Rendition Case Dismissed

rimrocker · May 19, 2006

Ugh... this is now what my country represents... I couldn't be more disgusted...

Abducted German's case against CIA dismissed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006051...B5DFL.ROrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Thu May 18, 6:57 PM ET

A US court dismissed German citizen Khaled El-Masri's lawsuit against former CIA chief George Tenet and others for allegedly having him abducted and tortured in a secret "rendition" operation.

The district court in Alexandria, Virginia turned back El-Masri's suit on the basis of "states secrets" privilege -- that a trial would disclose secret information crucial to US security.

But the court also said that if his story is true, the US government should come up with an unspecified "remedy" for El-Masri's complaint.

El-Masri, 42, sued Tenet, three allegedly CIA-linked aviation companies and numerous unnamed Central Intelligence Agency agents for 75,000 dollars, alleging he was forcibly seized in a CIA rendition operation in Skopje, Macedonia on December 31, 2003.

After being held for several weeks in an unknown location, where he was beaten and sodomized with a foreign object, he alleged, he was drugged and sent to the CIA-run Afghan prison called the "Salt Pit" where he was tortured and interrogated as a suspected terrorist with links to the September 11, 2001 attacks plotters.

After four months, Lebanon-born El-Masri claims, on May 28, 2004, he was flown blindfolded in a private jet from Kabul to Albania, where he was left on the side of an abandoned road to make his own way home.

El-Masri believes that he was mistaken for another person sought by the United States in its war on terror and that he was nevertheless held for weeks after Tenet, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top US officials knew of the error.

Making no comment on the allegations, the court ruled in favor of government arguments that because the case involves clandestine activities it should not be allowed to proceed because it would cause damage to national security.

"There is no doubt that the states secrets privilege is validly asserted here," the ruling said.

"While dismissal of the complaint deprives E-Masri of an American judicial forum for vindicating his claims ... El-Masri's private interests must give way to the national interest in preserving state secrets."

The El-Masri case was the first legal challenge in the United States confronting the controversial clandestine CIA renditions program, which involves seizing war on terror suspects and transferring them to secret prisons for interrogation.

US and foreign human rights groups have said the program involves severe torture and denial of basic rights.

The Alexandria court showed some sympathy to El-Masri, who was not present for the hearing, when it concluded in its ruling that, if there is any truth to his story, that the US government should offer a "remedy".

"If El-Masri's allegations are true or essentially true, then all fair-minded people, including those who believe that state secrets must be protected (and) that renditions are a necessary step to take in this war, must also agree that El-Masri has suffered injuries as a result of our country's mistake and deserves a remedy," the judgement said.

The judge said that remedy should come from the US government's executive or legislative branch, and not the courts.
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CreepyFloyd · May 19, 2006

And people wonder why the US is disliked.

I don't see anything preventing the government from doing this to US citizens in the near future...they'll probably justify it by saying that it's in the name of national security or something if they even acknowledge it all.

rimrocker · May 19, 2006

CreepyFloyd said:

And people wonder why the US is disliked.

I don't see anything preventing the government from doing this to US citizens in the near future...they'll probably justify it by saying that it's in the name of national security or something if they even acknowledge it all.
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That is what is so absolutely frightening about the Judge's reasoning...

... El-Masri's private interests must give way to the national interest in preserving state secrets.
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Let's hope this is reversed on appeal.

tigermission1 · May 19, 2006

Not sure why anyone is surprised...

No Worries · May 19, 2006

rimrocker said:

Let's hope this is reversed on appeal.
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I think it is sad that most Americans are ignorant wrt rendition. I suspect that if they actually understood it, they would be outraged. Yet another ball that the Democratic party has dropped.

wnes · May 19, 2006

No Worries said:

I think it is sad that most Americans are ignorant wrt rendition. I suspect that if they actually understood it, they would be outraged. Yet another ball that the Democratic party has dropped.
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"If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear - never to see them again - you send them to Egypt."

-- former CIA case officer Bob Baer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition

rhadamanthus · May 19, 2006

tigermission1 said:

Not sure why anyone is surprised...
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Yeah - quell my shock.

"They hate us for our freedom" - yeah right.

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Rendition Case Dismissed

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