(Cross posted from The Blog Roundup).
I blogged back in January about the CIA's morally despicable practice of "Extraordinary Rendition" (otherwise known as illegally kidnapping people and carting them secretly off to third party countries for imprisonment and torture) of suspected terrorists, in many cases without clear evidence or even a whiff of due process.
One of the innocent victims of this heinous scheme was a German citizen named Khaled el-Masri. He was kidnapped while traveling on vacation and flown to Afghanistan, where he was interrogated and tortured for months by what appeared to be American CIA agents, then finally released. His only crime? Having a similar name to one of the suspected 9/11 terrorists, Khalid al-Masri.
It now appears that once the U.S. government determined that el-Masri was entirely innocent and not related to terrorism in any way, he was released on the direct orders of Condoleeza Rice -- a fact which pretty much confirms every detail of his story:
Rice Ordered Release of German Sent to Afghan Prison in Error by David Johnston, NY Times (Subscription)
A German citizen detained for five months in an Afghan prison was released in May 2004 on direct orders from Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, after she learned the man had been mistakenly identified as a terror suspect, government officials said Friday.
The officials, who confirmed an account of Ms. Rice's decision that was first reported by NBC News, said that when Khaled el-Masri was taken from a bus on the Serbian-Macedonian border on Dec. 31, 2003, the Macedonian and the American authorities believed he was a member of Al Qaeda who had trained at one of Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan.
But within several months they concluded he was the victim of mistaken identity, the officials said. His name was similar to a Qaeda suspect on an international watch list of possible terrorist operatives, they said.
Perhaps the only redeeming thing in this whole sad and outrageous story is that according to this article, Condoleeza Rice may have been behind el-Masri's eventual release from prison:
For reasons that are unclear, he remained for months at a prison known locally as the "Salt Pit." The case reached Ms. Rice in May 2004, officials said, and twice, over several weeks, she ordered him immediately freed. He was released in Albania on May 29, 2004.
The American officials acknowledged Friday that the detention had been a serious mistake and that he had been held too long after American officials realized their error.
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Masri said that he was gratified that "the truth has finally come out" and that he expected an apology. "I hope that America will in the future respect the rights of people," he said.
There is no word on when such an apology from the American government might be forthcoming. However, the German authorities are continuing to investigate the incident. Also, given the official U.S. admission that el-Masri was detained in error, it will be interesting to see if he decides to sue the U.S. government for damages.
It will certainly make it harder in the future for the White House to deny that the policy of Extraordinary Rendition exists and was ordered by the present administration.
- Trendar