wednesday in Ottawa. "There should be a formal complaint …from the government of Canada."

During his testimony at the Arar inquiry last year, Easter said neither the Canadian Security Intelligence Service nor the RCMP was involved in the decision to deport the Ottawa man to Syria.

American officials, who didn't take part in the inquiry,only offeredcomment on the reporton Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told reporters in Washington that Arar was legally deported under immigration law.

"Some people have characterized his removal as a rendition. That is not what happened here. It was a deportation," Gonzales said.

Arar is appealing a U.S. Federal Court decision dismissing his lawsuit against American officials.