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One-Minute Editorial Maher Arar, a 34-year-old Canadian telecommunications engineer and a father of two, was on his way home after a family vacation trip to Tunisia. It was Sept. 26, 2002, when he was stopped by U.S. officials in New York’s JFK airport. They told him of secret information they had proving he had been associated with A1 Qaeda. Cuffed and in leg irons, he was soon on a private jet heading for Jordan. From Jordan he was driven to Syria and turned over to interrogators who never use Miranda rights, habeas corpus nor were bound by any restrictions on cruel and unusual punishment. Thrown into a rat-infested cell no bigger than a grave, he was beaten and tortured for 18 hours with a thick black electric cable. In terror, he urinated on himself. Months later he was wearing the same clothes he had on in New York, had not seen the sun in six months and had lost 40 pounds. Finally, he gave his captors a meaningless confession and a year later, in October, 2003, convinced that he knew nothing, he was allowed to return to Canada. Haunted by his Syrian captivity, he is suing the U.S. government who never charged him with a crime and has even refused to apologize. This story comes from Ted Gup’s book. Nation of Secrets, which is filled with our government’s all out secret war against all-basic human rights. Within the past 10 days, Gregory Katsas, deputy associate attorney general, told a House panel, looking into prisoner rights at Guantanamo prison, that prisoners have adequate rights and their military trials shouldn’t be altered. He made the claim, straight-faced, without explaining why, of the 375 prisoners at Guantanamo, 75 of those arrested and thrown into prison had never been charged but now will be sent home. The other 300, many who have not been charged, either, will be tried in a military court without protection under habeas corpus which gives them the right to review charges against them and examine the evidence presented. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Sub committee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, said just because President Bush points his finger at someone and says they are an enemy combatant doesn’t make it so. “No executive of English-speaking peoples has ever claimed such tyrannical powers,” he said. If our government can pick up an innocent man, Canadian, American or resident of any other country, without legal authority, spirit them out of the country into a Middle East hell-hole, or even off the coast of Florida, in Guantanamo, we’re losing the rights that makes this country great. If we believe our government’s flimsy promises of security, we pay a dear price-our freedom under the Constitution and that would be trading... ...the devil for the witch “I’ve found the safe way to walk the streets of Baghdad. ” i k . ^ Fo c^iao^^O^'v ' 111r' v THE PASSING PARADE The Week in Review Despite U.S. criticism-Iraq’s parliament adjourned until Sept. 4. i North Carolina-may become the third state to -give one electoral vote for each district carried by a ) candidate. The statewide winner would be awarded two remaining j votes. With the governor’s signature, the new rules will go into effect in 2008. A seizure-at his summer home in Maine, sent Chief Justice John Roberts to the hospital for an overnight stay. L NASCAR’S-seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty was named North Carolinian of the Year by the N.C. Press Association. i Scarlet-the authorized sequel to Gone With the Wind was released after a printing of 500,000 copies. That was in • 1991. The latest Harry Potter book sold 10 million, worldwide, in the first 24 hours. Four men-framed by the FBI in a 1965 murder, will be paid $101.7 million by the government for the j decades they spent in prison. The ruling came from a U.S. District Court judge in Boston. NASA-will look into reports that some astronauts were boozing it up before their flights. Lt. Gen. Phillip Kensinger-now retired, has been censured and faces demotion for providing misleading information to investigators about the friendly-fire killing of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. A chlorophyll-producing-microbe found in Yellowstone National Park, may help scientists discover new and better ways to store and harvest energy. Democrats-are calling for a special prosecutor to start perjury investigations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and White House politician Karl Rove. After Iraq’s national soccer-team beat South Korea, crowds celebrating in Baghdad’s streets were met by a suicide car bomb which killed 50 people and wounded 135. To lose