And His Ship Of Fools.
AKA 'Sea Hitler'.
Before I get onto the Ship Business a little background.
A few years ago Maher was travelling the world - he held two passports and possessed two citizenships - Syrian 1st and Canadian 2nd.
He ended up in the USA and was flagged as having possible links to terrorism. The US checked with Canada where their suspicions were apparently confirmed. They then sent Mr. Arar to his country of birth - Syria - where he alleges he was tortured.
The Torture allegation was made by Maher Arar alone.
Let's say for the sake of this discussion that he was indeed tortured by the Syrians.
Canada arranged for his return to this country where upon Mr. Arar launched a lawsuit against Canada and was successful to the tune of over $10 million. He also sued the United States, whereupon his claim was summarily dismissed. He never sued Syria to my knowledge.
So here we have the United States shipping this chap off to Syria where he is allegedly tortured and we Canadians are left to pick up the tab by forking out a cool $10 million.
Not bad for a days work.
I listened to a lady call into local talk radio and said it better than I can - "we have troops returning from Afghanistan missing arms and legs and they get virtually nothing while we pay Maher Arar $10 million for, in the scheme of things a minor torture".
This has troubled me too but now we find out he is a backer - albeit one of many (e.g large Canadian Trade Unions and such) - who backs an upcoming Flotilla from Turkey to Gaza for the sole purpose of breaching Israel's sea blockade of that region.
Arar and Company from Canada, are contributing a ship dubbed the 'Sea Hitler' - Cute don't you think? So warm and fuzzy.
And, it is not that Israel wants to stop ships from entering into Gaza - rather, their sole purpose is to inspect such ships to ensure that they are not carrying armaments that will with certainty be used against them.
Gaza, as you know, is controlled by Hamas with their stated goal to destroy Israel - to wipe it from the face of the earth.
Over the years, Israel has suffered numerous missile attacks from Gaza which they are unable to properly defend against given Gaza's close proximity.
It makes imminent sense therefore for Israel to stop the shipment of arms destined for that part of the world.
What puzzles me, is how a fellow like Maher Arar can worry so much about receiving fair treatment for himself while showing no regard for Israelis who face death or serious injury should weapons successfully make their way to Gaza.
From my perspective, I think Mr. Arar has shown his true stripes by being willingly part of this dangerous stupidity.
As I see it...
'K.D. Galagher'
