WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers on Thursday offered apologies to a Canadian citizen who was deported by U.S. counterterrorism officials to Syria, where he says he was imprisoned and tortured.
Lawmakers from both parties also called on the Bush administration to apologize to Maher Arar, a Syrian-born software engineer still barred from entering the United States even though the Canadian government has cleared him of any links to terrorist groups.
“Our country made a mistake and has been unwilling to own up to it,” California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said. “It reflects an arrogance I don’t like to see in our government.”
An administration official said she was not aware of any plans for the White House to issue an apology to Arar.
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