Yes, hard to believe.  U.S. immigration agents grab a Syrian-born Canadian citizen labeled a "terrorist suspect" and send him to Syria, by way of Jordan, all because we have guarantees that the Syrian government will not torture him and yet imagine our surprise when, yep, they tortured him.  

You say this doesn't make a lot of sense because why else would we send a terrorist suspect to a country known for its use of torture and lack of respect for basic human rights? 

Good question, yet this is basically what the Attorney General (ie. highest law enforcement official in the land) said in a news conference the other day and he has used this line repeatedly since the beginning of the year when the Maher Arar case first surfaced.  A number of articles regarding the case noted that U.S. officials were concerned about sending Arar to Syria due to the issue of torture, but evidently it never occurred to them to turn him over to Canadian authorities... he is a naturalized Canadian citizen after all. 

No, they didn't turn him over to Canadian authorities probably because they thought Canadian respect for due process of law would meant Arar would eventually be released.  As it turns out he should have been released but what does the whole affair really say about us?  Seriously, what the hell are we doing and will we even recognize what we've become when its all over?  Anyone else see the strange disconnect of one week bashing Syria for its support of Hezbollah, the next dropping off our latest batch of suspected terrorists to be "interrogated"?

I'm reminded of something one of my D.C. friends said a few years ago.  Upon graduating from Georgetown law, she took a job with the FTC at the beginning of the President's first term and knowing her politics I asked if she had any concerns that the new administration's anti-regulation rhetoric would make her job particularly difficult.  She replied that as a rule, Republicans are real big on enforcing the laws on the books but are resistant to legislating or creating new laws and regulations to solve any given problem.  Funny how that passed for conventional wisdom only five years ago.....