A man is taken off a plane, held in a secret prison for months, kept away from his family who are not even told what he did wrong....what will happen next??? This scenario may sound like its from the new movie "Rendition" with Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, but its not. This is the real life story of Khaled el-Masri a German citizen who was allegedly taken to Afghanistan by members of the C.I.A. and kept there for 5 months in a secret prison, where he was tortured because his name is similar to that of a suspected terrorist.
Mr. Masri was eventually released but when he tried to file charges against the C.I.A. his case and subsequent appeals were turned down because of "state secret privilege." Now you may be asking yourself..."What is a state secret privilege?" Well it was first ruled by the supreme court in U.S. vs. Reynolds when if documents relating to a plane crash were given as evidence in trial it would put into jeopardy certain aspects of the military. The idea is to stop evidence in a trial from harming military or national (legitimate and legal) secrets. However in the case of Mr. Masri the "state secret privilege" was not used to rule out some evidence in the extremely controversial and possibly bad for the government case, it actually caused the case to be thrown out all together.
"Mr. Masri’s lawyers argued that this decision, which the court has occasionally invoked but has not revisited, did not justify dismissing a case before any evidence was requested. Ben Wizner, Mr. Masri’s lawyer at the civil liberties union, said in an interview that the courts have permitted the doctrine to evolve from an evidentiary privilege to a broad grant of immunity, a way for the executive branch to shield itself from judicial scrutiny." (the new york times)
Hmm... shielding the executive branch from judicial procedure where have i heard that before....oh yeah "executive privilege" called upon when ever President Bush doesn't want to give up his many secrets...and didn't Dick Cheney try to claim he was neither part of the Executive or the Legislative Branch, and so he could not be subject to the protocol of either? Yes, if my memory serves me, I think he did.
Well Mr. Masri may never get justice but at least we can all sleep soundly knowing our government is oh so awesome at keeping its secrets (prisons, torture, wire tapping) safe from any prying journalistic or judicial eyes. Ahhh Im so relieved.
sources: The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/washington/09cnd-scotus.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
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11 comments:
I love it when our government has immunity and can run around doing what they want. Reminds me of the good ol days when Hitler's secret police ran around keeping everyone safe. It makes me feel extra safe when I know the government can have a nice throwback to Nacht der langen Messer and have a nice secret purging of suspicious persons.
Why does counter-terror seem so terrible?
That is just freaky and so I am so glad you called attention to it. This man has been punished for no reason already and now once again, as he tries to have a little justice, they seem to once again be treating him like a criminal. Ok so they are claiming that there are a few difficulties involved with bringing his case to trial due to, we'll say "security" issues, because we want to give our government to benefit of the doubt. Even if this is the case, my question is why are they not proceeding to do whatever is possible to make it work, why isn't apologizing to this man in every form, a priority? Why aren't they embarrassed that this was allowed to happen?
Brooke, your writing is refreshing. Yes, I will sleep so soundly tonight as well, knowing that this man was tortured because of his name and not his actions. If a terrorist was named John Smith, would they arrest and torture every John Smith? And so I'm suspecting some racial profiling here as well, in addition to the lack of justice following the event. It worries me what all those powerful people are doing behind that special wall of protection... "national secrets." But more importantly, it worries me that this can get in the way of properly obtaining justice. This man will never be the same, but the government was never held accountable for its inhumanity. Oh, bother.
Sucks to be him. But seriously, its a lose lose situation. We want to feel safe, the government wants us to feel safe. While by no means what they did to him was right, or even fair, they were investigating leads, which is an improvement. Their bound to get a few wrong everyonce in a while. But at least it shows their trying hard to stop terrorists.
Its a little scary finding out that the CIA takes five months to recognize that an innocent man is not a terrorist. Does this imply that the opposite would also be true? Could a known terrorist be right in front of the CIA with them thinking that he is a law abiding citizen? At least I hope not. This case is a lot bigger then a single person being held unlawfully. It is really implying that our Government can get away with anything and be allowed to never testify because its a "secrete". Sounds like a kindergardeners defense to me.
This disgusts me. It not only disgusts me that we are a country based on equality and that we torture people, but we are torturing innocent people and then not letting them file a complaint. If we are so bent up on citizens rights when habeas corpus is suspended for the government's protection....
God bless the US of A!
I agree with Greg that it is a lose lose situation. I feel that our government must continue to face the complaints by its people in regards to the question of "to what extend?" Yes, we want to feel protected, but how far are we willing to go to get to that point. I continue to TRY to hope that they are disclosing important information in which led to their belief that this man was guilty. I really do want to try to have faith in our government to protect our civil liberties at the same time as protecting those of others as well, but it keeps getting harder to continue that train of thought.
I think like Communism and the fried twinkie the secret clause was a good idea but a terrible reality. It makes sense to protect military and governmental secrets that could compromise the safety of the country. Imagine if someone could have sued the government to expose the designs for a Intercontinental Ballistic Missle or to find out exactly what makes those bombers so darn stealthy. These things are essential for assuring the future security of the nation. However, when this clause was originially implemented I doubt many people thought the government would primarily use it to cover up illegal torture or detainment practices. There are certaily things that the public should not have access to; however, these things must be strictly outlined to prevent the government from posessing a blanket clause they can simply throw over bruised and battered bodies of torture victims.
OH MY GOD. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
you find the most interesting things...
When i read that first part i was like, dude why is she talking about that movie--i cant believe its a true story though...
and its more absurd to hear that something as simple as a persons NAME can cause him to be taken and tortured for crimes he didnt commit, and even if he did--they tortured him. Its ridiculous, inhumane, and disgusting...
And what disgusts me even more is that when he tries to seek some sort of justice for that heinous act, he is denied so they can pretect secrets? what?! God thats so frustrating, i know theres nothing i can really do but how scary....
good postt
<3333youu
Wowww! When I heard this story I definitely did not believe it. It is completely ridiculous that it took our government FIVE MONTHS to realize that they had the wrong man all along. Yes, it is important to protect U.S. citizens from potential terrorist attacks, etc. but this is completely out of hand and extreme. Everything aside....torture? A perfectly innocent man being tortured and held in "secret" just becaues his name is similar to that of somone who poses danger to the nation. Like Sarah said, it sounds to me like our government should be pleading and begging for forgiveness. Changing and impacting this mans life (and family and friends) cannot be pushed off a simple "oops."
Clearly things are pretty out of control with our government. I wonder if any steps have been taken to correct this situation. If not, then there's an even bigger problem! I would expect at least an apology from the government because of the things this man had to go through under their supervision.
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