About the Author
The Author
Andrew Heyman lives and works in Seattle Washington USA. His true vocation is political writing and agitating for the radical idea that a society that is governed by, and serves the needs of the people is best.
Andrew is also the member of a wonderful family with his loving wife, Pam, and the proud father of 2 wonderful children, Josie and Adam. They all keep him from becoming immersed in blogging to an unhealthy degree, and remind him of why he cares about what is going on in this world in the first place.
You can email him at kiacyclic-AT-gmail.com.
US Court Supports Disappearing Innocents
The problem here is that Mr. el-Masri was completely innocent; but that didn't stop the CIA from in fact kidnapping him, taking him a secret prison, and then proceed to use the "tough interrogation" techniques instituted and championed by the Bush administration:A US federal appeals court on Friday upheld a refusal to hear the case of a Lebanese-born German man who says he was tortured by the CIA, citing national security reasons.
Khaled el-Masri claims was detained by the CIA for several months in 2004 on suspicion of links to terrorism.
Once again, this is an absolutely innocent man that this is happening to."They took me to this room, and they hit me all over and they slashed my clothes with sharp objects, maybe knives or scissors," says el-Masri.
"I also heard photos being taken while this was going on - and they took off the blindfold and I saw that there were a lot of men standing in the room. They were wearing black masks and black gloves."
El-Masri says he was injected with drugs, and after his flight, he woke up in an American-run prison in Afghanistan. He showed 60 Minutes a prison floor plan he drew from memory. He says other prisoners were from Pakistan, Tanzania, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. El-Masri told 60 Minutes that he was held for five months and interrogated by Americans through an interpreter.
"He yelled at me and he said that, 'You're in a country without laws and no one knows where you are. Do you know what that means?' I said yes," says el-Masri. "It was very clear to me that he meant I could stay in my cell for 20 years or be buried somewhere, and nobody knows what happened to you."
After his ordeal (his captors dumped him by the side of dirt road in Albania), and he got his family to believe that he hadn't deserted them and had been kidnapped and tortured by the US government, el-Masri was brave enough to seek justice for the crimes committed against him. With the assistance of the ACLU he brought the law suit against the US government and the CIA which was just dismissed in appeals court.
In a statement on the ACLU's web site, el-Masri makes it clear what the stakes are in this case, and what it means for us all if his case is not heard before a court:
This is not democracy. In my opinion, this is how you establish a dictatorial regime. Countries are occupied, people are killed, and we cannot say anything because it’s all considered a state secret. Freedom and justice are disrespected, as are basic morals and values. And if you don’t keep quiet after you are abused, you are considered a threat to international or national security. But I will not be scared into being silent. I will continue to fight for this case until I prevail or until I die. And I will fight for morality, for principles, for the values I believe in, and for my family.
The reason that the US courts have so far refused to hear the case is that since it involves classified information and activities, the defendants cannot hope to defend themselves properly without revealing such secrets. That just isn't good enough. It puts government behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy, and protects it and its agents from any sort of justice. It allows an innocent man to be tortured.
We can float all the justifications that we want to about how we are in a war, and in war innocents are hurt and killed all the time; but it doesn't change the fact that this some of the most inhumane behavior that a state can engage in, outside of massacres (which we also perpetrate), and genocide (which are often complicit in). Beyond the basic ethical and moral foundations that our society should follow, this further endangers the American people as it aides the cause of our enemies.