The Boston Globe has more on the mystery surrounding the US deportation of Canadian Maher Arar. For background, read our recent post "U.S. Deports Canadian Making a Connecting Flight to Syria" here.

From the Globe article:

"INS agents arrested Arar Sept. 26 during a layover at Kennedy International Airport and detained him in a federal prison until Oct. 10, according to his lawyer. A week into his detainment, he was allowed one phone call, to his mother-in-law in Ottawa, who hired lawyer Amal Oummih."

"Oummih said she was able to visit Arar just once. When she returned to the prison a few days later, Arar was gone. ''They told me there was a hearing, but they never notified me,'' Oummih said. ''They won't tell me where he was deported to. I kept asking and finally [an INS official] told me, `You won't find him in the US.'''

"Amal said that when she visited him Arar showed her a document that listed the charge as being a member of a foreign terrorist organization. The document, she said, later mentioned Al Qaeda."

Reynald Dioron, spokesman for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. said ''We have two core questions: Where was he removed to and what is the rationale behind the decision? This is very unusual.''

Of the hundreds of people detained after September 11, Canadian officials report this is the first time a Canadian has been deported to a third country. ''We're not saying anything about it,'' said INS spokesman Bill Strassberger. ''There's no explanation why. We're just not saying anything.'' (our emphasis)

Maher Arar's wife meanwhile waits in Tunisia where they had been vacationing when Arar took a flight back to return to work at a software company in Ottowa, a job he held for the past two years. Workers were shocked to learn of his disappearance. They described him as hard-working and friendly.

It doesn't look like reform of New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws will be happening any time soon. In Waiting for Drug Laws to Change, and Marking Off the Years, New York Times reporter Matthew Purdy's tone can be best described as depressed. We knew it was going to be a sad article as soon as we read this:

"Elaine Bartlett has gotten some nice snapshots of herself with big-shot New York politicians in recent months....Ms. Bartlett was granted clemency by Gov. George E. Pataki in late 1999. Ever since, she has worked to change the Rockefeller-era drug laws, the nation's toughest, which kept her locked up for 16 years on her first offense."

Ms. Bartlett's crime was delivering a package for her boyfriend that contained 4 oz. of cocaine. Her boyfriend got 19 years for selling it. The judge married them and then sent them off to do their time.

Just so you know how absurd a 16 year sentence is for this first offense, here's what she what she would have gotten had she been charged in federal court. Worst case scenario, if she went to trial and lost, and the Judge didn't believe she was just delivering for her boyfriend, but was an equal participant in the sale, she would have gotten 27 to 33 months.

More likely, is this scenario: Facing less than 3 years as a maximum sentence, and caught doing a delivery, she would have pleaded guilty. If the Judge believed she was delivering for her boyfriend and thus had a lesser role than him in the offense, she would have gotten 12 to 18 months. If the Judge thought she was an equal participant, she would have gotten 18 to 24 months.

As Purdy points out, "Politicians at almost every point on the political spectrum agree that the [Rockefeller] laws are too stiff and give judges too little discretion. But in the alchemy of Albany, agreement has turned out to be as good a recipe for inaction as disagreement is."

This past June, it looked like there would be a change. Governor Pataki was courting the hispanic vote for this November's election. A disproportionate number of those in jail serving draconian sentences under the Rockefeller laws are hispanic. Pataki repeatedly said overhauling the drug laws was his top priority. He called together the Mothers for the Disappeared, looking to get their support, and he promised them reform. Then he outlined his plan, which would have only brought immediate relief to 200 of the 19.000 inmates imprisoned under the law. The Mothers declined. (For more on Mothers of the Disappeared, see this Salon article)

The Democrats were in favor of change as well. But they disagreed with Pataki, saying his reforms didn't go far enough. Pataki came up with a better plan, still not enough, but as Purdy points out, "It wouldn't exactly have taken Solomon to split the difference."