weight-experts say you , should hang around with skinny people because obesity can spread like a virus. Keeping your mouth closed could prevent the fat virus from entering your body. (We just made up that last part). Saudi Arabia-will be getting billions of dollars worth of advanced new weapons from the Bush administration in a new arms and aid package. The French were right-when they said the stupid Americans would buy drinking water. PepsiCo now says its top-selling Aquafina water is the same as the stuff coming out of your tap. Mail us a dollar for telling you! British troops-in Iraq are pulling out of the city of Basra. The troops will be stationed at an airport headquarters, miles from the city. North Carolina’s-new real estate transfer tax, when you sell your property, will cost three times as much. Selling a $200,000 home, the normal tax of $400 will jump to $ 1.200. Federal agents-searched the home of Alaska’s U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. They hoped to find records of his relationship with a jailed oil field services contractor. A real star-of late-late network TV, Tom Snyder died in San Francisco. He was 71. For $5 billion-Rupert Murdock has bought the Wall Street Journal. Krispy Kreme-stock has been rated as junk by Moody’s Investment Service. The stock closed at $6.80. Politically connected-Califomia farmers may get the government’s approval to control billions of gallons of water, 15 percent of all the federally controlled water in the state. That means farmers’ pumps will flow even if San Francisco’s drinking water faucets don’t. Almost 900 pounds-of milk were poured down pipes which opened into the pit where 69 Chinese coal miners are trapped. Later all were rescued. Only 74 military deaths-were July. However, between April and June 331 U.S. soldiers died there, making the monthly average of only 100 killed each month. Jim Black-former speaker of the N.C. House began serving a five year prison sentence for political corruption. An additional 10-month sentence will run concurrently if Black pays a $1 million fine. An unknown baby-boy of 19-months, who drowned, along with his parents, when the Titanic sank, in 1912, has been identified as Sidney Leslie Goodwin. The family, from England, was on their way toNiagara Falls. Former Defense Secretary-Donald Rumsfeld denied, before a House committee, that there was a cover up when they reported the death of Cpl. Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. Democrats backed down-and decided not to demand better fuel economy from the automotive industry by the cars and trucks they are producing. A six-member-Sunni bloc walked out of the Iraqi cabinet. Several suicide-attacks killed 142 civilians in Iraq. Four more-U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, three of them in Baghdad by an armor-piercing bomb. Interstate 35 West-bridge in Minneapolis collapsed dumping bumper-to- bumper traffic into the Mississippi River. At least six people died and 28 were injured. Legislation approved-by the House Judiciary Committee will shield reporters from being forced to reveal sources. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia already have such protection. Fisher-Price-will recall 83 types of toys amid fears of lead paint from China. Iredell County-commissioners don't see a need for new sales taxes and probably will not increase the realty transfer fee. President Bush-is expected to veto a House bill giving regular military units as much time at home as they spent in Iraq. Guard and Reserve units would get to stay home three times as long. Thirteen-were killed in Baghdad when a suicide bomber drove his bomb-packed car into a police station. Citi2En (USPS 017-606) Award-Winning Member of the North Carolina Press Association Published weekly by the Iredell Citizen, Inc. 150 East Sharpe Street • Statesville, NC 28677 704-872-1200 • 704-872-1280 • Fax 704-872-1281 editor(S iredellcitizen.com * circ(S'iredellcitizen.com • ads<S%edellcitizen.com Robert Plyler. Neil Furr. Mary Ann Minnish. Linda Morris. Ruthann Jacobs. Lee Ann Sherrill. Meredith White. Sandy Parks... Danny Hogan. Michele Mitchell. .. Teresa Jordan. Lisa Hagy. Don Webber. .Editor/Publisher .Managing Editor .Sales Manager .Advertising/Sales .Advertising/Sales .Reporter .Reporter .Typist .Graphics .Graphics .Graphics Receptionist/Circulation Sales .Circulation Subscription Rates Single Copy. 50 Cents $28 per year in North Carolina $30 per year outside North Carolina POSTMASTER Send Address Changes to: Iredell Citizen P.O. Box 1221 Statesville. NC 28687-1221 Periodicals Postage Paid at Statesville. NC 28677
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