Don’t miss Khaled el-Masri’s op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. El-Masri was a victim of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, and was held and tortured even after the CIA realized they had mistaken him for Al Qaeda operative Khalid al-Masri. The CIA can’t keep el-Masri, an innocent, private German citizen, from talking about his ordeal. But it’s fighting mightily to avoid apologizing to him. El-Masri sued the U.S. government, but the government claimed successfully that the entire case is a “state secret,” even though it has been widely reported. For more about the absurd and frightening implications of the “state secret” privilege, click here.
El-Masri’s op-ed is called, simply, “I am not a state secret.” I’m betting this is one guy the CIA wishes they’d never touched.