Instead, everyone lost interest. An no changes were made. "There's little mystery what happened as spring turned to summer and summer turned into the campaign season. "Nobody wanted to give anybody credit," said Doreen LaMarca, whose brother is serving 25 years to life for a first-time drug offense. "It's the election."

And, "Blame makes a better sound bite than credit." So Pataki is now blaming the Dems for wanting too much and the Dems are blaming Pataki for offering to do too little. We blame Pataki. We believe, as do others, he is too beholden to the prosecutors in New York who vehemently oppose all but the most minor changes in the law. Under Pataki's plan, prosecutors will have far too much discretion in matters such as who gets treatment instead of prison. Such decisions should be made by impartial judges.

Another problem with Pataki's plan: "...the new plan also includes several flaws and loopholes that benefit prosecutors and render the bill unacceptable to the Assembly. For instance, people arrested within 1,000 feet of a school or 100 feet of a park could not ask a judge to send them into treatment. That would disqualify most people arrested in New York City, advocates for addicts said."

Along comes conservative Tom Golisano, Independent candidate for Governor (his third try no less) and in an effort to gain the black and hispanic vote, has been meeting with Ms. Bartlett and the other members of Mothers of the Disappeared, promising not just reform, but repeal of the Rockefeller drug laws. He even made a campaign commercial with them. He has money, but he trails badly behind McCall, the democratic candidate, who in turn trails behind Pataki. He's also the most conservative of the candidates, except on this issue.

Our prior post with facts from a new report on the Rockefeller drug laws is here.

Some additional findings of the Report on the effect of these drug laws on children of those imprisoned:

Jim Dwyer writes another excellent article on the five convicted youths in the Central Park Jogger case in Sunday's New York Times called Crimes Admitted, but Not Committed.

Trying to explain why someone would confess to something they didn't do is not easy. Jim makes it a little more understandable.

"In place of the rubber hose, the law grants wide latitude in the use of psychological pressures — the kind of cajoling good-cop-bad-cop routines seen on "NYPD Blue" that are part of standard police training manuals. That these techniques produce thousands of authentic confessions from criminals every year is beyond dispute. That these same techniques also produce a number of false confessions is also beyond dispute."

Using actual cases, not just that of the Central Park jogger, Jim reviews some of more prevalent reasons. Here's an example:

"Last Thursday, in Illinois, Gov. George Ryan pardoned four men who had been sent to prison as teenagers for the rape and murder of a medical student. Two of them had confessed and implicated the other two. None of them, DNA tests later showed, had anything to do with the attacks. That same DNA evidence recently implicated two other men. Why did the first group falsely confess? One man said he figured that at age 17, by cutting a deal, he would get out of prison by the time he was 23. The second man had an I.Q. between 65 and 70, according to his lawyer, and quickly buckled under questioning."

There's another internet e-mail hoax going around. We received it today, but it has been in circulation for a while. It has two parts, the first concerning Oliver North and the second about Mohammad Attah.

The e-mail says that Oliver North testified at the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings before Congress that he had bought an expensive home security system to protect himself from Osama bin Laden, who North said wanted to assassinate him. This was years before bin Laden emerged as a suspected terrorist leader. The phony email goes on to say that North was asked what he would do about Bin Laden and that he replied, "Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth." Lastly, the email says Al Gore was the Senator asking the questions.

According to ABC News, 11/29/01, "North did indeed testify about his need for protection. But a review of the hearing transcripts shows he was talking about Abu Nidal, leader of a terrorist group responsible for airport shootings and other attacks in the Middle East in the 1980s. (Nightline, 11/19/01; 20/20, 11/21/01)"

Here is the Nightline transcript which ran the tape of that portion of North's 1987 testimony:

JOHN DONVAN: An e-mail that's making the rounds these days has an air of authenticity about it. It is about Oliver North's 1987 nationally televised testimony before Congress. In tonight's Fact Check, the e-mails quote North as saying he and his family installed an expensive security system after they were threatened. "Threatened by whom?" "By a terrorist, sir." "Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?" "His name is Osama bin Laden, sir." We went into the tape archives and this is what was really said.

