ACLU Appeals Case of Khaled El-Masri

Posted on July 25, 2006

The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that it has filed an appeal on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent German citizen who was kidnapped by the CIA and transported to a secret Afghan prison where he was detained and abused. A lower court previously dismissed the suit after accepting the CIA’s argument that further court proceedings would disclose “state secrets.”

“Depriving Khaled El-Masri of his day in court on the ground that the government cannot disclose facts that the whole world already knows only compounds the brutal treatment he endured,” said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, who will argue the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond. “Secret government kidnappings and detentions outside the law have no place in a free democracy. If this decision stands, the government will have a blank check to shield even its most shameful conduct from accountability.”

The ACLU claim that this man was completely “innocent.” Perhaps they are right. Of course the ACLU’s accusations of torture have no evidence other than the word of the accused. As to the question of whether or not the CIA had viable reasons to hold him while they were investigating him may not be as clear cut as the ACLU would like you to think.

According to German magazine (Focus) Khaled may not have been some random person plucked off a bus in the middle of the night in another country by the CIA.

Focus (translation thanks to David’s Medienkritik):

The German-Lebanese Khaled el-Masri who was abducted to Afghanistan was the commando chief of a radical movement in Lebanon Focus reports.

The German-Lebanese commanded a 16-man armed group in Lebanon according to information from German intelligence. That was conveyed to FOCUS from the 273 comprehensive secret report of the German security authorities for the parliamentary oversight committee (PKG).

According to it, El-Masri was a leading member of the radical movement Al-Tawhid (spelled “el-Tawhid” in German) at the start of the 1980s. The organization stood close to the Muslim Brotherhood ideologically and above all fought the Alavite sect in Lebanon that they saw as un-Islamic. The area of operations for El-Masri and his troop was supposed to be Tripoli.”

The ACLU’s disregard for the judge’s decision to protect state secrets is also disturbing. The only information we know is what the ACLU and this man claim. The ACLU never mentioned any of the information quoted above. The CIA could very well have information that the ACLU doesn’t know about, and it could be very critical to saving American lives. If this information were to be confirmed it would be reasonable to assume that there is much more information that the “whole world” does not already know. Furthermore, if this information is true that it was completely reasonable for the CIA to hold el-Masri while he was being investigated. Perhaps they concluded all of this was in his past and he was no longer active. Let’s not forget they released him.

While the CIA have admitted to a mistaken identity of this man, nowhere have they admitted to his allegations of torture. The rest of the suit is nothing but allegations, which is the way lawsuits work. Of course, the ACLU are presenting it as fact and the media are doing nothing to suggest that everybody, even the CIA, are innocent until proven guilty. It wouldn’t fit with their agenda, after all. Of course the ACLU have presented no evidence that the CIA is guilty of El-Masri’s allegations.

Emperor Misha can be quoted to say:

The only thing serious about this whole storm in a cup of water, and a very serious thing at that, is that the ACLU is determined to undermine our intelligence service’s ability to acquire information that might save American lives, all based on the claims of one individual. What’s interesting is that we were doing extraordinary renditions under Clinton as well, yet somehow the ACLU never found reason to object to THAT. Not to suggest that what Clinton did was wrong, because it wasn’t, it’s just further evidence that the ACLU’s sudden devotion to morals and values stems only from a desire to undermine a Republican administration no matter what the cost in lives and property to ordinary Americans might be.

And to quote Neptuneus Lexus

The Constitution is not a suicide pact: The collective security of the nation will always trump the rights of an individual, or else we never would have had a draft, just for one example. I would far rather see the folks entrusted with our security acting as vigorously and quickly as they can in the world, understanding that mistakes may well occur but believing also that punctillious legal prissiness in a time of war may well cost us more than we are prepared to pay.

I know this guy is the ACLU’s poster boy, but I really think they are spinning their wheels on this one. Maybe the CIA owes this guy an apology, but if I were him I wouldn’t hold my breath. The ACLU’s attempt to embarrass the United States and undermine our fight against terrorism is shameful.

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2 Responses to “ACLU Appeals Case of Khaled El-Masri”

AShiningCity on July 26th, 2006 1:30 pm

Damnit, I know that the Intelligence Agencies are only human and mistakes are bound to be made… but damnit!

This is a bit of a pickle. And of course the ACLU will use the case to get as much information as possible out of the Agencies.

Now, I don’t know if secrets needed to be handed over. But this man, wrongly accused and released on a hill in Albania at night, needs to be entitled to a financial award. (That is if he is found not to be terrorist at all).
jeffersonpoole on July 26th, 2006 4:13 pm

I was going to say pretty much exactly what Emperor Misha said. I will anyway.

The ACLU wants to undermine ALL security measures because they actually want another terrorist attack to occur -key phrase warning- while George Bush is President.

This, in their minds and in the minds of Democrats everywhere, would embarass George Bush, prove his policies to be a failure, and catapault them into a position where they can take the lead credibility position on terrorism, because it IS the most important issue out there. Yes, STILL.

The ACLU and the NYT would not be doing this crap if it could not benefit Democrats. If a Democrat wins in ‘08, watch them drop all these national security oriented lawsuits and go back to the good old right to child pornography etc. The ACLU that we all love.