A judicial commission ruled yesterday that even though the Mounties may never have intended for an innocent man to be jailed and tortured, loose lips and sloppy information-sharing practices of rookie counterterrorism investigators were crucial in the U.S. decision to send Mr. Arar to Syria.

"The RCMP provided American authorities with information about Mr. Arar that was inaccurate, portrayed him in a negative fashion and overstated his importance in the RCMP investigation," Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor says in his 822-page report. He says that when RCMP officers gave information to the United States, it increased "the risk that the information would be used for the purposes of which the RCMP would not approve, such as sending Mr. Arar to Syria."

Mr. Arar suffered that fate after being arrested in the United States in 2002. The reasons are complex and the commission did not suggest there was a single official at fault for the Syrian-Canadian's yearlong detention in the Middle East. But what probably ruined his reputation was a 2001 request by the Mounties that the U.S. place Mr. Arar on a terrorist lookout list. source

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