Extraordinary Rendition: The CIA's Worst-Kept Secret
Kidnap subject. Strip off his clothes and dress him in a tracksuit. Blindfold and shackle him. Force headphones over his ears. Fly him to an unknown location to be interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned. Repeat.
This is the practice of "extraordinary rendition," and the experience of 35-year-old U.K. resident Binyam Mohamed on his journey home to London from Pakistan in July 2002. He was kidnapped to Morocco, where he was held for 18 months and tortured repeatedly. "They cut off my clothes with some kind of doctor's scalpel," he wrote in his diary. "I was totally naked…One of them took my penis in his hand and began to make a cut…He did it once, then stood still for maybe a minute, watch my reaction. It was an agony, [I was] crying, trying desperately to suppress my feelings, but I was screaming. There was blood all over."
This was just one of 20 to 30 incidents in which Mohamed was cut on his genitals while detained in Morocco. Interrogators routinely beat him, breaking bones and sometimes knocking him unconscious. He was frequently threatened with rape, electrocution and death, drugged repeatedly, and forced to listen to loud music day and night.
In January 2004, he was handcuffed and blindfolded again, placed in a van and driven to an airfield, then stripped, photographed extensively and put on a plane to a "Dark Prison" in Kabul, Afghanistan. Mohamed endured similar torture and daily interrogations in Kabul. In May, he was sent to Bagram. In September, he was sent to Guantánamo Bay. Mohamed was in Guantánamo for more than four years, and was released in February 2009. His military commission charges were dropped in October 2008.
While his case wends its way through the U.K. judicial system, which has so far agreed with Mohamed's claims that British intelligence agents were party to his rendition, Mohamed is also the lead plaintiff in our lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan Inc., the company that provided critical logistics and travel planning services for more than 70 extraordinary rendition flights in a four-year period—including the ones to render Mohamed to Morocco and to Afghanistan.
When we filed the case against Jeppesen back in May 2007, the government immediately intervened, claiming the entire subject matter was a state secret and that allowing the case to proceed would endanger national security. The district court bought that argument in February 2008, and dismissed our case.
We know about Mohamed's ordeal, as well as similar accounts by our other clients, because the Bush administration's use of extraordinary rendition has been chronicled in magazines, newspapers, documentaries and even official U.S. government documents obtained under Freedom of Information Act litigation. So much is known about the practice, in fact, that to call it a "secret" is absurd.
We appealed the district court decision in June 2008 and, in February of this year, we argued before a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the state secrets privilege must only be invoked with regard to specific pieces of evidence, not used to dismiss a suit at the outset. But the Department of Justice, now under President Obama, toed the Bush administration line and maintained that extraordinary rendition is still a state secret, despite the reams of information about the program already available to the public.
In April 2009, the 9th Circuit agreed with the ACLU that the government can only use the state secrets privilege to block specific pieces of evidence, not to throw out whole cases, and sent the case back to district court. The DOJ requested that the 9th Circuit re-hear the case, this time before an en banc panel of 11 judges. The 9th Circuit granted that request.
Today, for the third time in this case, we'll argue against the use of state secrets privilege. We haven't gotten anywhere near the substance of the case: whether it was illegal for Jeppesen to assist the CIA in kidnapping men like Binyam Mohamed to places like Morocco where they would be tortured.
In his speech accepting the Nobel Peace Prize last Thursday, President Obama said: "Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable." We couldn't agree more.
Which is why it's galling that the Obama administration has obstructed accountability for torture and rendition at every turn. It's withheld information about the Bush administration's torture, detention and interrogation program in our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. It refuses to release the photos depicting this torture and abuse. It even denies that torture was illegal at Guantanamo from 2002 to 2004. And it argues that the extraordinary rendition program is a state secret.
If this continues, the Obama administration will create a framework for impunity that will only embolden future administrations to ignore the rule of law. Torturers will feel free to torture, and presidents will feel free to break the law.
Another plaintiff in Jeppesen, Mohamed Farag Bashmilah, recently penned an opinion piece about his forced disappearance in the name of national security. He writes: “The American public deserves to know what was done to people like me — and I deserve to know why I lost nineteen months of my life — all in the name of protecting their security... Truth and justice are not in opposition; both are necessary, and both are the right of all Americans and the victims harmed in their name.”
Torture victims deserve their day in court. Tell President Obama to stop covering up the Bush administration’s torture program.
Central Intimidation Agency
All so we can engorge ourselves at Christmas with Zuh Zuh pets, or Turkey and Football at Thanksgiving.
Just when I was all out of HATE...
But I need a new supply. It's the ONLY emotion I have left...
Yep. Too much negativity here. especially today.
I tried to start a site called "Do-gooders and Truth-tellers", but it didn't go over as well. For one thing, I couldn't find any content.
unfortunately no one was interested. It was . . "that will never sell you need eyeballs! How you going to make money with this?"
Better stick to helping old ladies across the street??
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
C'mon you pussy leeeeeeeeebruls! His name is Mohamed! He must be guilty of something!!
America
SOMEDAY
liberals and democrats will stop believing the fantasy that their party and presidents are not war criminals and are fundamentally different than conservative republicans when it comes to foreign policy.