(Beginning of footage from July 8, 1987)

Mr. OLIVER NORTH: The issue of the security system was first broached immediately after a threat on my life by Abu Nidal. Abu Nidal is, as I'm sure you on the intelligence committees know, the principal, foremost assassin in the world today. He is a brutal murderer.

DONVAN: Abu Nidal is thought to be living in Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein.

Nor was it Al Gore who questioned Oliver North. It was committee counsel John Nields, who is not even a senator. Oliver North responded to the false email as follows (his caps, not ours):

1. IT WAS THE COMMITTEE COUNSEL, JOHN NIELDS, NOT A SENATOR WHO WAS DOING THE QUESTIONING.

2. THE SECURITY SYSTEM, INSTALLED AT MY HOME, JUST BEFORE I MADE A VERY SECRET TRIP TO TEHRAN, COST, ACCORDING TO THE COMMITTEE, $16K, NOT $60K.

3. THE TERRORIST WHO THREATENED TO KILL ME IN 1986, JUST BEFORE THAT SECRET TRIP TO TEHRAN, WAS NOT USAMA BIN LADEN, IT WAS ABU NIDAL (WHO WORKS FOR THE LIBYANS -- NOT THE TALIBAN AND NOT IN AFGHANISTAN).

4. I NEVER SAID I WAS AFRAID OF ANYBODY. I DID SAY THAT I WOULD BE GLAD TO MEET ABU NIDAL ON EQUAL TERMS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD BUT THAT I WAS UNWILLING TO HAVE HIM OR HIS OPERATIVES MEET MY WIFE AND CHILDREN ON HIS TERMS.

5. I DID SAY THAT THE TERRORISTS INTERCEPTED BY THE FBI ON THE WAY TO MY HOUSE IN FEB. 87 TO KILL MY WIFE, CHILDREN AND ME WERE LIBYANS, DISPATCHED FROM THE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE FOR LIBYAN STUDENTS IN MCLEAN, VIRGINIA.

6. AND I DID SAY THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAD MOVED MY FAMILY OUT OF OUR HOME TO A MILITARY BASE (CAMP LEJEUNE, NC) UNTIL THEY COULD DISPATCH MORE THAN 30 AGENTS TO PROTECT MY FAMILY FROM THOSE TERRORISTS (BECAUSE A LIBERAL FEDERAL JUDGE HAD ALLOWED THE LYBIAN ASSASSINS TO POST BOND AND THEY FLED).

7. AND, FYI: THOSE FEDERAL AGENTS REMAINED AT OUR HOME UNTIL I RETIRED FROM THE MARINES AND WAS NO LONGER A "GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL." BY THEN, THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HAD SPENT MORE THAN $2M PROTECTING THE NORTH FAMILY. THE TERRORISTS SENT TO KILL US WERE NEVER RE-APPREHENDED.

SEMPER FIDELIS,
OLIVER L. NORTH

A second phony email claims Mohammed Attah blew up a bus in Israel in 1986, was captured and imprisoned, but Clinton and Warren Christopher demanded his release as part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, whereby Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners." Thus, the email claims, Mr. Atta was freed and able to commit the World Trade Center attacks.

Turns out it wasn't Mohammed Attah at all, but a Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, who bombed an Israel bus in 1986 and was captured in Venezuela in 1987. He was deported to the US who then allowed Israel to extradite him there. In 1991, he was convicted in Israel and sentenced to life.

Many news organizations picked up the false story, but the Boston Globe caught it by checking the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals records on the extradition case.

Skippy is in an analytical mood this weekend and has some good thoughts, delivered with his customary wit, on how the dems can win on election day.

"how could the dems actually turn things to their advantage? well, the problem for the dems is, it would take organization, and elbow grease, and a fire in their belly...things the dems haven't believed in since lyndon johnson left town."

The key, says Skippy, is reaching out to voters. Then he explains how it should be done.

