More on Maher Arar: Tom Ridge Says, in effect, "We're Not Sorry. We Did It On Purpose"


A timeline of the case, with links to news stories.

A good many people have been shocked and sickened by this case. David, an Australian friend of mine living in New York City and married to an American woman, asked me, "Where is the abject groveling apology from the USA?"

Here it is. It's on the same web page, from an October 3, 2003, interview:

Tom Ridge: First of all, I think we need to dispel the notion that this was an arbitrary decision on the part of our government. There was sufficient information within the international intelligence community about this individual that we felt warranted his deportation back to one of – he had dual citizenship – of one of two countries. The decision was made, based on that information available through the global international intelligence community to effect that outcome.

Translation: "We did it. We did it on purpose. We'll do it again. Go fuck yourselves. Or just wait a while -- the Feds will be at your door, and we'll do it for you."

Ridge's response puts to shame the answer I wrote to David, but I'll repeat it here anyway.

We don't apologize. We're good guys. That means anything we do, up to and including torture (direct or subcontracted) and assassination, is good, because we're doing it. So we don't ever *need* to apologize. Because we're the good guys. John Wayne doesn't say he's sorry. Neither does anyone in Love Story.

Anyone who judges us by our behavior is automatically not a good guy. So we can do anything to them we want.

Anyone who looks like someone who threatened us is not a good guy. Ditto.

We're just trying to bring our vision of peace, prosperity, and freedom to everyone in the world. If they don't appreciate that, we'll ram it down their throats, burn their villages, and send their enemies to Torturers Camp to learn how to make leather wallets from the backsides of people who did once have faces before the rubber hoses landed.

Sending someone to Torturers Camp doesn't mean we'll go on supporting your efforts to fight for freedom, either. We fucking trained half the people we're fighting now. But it always puzzles us that they feel betrayed. Haven't they made their contribution to the American Way of Life? Many of them laid down their lives for the American Dream: cheap gas for big SUVs.