As a chemist, it brings pain to my heart when american politicians receive the same honor as Curie, Pauling and Rutherford. :(
The bloom has gone off the Nobel Prize.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
Fox: Whining liberal terrorists can't take justice test!
Glenn Beck: (crying) What happened to our country? Liberals won't even let us cut brown skinned men's penises anymore!
Palin: I cut terrorist penises from a helicopter!
CIA: I do not recall ever cutting penises.
Politicians: Oops. We promise it may not happen sometime. Maybe. No compensation awarded.
I will add:
Polititians:
We are change, we won't look back and we will move forward Our Goal is the reelection of the party. We are the good party they are evil.
We love America the Greatest and Most Powerful Nation ever!
We love Empires!
brought to you daily.
one looks forward to kicking Obama's ass out at this point? Or should we cling to the Slogans a while longer?
Don't we need to get a third party with a viable candidate first? Otherwise we might end up with Clinton. Or Gore. Yuck.
Even Teddy Roosevelt's (beloved personality)third party failed. Face it. Third Parties only feed egos and split votes.
We are stuck with the overlords that Media screens for us as oppropriate. Kinda like the religious council in Iran.
The question is - "To be replace by whom?"
and can act decently, looks good on camera, and reads a script convincingly I suppose.
Alan Grayson, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, Amy Goodman, Raoul Gonzalez.
I like them, but you saw what happened to Dennis in the last election. The media discounted him from the beginning. Maybe the better looking Russ or Alan could get more attention, but I doubt it...
..because....?
WTF, mate? When the hell are we ever going to see justice?
The current administration's time is running out; they'll be out of office and guilty of covering up the previous administration's crimes and misdemeanors and we'll be left hoping that anyone other than sarah palin will actually do something to bring these bastards to justice.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
If you haven't heard this ep. of TAL, you really need to hear it.
It basically states how the case that all the states secrets laws are based on is a total sham. The Air Force and US Gov. denied the family of a test pilot the truth for no other reason than because they did not want to accept their obvious blame.
The shame continues....(but the stock market is up, so who gives a shit?)
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode...
Act Two. The Secret Life of Secrets.
Ira tells the story of the 1953 U.S. Supreme Court case that formed the basis for the controversial state secret privilege—the precedent that allows the United States government to stop lawsuits by claiming that national security secrets might be revealed in court. Ira talks to Barry Siegel, author of the book Claim of Privilege, and Judy Loether, whose father’s death was at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case. (14 minutes)
I guess my Dad's experiance as a POW was completely lost during the bush mis-Administration. Torture does not work! All you get is fasle confessions and lies, people will tell the interrogators whatever they want to hear to stop the punishment. That's it! No 24 scenarios that stop an attack within hours, that's television BS not reality.
peace
The love you take is equal to the love you make. John Lennon Paul Mc Cartney
Gonzo totally pulled a Jack Baeur, like, 500 times. Saved us from terr'sts and aliens and mormons and even zombies. That is what the Bush missing emails will reveal.
... because the agency is probably full of them.
Alberto "Jack Baeur" Gonzalas could do it all by himself! Well, he may need a cute and nerdy assistant (that gets killed off haflway through)...
This is the moral fiber of the Republican party. Of its followers. Of every right-winger in America who votes for these leaders. Torturing people is part of their value system or it would not happen with their support.
It is time to hold average Republican voters responsible for all of this. If America is ever to change it is by purging their evil from society once and for all time.
Obama's continuing cover-up of Bush administration crimes is shameful.
that these policy's and cover-ups are continuing to cause even greater harm to the country. But they are doing it anyway.
and they are getting away with it!
Bush/Cheney are having a grand old time laughing at us. Hey, why not? Obama's got 'em covered!
I can't believe what has happened to the USA.
Sounds cliched, but it's not. Donate, and donate now. I want to believe that the persons and institutions who were involved in the case of Binyam Mohamed and that of Maher Arar will be brought to justice. That path has been known to be made impassable, though. I think of Felix Rodriguez, CIA whore, who remains comfortable in Miami, still boasting of the Rolex he stole from Ernesto Guevara's corpse.
These creeps were threatening to cut off this guy's BALLS.
AMERICANS are fucking animals. Fail America with obama the new war criminal leading the way..
They hate us because of our "freedoms" ... yeah right.
may grow up and want to learn to fly....
and the neo-cons still won't ever wonder why....
US behind power change in Lithuania to approve black site prison?
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
"We do not torture." George W. Bush
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
that there are still plenty of job ops for sexual sadists.
Be as you wish to seem
... then there should be plenty of Bush Admin people whose reservations have already been made. (At first, I thought maybe they'd be surprised to find out that Jesus really didn't condone their actions, but then it occurred to me that their surprise will probably just be at the idea that Jesus really exists at all.)
as the others. Anyone who fudges data does'nt deserve a Noble Prize and should have to give it back. Besides ascorbic acid is NOT vitamin C as Pauling and others(like those in the FDA)would like you to believe. I don't know what his other Noble Prize was, perhaps that was more deserving.
