In an update to a story we’ve been following closely, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been forced to back away from comments he made about U.S. involvement in the case of Maher Arar. Arar is the Canadian citizen who the U.S. abducted and sent to a Syrian prison where he was tortured. On Monday the Canadian government exonerated Arar and criticized the U.S. role. At a news conference the next day Gonzales said “We were not responsible for his removal to Syria. I’m not aware that he was tortured.'’ On Wednesday, a Justice Department spokesperson said Gonzales had misspoken. The spokesperson said the attorney general forgot that at the time of Arar's deportation, such matters were still handled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was part of the Department of Justice.