Law Professor and Author David Cole writes in a New York Times op-ed today called Fight Terrorism Fairly:

"Because of an overly broad statute, the government wins this case no matter which version of the story is true. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, passed in 1996, makes it a crime to provide "material support" to any group designated as "terrorist" -- without regard to whether the support was actually intended to further terrorist activity."

"This law, rarely invoked before Sept. 11, is now the cornerstone of the Justice Department's domestic war on terrorism. In addition to the Lackawanna case, the government has relied on the law in its prosecutions of Lynne Stewart, the lawyer charged with passing messages from her client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, to an Egyptian terrorist group; James Ujaama, who is accused of conspiring to help Al Qaeda set up a training camp in southern Oregon; and John Walker Lindh, who pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban."

"...It is always tempting, when faced with a serious threat, to make it easier for the government to prosecute suspects for who they are rather than what they do. But as we have learned, doing so inevitably sweeps in the innocent and chills legitimate political activity."

In Illinois, where the clemency hearings are underway for more than 140 death row inmates, two clemency panelists have been reassigned. Both have made comments criticizing the process and the inmates claims.

The adwatch department of the Rocky Mountain News examined a new ad against Allard by the child advocacy group Every Child Matters and found each of the three charges true.

Here they are:

• "Wayne Allard voted against health insurance for children."

• "Truth test: True. Allard and 15 other senators voted on July 31, 1997, against a measure creating an insurance program for children of low-income families whose incomes weren't low enough to qualify for Medicaid nor high enough to pay private health-insurance premiums. The measure was a budget- balancing bill covering many government agencies. Allard told a reporter afterward that he also had other reasons to vote against it, including failures to restructure Medicare and cut government spending substantially in other areas. However, Allard specifically said he viewed the $24 billion insurance plan for children as a "new entitlement" of which he disapproved."

• Allard voted "Against programs that protect children from abuse."

• "Truth test: True. On Sept. 30, 1999, Allard and 38 other senators voted to kill increased federal grants to states for a wide range of social services, including programs for troubled families and children."

• "98 to 1," the vote in the U.S. Senate on funding for fetal alcohol syndrome prevention and treatment. And Wayne Allard was the only member of the U.S. Senate to vote against protecting babies from alcohol and drug addiction."

• "Truth test: True. On June 28, 2000, Allard cast the Senate's lone vote against increasing funding from $15 million to $25 million for a program to protect and treat children with mental retardation and other disabilities caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Fellow Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a vocal supporter of the program, voted for it, as did every other senator present from both political parties. The Allard campaign has said he feared the increased funding would shortchange Colorado-based hantavirus research."

We don't know too much about campaign advertising, but to us this is a very persuasive ad. Who would vote for a guy with this voting record?

You can view the ad online here

The Washington Post today outlines why the Colorado Senate race between freshman Republican senator Wayne Allard and Democratic challenger Tom Strickland has become a race of national importance.

At first, Allard's lead was such that it was assumed he'd have a "narrow win." Then, "Democrats escalated their attacks on Allard's ties to corporate and accounting interests. Those salvos, coupled with sharp criticism of his record on environmental issues and his stands on Social Security and abortion, have turned this into one of the nation's closest Senate races. Should Strickland manage to oust Allard, Democrats would have a tiny bit of breathing room, enabling them to retain their Senate majority even if one Democratic incumbent should lose elsewhere."

Allard is also suffering more fallout than Strickland from the nasty tone of the campaign. Plus, the Democrats are getting the word out about "Allard's 1999 decision to back Qwest's efforts to merge with US West -- a plan that eventually soured and led to more than 5,000 layoffs in Colorado. "

Add to that the Democrats' message that "in July 2000 Allard joined eight other Republican and Democratic senators in persuading the Securities and Exchange Commission to postpone tough corporate accounting reforms that might have prevented a subsequent rash of major corporate scandals." And Allard's weak response-- "He was merely trying to give Colorado accountants more time to comment."

