Torturers R Us

CBS News | German Sues CIA Claiming Torture | December 6, 2005 13:00:07:

(CBS/AP) A German man filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming he was held captive and tortured by U.S. government agents after being mistakenly identified as an associate of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Khaled El-Masri, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, said he was arrested while attempting to enter Macedonia for a holiday trip and flown to Afghanistan. During five months in captivity he was subjected to 'torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,' says a lawsuit he filed in U.S. District Court in suburban Alexandria, Va.

[...]

The CIA rendition program, in which terror suspects are captured and taken to foreign countries for interrogation, has been heavily criticized by human rights groups. European governments have expressed outrage over reports of a network of secret Soviet-era prisons in Eastern Europe where detainees may have been harshly treated and reports of CIA flights carrying al Qaeda prisoners through European airports.

The scope of the program has not been disclosed by the CIA. If the United States did operate such prisons, or is still doing so, the information would be classified. The Bush administration has refused to answer questions about it in public.

"Were I to confirm or deny, say yes or say no, then I would be compromising intelligence information, and I'm not going to do that," Rice told reporters on her plane to Germany. Before leaving Washington, Rice told reporters that fighting terrorism is "a two-way street" and that Europeans are safer for tough but legal U.S. tactics.

Her comments seemed to imply that if any European governments provided secret prisons, they did so willingly.

So, that makes it okay? The reasoning is, it's a tough world out there, so get used to it? Condi needs a new pair of shoes.