The above comment was to be a reply to virgo47tp
Pauling won his first individual Nobel Prize, as a relatively young man, for innovation in the field of chemistry. Among other achievements, his work led directly to the discovery of the double-helix nature of our DNA. His work as a chemist is unparalleled and still recognized as foundational - he is known as the Father of Molecular Biology.
His second individual Nobel Prize came later in life & it was the Peace Prize. He was instrumental in ending the insane practice of above-ground nuclear testing.
Neither award had anything to do with his research into ascorbic acid, although it might be news to you that present-day researchers have been able to replicate & bolster a number of the claims that Pauling made about the efficacy of Vitamin C in strengthening the human immune system.
Your opinion of Pauling seems to have been set in about 1980, whereas Pauling's life & work needs no explanation or justification - he was a genius, a humanitarian, a pacifist, an activist & peer to Albert Einstein & Bertrand Russell.
America's gonna need a few more closets for all these skeletons.
Has Obama stopped this madness?
will continue to to fund them with billions of US taxpayer dollars while American workers and their families struggle, do without healthcare, go hungry and lose their homes.
And meanwhile the Obama administration is not prosecuting but DEFENDING Woo and the rest ! So much for change and yes we can , we were had big time . Good bye America .
No matter how big or how small and put them in prison for the rest of their lives!
When will a journalist (what are you waiting for, Steve Croft?) bluntly ask President Obama why he is doing this?
"Mr. president, why are you and your Administration so fond of the State Secrets doctrine? So much so Mr. president that not only did you embrace the Bush agenda on it, but you are also seeking to EXPAND it? BTW Mr. President, may I remind you that as a Senator, you were one of the most outspoken advocates against this practice? Weren't you totally hypocritical about this?"
Yes, Mr. President, that means you.
I understand you've made extremely good friends with the uber-wealthy in the past year. Like the Clintons, you've apparently sold out and can rest assured that you and your family will become extremely wealthy. A hundred million dollars or more just for "writing" a couple of books and giving some speeches: sounds good, huh?
But the Romanovs were wealthy too. So was Herman Goering. But even though his wealth and power weren't quite enough, he was still a bit luckier than the Romanovs. Not just much less messy: he actually had due process. You know, that constitutional kind of stuff you used to teach. Herman Goering, a monster of historical proportions, got a trial - somethings monsters are usually reluctant to give. But what's your excuse? Or are you now claiming that those three Guantanamo suicides (you know, the ones where each of the three separately tied their own hands and feet either before or after shoving towels down their own throats and hanging themselves in monitored cells) were just a Goering-like attempt to avoid justice?
Even the guy who was already scheduled to be released?
Why do you imprison people without cause on one hand and protect those whose admitted crimes dwarf even the worst rumors against the uncharged on the other?
They are called crimes against humanity for a reason. Humanity will respond, and hopefully, though not probably, you will receive the punishment you deserve.
Perhaps it's swinging in perfect sync with your mentor George W. Bush following the trials detailing the crimes you've committed. At the very least your photos will both appear in the history textbooks' chapter on American war crimes.
But did you catch that earlier? Trials. Something civilized people do. Something tyrants rightfully fear.
Looking forward and not back is quite easy - unless it's your genitals that have been mutilated. Or someone that counts a real human being. Now that you've got all the rich white buddies you'll ever need, do you really believe that ignoring (and threatening those who refuse to ignore) this conduct is acceptable just because Binyan Mohamed isn't, um, white? Is that acceptable? Is there some other reason? Some other reason that no one else on the fucking planet can see? Were the torturers nice to a sick puppy, perhaps?
We have to imprison without cause? Why? Well, we know why. It's not to protect our security; it's to protect the slime that torture because any trial would make "us" look far worse than "them"?
But even the slime that torture are several steps above those that refuse to admit their cowardly sadism, those that say "America does not torture" (George W. Bush, 2005; Barack H. Obama, 2009) knowing that it is a lie. The lowest of the slime deny there is even anything at all untoward - all the while blocking investigations, denying Red Cross access to prisoners, and maintaining secret prisons and rendition programs.
There is no credible reason to believe that America has not tortured. There is no credible reason to believe that America has stopped torturing. Quite the opposite.
By far the best reason for any president to protect torturers is to ensure that the tortures will continue to torture for him should he so desire. And that's all it is: an unassailable whim; a prerogative of office.
Sure, call progressives stupid for not predicting Obama would more than triple the troops occupying Afghanistan despite Al Qaeda numbering less than 100; call progressives naive for thinking health care reform could be accomplished in a way that benefited people instead of being a large return on the Democratic bribe money invested; call progressive economically ignorant because they don't appreciate the benefits of Goldman Sachs running the economy.
But make no mistake about what you defend. It is Barack Obama that has suspended habeas corpus. It is Barack Obama that threatened Britain with allowing a terrorist attack to happen without warning if Britain didn't cover up for his torturer friends. It is Barack Obama that has directed the Justice Department to investigate itself and who gave unlawful immunity to any who would say they were just following orders.
Forty three years after Nuremberg, a US President who endorses the very defense of many of those war criminals, went to Norway to receive a peace prize
Shame.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Spot-on.
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