Maher Arar, wrongly sent to Syria and tortured by the US after the Mounties fed US intelligence fairy stories about nonexistent ties to Al Qaeda, was not tortured, as far as the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, knows. That was most likely a lie, but Mr. Gonzales showed a trait evident in the current US administration and with good liars everywhere, denied an over-precise fact. Mr. Gonzales said that "we were not responsible" for sending Mr. Arar to Syria. Technically, the US dept. of justice does not handle such things, now. It did back then, ruining the lie and causing a technical re-statement by one of Mr. Gonzales' underlings.
One of my favourite lies is when George Bush said that he did not "have a plan for the invasion of Iraq on my desk right now". Not on his desk.
Of course, Mr. Arar would not have gone to Syria without the incompetence and sycophance of the RCMP and Canadian politicians eager to "help" in the "war on terror". Following Mr. Arar's deportation lies were spread about his character and actions. More were sprinkled about after his release. The Mounties also obstructed the inquest into Mr. Arar's deportation and torture. The full report has been censored for "national security" reasons. And they call it democracy.
