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International News Title: Wikileaks Exposes Yet More US Cover-up Of Torture There is another bombshell release from Wikileaks (via the New York Times) today regarding the diplomatic thuggery practiced by the US embassy in Germany over the rendition and torture of one of its citizens. The piece in the NYT reports: John M. Koenig, the American deputy chief of mission in Berlin, issued a pointed warning in February 2007 urging that Germany “weigh carefully at every step of the way the implications for relations with the U.S.” in the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese descent. Mr. Masri said he was held in a secret United States prison in Afghanistan and tortured before his captors acknowledged their mistake and let him go. This is evidence in itself that the US government was so worried that the evidence surrounding el-Masri’s rendition and brutal torture might get a full airing in the European or International press. Noticeably, the diplomatic messaging here doesn’t mention any of the illegal and inhumane treatment this man underwent in Afghanistan, but only comments on certain “implications” in the relationship between the US and Germany. It’s almost as if the torture of a citizen of another country is an unmentionable thing, all done in the name of fighting terrorism. This dramatically sums up the US government’s position in the years after 9/11: all these extreme methods are in the name of Keeping America Safe, and that’s all. This fits the pattern with the United States’ demands on the UK to whitewash its complicity in the illegal invasion of Iraq (among other things). The story publishes more of the diplomatic techno-speak: In one cable, written before Mr. Koenig’s warning to Germany’s deputy national security adviser, the embassy in Berlin reported that diplomatic officials had “continued to stress with German counterparts the potential negative implications for our bilateral relationship, and in particular for our counter-terrorism cooperation, if further steps are taken to seek the arrest or extradition of U.S. citizens/officials.” What Ambassador Koenig seems to be implying here is that if Germany dared to expose the United States’ extraordinary, illegal renditions and oppressive torture the outcome could be that these “counter-terrorism” methods may not be able to be used in this fashion. In the “up is down” world that surrounded the US government in the decade after 9/11, this probably makes sense. Unfortunately in the real world, in which the US is a party to an international anti-torture treaty, this is simply evidence of a cover up of illegal, immoral activity. Here is what the NYT story reports happened to el-Masri: Mr. Masri was seized on Dec. 31, 2003, as he entered Macedonia while on vacation; border security guards confused him with an operative of Al Qaeda with a similar name. He says he was turned over to the C.I.A., which flew him to Afghanistan, where he says he was tortured, sodomized and injected with drugs. After five months, he was dropped on a roadside in Albania. No charges were brought against him. This entire incident happened because of a confusion of names. Not because el-Masri was a “terrorist,” or anything close to the sort. The US government is seeking to cover up this disastrous encounter in order to save itself the embarrassment of admitting the CIA made a horrendous mistake. Since the US still carries itself as some sort of global super power (despite two catastrophic wars abroad) its government must have felt it could intimidate Germany into noncompliance. To this day, nothing has happened to bring anyone to justice, so perhaps it’s “mission accomplished,” so to speak. The story reports on what happened in Germany: The prosecutor’s office in Munich issued warrants for the arrest of the C.I.A. operatives, but Germany’s government did not press for arrests or extraditions. Of course not. To expose the massive illegal behavior by the United States in the “war on terror” is to look directly into the rabbit hole. And it would appear no one, except for the groundbreaking website Wikileaks, wants to explore that place.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
And then the TSA will cup your balls. Like this. # # TSA Full Body Scanner, Intrusive “Pat-down” and count your “balls ... Sep 8, 2010 ... and still a little shocked at having had my balls cupped by the overzealous ... like getting a warrant to follow you around, tapping your phone, ... be the beginning of it all, then they will take it farther and farther. ... airlinenightmare.com/blog/?p=3044 - Cached
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