Whenever I write against torture, I invariably get responses from people telling me that we need to torture "the terrorists" or else we'll have more 9/11's.
Apparently it's OK with them if we torture some innocent people along with the guilty (although they usually tell me that all of our detainees are clearly guilty, and they shrug off any facts to the contrary).
From The Guardian (UK):
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A German man alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday that the CIA held him captive and tortured him in Afghanistan last year after the spy agency mistakenly identified him as an associate of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
In the latest controversy surrounding the CIA's "rendition" program in the war on terror, Khaled al-Masri said he was taken into custody while attempting to enter Macedonia on New Year's Eve 2003 and flown to Afghanistan.
During five months in captivity, he was subjected to "torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," says his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in suburban Alexandria, Va. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing him.
At an ACLU news conference in Washington, al-Masri's lawyer revealed that U.S. authorities on Saturday night refused to let al-Masri into the country. Al-Masri spoke by video hookup from Germany, telling reporters that in Afghanistan, one of his interrogators told him, "You might be buried here."
In Berlin, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused later to discuss the case with reporters.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the U.S. has acknowledged making a mistake in the man's arrest.
"I'm happy to say we have discussed the one case, which the government of the United States has of course accepted as a mistake," Merkel said after meeting with Rice.
The suit names as the main defendant former CIA Director George Tenet. In addition to torture, he claims his due process rights were violated and that he was subjected to "prolonged, arbitrary detention." He is seeking damages of at least $75,000.
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