Members of congress apologize for torture to a Canadian - Chimpy, we do torture! And falsely, too.

[deminks]

US lawmakers apologize in torture case

Associated Press - October 18, 2007 8:03 PM ET

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - On Capitol Hill, members of Congress have apologized to a Canadian engineer who was seized by U.S. officials and taken to Syria, where he says he was tortured.

Maher Arar (MAH'-hur uh-RAHR'), a Canadian citizen, was detained at New York's JFK Airport in 2002. He was taken into custody under a post-9-11 practice known as extraordinary rendition, in which suspected terrorists are grabbed off the street in one country and flown to another.

Arar said while in Syria, he was tortured into falsely confessing that he had trained at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. After nearly a year, Arar was released and returned to Canada.

The 37-year-old appeared before a joint hearing of House subcommittees by video from Ottawa, Canada. Massachusetts Democrat Bill Delahunt opened the hearing by telling Arar: "Let me personally give you what our government has not: an apology."