Wikileaks and the El-Masri case

"The mendacity of American capitalism is once again so clearly visible that most adults, with or without a “higher” education, can see it. That the “lower classes” blame the “higher classes” for it is not surprising, since they see that mendacity seems to be one powerful ingredient of “higher” education.

It’s not a new condition but one that is historically habituated. Most of the people who came here from Europe were pushed into it by destitution. They came determined to “make a better living.” For them, capitalism was “freedom” and “liberty”—the freedom to steal land from the “Indians”, the “liberty” to tolerate the importation and slavery of Africans for decades, followed by more decades of racial discrimination. They accepted unjust competition and the build-up of huge personal fortunes as “inevitable”. With the exception of the Civil War and the labor rebellions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they did not struggle to change things. They just moved West—until the West ran out.

When they were told by their overlords that they must fight wars because “communism” and “socialism” would “take over”, they did not have the mental tools necessary to unmask the deceit and evaluate the overall situation more accurately. Besides, they were afraid because they knew the “isms” were complicated, and they were ignorant—and helpless.

Even today a large proportion of the population still believes in social and political injustice. They still are mainly interested in their own well-being and are misled by their unflagging hope that they can “improve” their condition, most often meaning “make more money.”

The system of capitalism feeds on these attitudes and fights against anything that refutes them. A measure of how insecure capitalism is, how vulnerable and frightened of falling on its face, is the degree to which media and surveillance must be used to constantly brainwash and frighten “the public” and prop up this rickety structure.

It’s a top-heavy house of cards, and can’t help itself because it has separated itself from balance, criticism, originality and change. ~ http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_origin_of_americas_intellectual_vacuum_20101115/#366695">By gerard

"We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth," he said. "And obviously we're going to be looking at past practices, and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. {pffftttt, well maybe a few people}

"On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that for example at the CIA, you've got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering." {said the Constitutional law professor}

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/11/obama-special-prosecutor-torture/">link

Leaked cable: U.S. warned Germany against arrests in Masri case

Washington Post
Posted at 8:58 PM ET, 11/29/2010
By Jeff Stein

A top American diplomat warned Germany against issuing arrest warrants for U.S. commandos involved in the 2003 abduction of a German citizen wrongly suspected of terrorist ties, a classified State Department cable obtained by WikiLeaks reveals.

Khalid al-Masri, a Lebanese who had lived in Germany since 1994, was abducted while on holiday in Macedonia and flown to Afghanistan, where he says he was beaten and sodomized during repeated interrogations before being transferred to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In April 2004 CIA Director George Tenet decided Masri had been mistakenly detained, according to news reports, and the following month he was released.

A prosecutor in Munich subsequently investigated the Masri affair, and on Jan. 31, 2007 issued arrest warrants for 13 of the suspected kidnappers, all thought to be CIA personnel.

MORE: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/11/leaked_cable_us_warned_germany.html

Wikileaks and the El-Masri case: Innocent CIA torture victim more than just a leaked cable

Boing Boing
Xeni Jardin
9:16 AM Wednesday, Dec 1, 2010

When Wikileaks released thousands of classified US diplomatic cables this week, a familiar criticism was repeated by the project's foes: these leaks could harm innocent people. There's no evidence of that yet, but within the documents there is evidence the American government has harmed innocent people.

One of them is Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, and a victim of so-called "extraordinary rendition." He was a car salesman in Germany, a father of six. The CIA kidnapped him by mistake (his name sounds and looks identical to that of an actual terror suspect), and sent off to receive months of torture in Afghanistan.

When the CIA realized he was innocent, he was flown to Albania and dumped on a back road without so much as an apology.

El-Masri's futile efforts at receiving justice in the U.S. are well-known, but the cables published this week by Wikileaks include revelations the U.S. also warned German authorities not to allow a local investigation into his kidnapping and abuse.

The nearest he's gotten to justice is an arrest warrant for 13 CIA agents issued by prosecutors in Spain, which they entered on forged passports.

In this video, originally part of the Witness.org documentary OUTLAWED, El-Masri relates his experiences. Boing Boing presented a portion of this documentary on our video channel back in 2008; the documents brought to light by Wikileaks provide an opportunity to revisit the story with new context.

MORE: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/01/wikileaks-and-the-el.html

How the U.S. protects CIA kidnappers

Salon.com
Monday, Nov 29, 2010 15:12 ET
By Justin Elliott


Here is an item to add to Salon's list of significant WikiLeaks revelations: A top U.S. diplomat strongly warned German counterparts against issuing arrest warrants for CIA agents who were involved in the kidnapping of a German citizen, who was brought to Afghanistan and tortured before officials concluded that they had the wrong man.

That's according to a February 2007 cable in the WikiLeaks trove. Germany ultimately opted not to pursue the case against the CIA agents.

At issue was the 2003 kidnapping in Macedonia of a German citizen of Lebanese descent, Khaled el-Masri. El-Masri was taken to a secret prison in Afghanistan, where he says he was questioned and tortured before being released several months later in a remote area of Albania. U.S. officials later conceded that el-Masri was mistakenly taken because his name was very similar to that of another man who was suspected of terrorist ties.

So when German authorities began the process of pursuing the CIA agents responsible, John Koenig, deputy chief of the U.S. mission to Germany, intervened. Ultimately, the case did not go forward. Here's the key section from the cable (emphasis ours):

In a February 6 discussion with German Deputy National Security Adviser Rolf Nikel, the DCM reiterated our strong concerns about the possible issuance of international arrest warrants in the al-Masri case. The DCM noted that the reports in the German media of the discussion on the issue between the Secretary and FM Steinmeier in Washington were not accurate, in that the media reports suggest the USG was not troubled by developments in the al-Masri case. The DCM emphasized that this was not the case and that issuance of international arrest warrants would have a negative impact on our bilateral relationship. He reminded Nikel of the repercussions to U.S.-Italian bilateral relations in the wake of a similar move by Italian authorities last year.

The DCM pointed out that our intention was not to threaten Germany, but rather to urge that the German Government weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the U.S.

MORE: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/11/29/wikileaks_germany_el_masri/