Federal court says torture's OK

Well, not exactly, but it can go unpunished. Same thing, in essence.

On September 8, in a 6-5 ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a case against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Data Plan, Inc. The ACLU had filed the case in 2007 on behalf of five men who had been kidnapped by the CIA and sent overseas (in Jeppesen planes) to be tortured.

The Court fell for the George W. Bush administration's lame and grossly overused "state secrets" excuse, which has apparently now become the Obama administration's own lame excuse as well.

A previous appellate court had ruled that the state secrets privilege could be applied only to selective pieces of evidence and not the entire case. That seems reasonable. Why throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water? What are they hiding?

According to the ACLU, "today's ruling all but shuts the door on accountability for the illegal program."

ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, who argued the case before the Ninth Circuit, issued the following statement:

"This is a sad day not only for the torture victims whose attempt to seek justice has been extinguished, but for all Americans who care about the rule of law and our nation's reputation in the world. To date, not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture program has had his day in court. If today's decision is allowed to stand, the United States will have closed its courtroom doors to torture victims while providing complete immunity to their torturers. The torture architects and their enablers may have escaped the judgment of this court, but they will not escape the judgment of history."

The ACLU intends to seek Supreme Court review of the decision. Fingers crossed for justice and accountability. But don't hold your breath.