Strickland had a good line this week during a debate with Allard. He said, "Sen. Allard is the most reliable vote in the Senate for the interests that fund his campaign."

With Allards lead evaporating and the two now in a dead heat (according to Zogby's) and to a three point lead over Strickland according to the Denver Post (4 point margin of error), both sides are funding the race. Bush and Cheney have been filling Allard's coffers. Bill Bradley has come out to fundraise for Strickland. The Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, the abortion rights group NARAL, the AFL-CIO and a children's advocacy group are all supporting and contributing to Strickland. Allard reportedly has more money, and unless Strickland stays close, Allard may gain an edge from the final blitz of tv ads.

The reasons we like Strickland, as a person and to be our Senator, are here.

Today we got a fax from the campaign inviting us to a newly scheduled benefit--singer Don Henley, formerly of the Eagles and one of Talkleft's top 3 all time favorites, is coming to Denver Oct. 27 to perform in a Strickland supporter's home-for only 150 people.

The requested contribution is too steep for us ($1,000 to $5,000 per person), but for those of you who haven't made a donation to Strickland yet, if you go here and contribute and then send an e-mail to Melanie the campaign's deputy finance director, and tell her we prompted you to donate, maybe she will let us match your donations and go see Don Henley. Even small amounts are fine.

A suspicious white rental truck was taken into police custoday today "after a cleaning crew at a car rental agency near Dulles International Airport found a shell casing inside. ....Authorities took the truck to an undisclosed location to search for fibers and other physical evidence. The casing was taken to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms laboratory in Rockville for testing. Those results were expected today, police said....a white box truck was seen at several of the shootings in Montgomery County on Oct. 2, the day the sniper's string began."

New York is abandoning its longtime practice of putting the mentally ill in lockups

"Officials at state psychiatric hospitals in New York ordered social workers this week to stop sending discharged patients to locked units in private nursing homes. The move ends a six-year-old practice that was supposed to help scale back the state's costly psychiatric system but has raised civil rights concerns."

Don't credit Governor Pataki though. He has been unresponsive. The change comes about as a result of the Department of Justice, which began a review of the lockup facilities on October 6, after reading a report in the New York Times. The goal of the review was to "determine whether conditions violate federal laws that protect the rights of people who are institutionalized or have disabilities."

Via Atrios and Sisyphus Shrugged, these are MoveOn's list of hot senate races and links to each so you can get involved. And thanks to Sisyphus for their very nice compliment to TalkLeft today.

Arkansas: Mark Pryor
http://www.pryor2002.com/vol.htm

Colorado: Tom Strickland
http://www.stricklandforcolorado.com/pageinpage/getinvolved.cfm

Georgia: Max Cleland
http://www.maxcleland2002.com/involved/volunteer/volunteer.html

Iowa: Tom Harkin
http://www.tomharkin.com/get-involved/volunteer-form.cfm

Louisiana: Mary Landrieu
http://www.marylandrieu.com/get_involved.html

Maine: Chellie Pingree
http://www.pingreeforsenate.com/involved/involved.cfm

Minnesota: Paul Wellstone
http://www.wellstone.org/green/volunteer/index.html

Missouri: Jean Carnahan
http://www.jeancarnahan.com/get_involved/

New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen
http://www.shaheen.org

New Jersey: Frank Lautenberg
Email: vherold@njdems.org to volunteer for Lautenberg and other NJ Dems.
Please include your phone # and your county, and say "MoveOn sent me."

North Carolina: Erskine Bowles
http://www.erskinebowles2002.com/get_involved/index.htm

Oklahoma: David Walters
http://www.waltersforsenate.com/volunteer.asp

Oregon: Bill Bradbury
http://www.bradbury2002.com/cgi-bin/volunteer.htm

South Dakota: Tim Johnson
http://www.timjohnsonforsd.com/getinvolved/volunteer.php

South Carolina: Alex Sanders
http://www.sanders2002.com/help/index.asp