The ACLU on December 6, 2006 re-submitted its case on behalf of Khaled al-Masri v. George Tenet. al-Masri was picked up in Macedonia on or about December 31, 2003, taken to Afghanistan and tortured for months. By March the CIA realized it had imprisoned the wrong man, yet the torture continued as the CIA tried to figure out what to do next. al Masri was not released until May when he was let go in a forest in Albania and told "don’t look back."
Around the time of al-Masri's release US ambassador to Germany Daniel Coats was on his way to Germany to do two things: attempt to silence al-Masri, and attempt to keep the German government quiet about it. Coats' mission failed.
The CIA Knew It Had the Wrong Man in March, Yet the Torture Continued
By March, the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center Office of Technical Services had concluded the passport was genuine. The CIA had imprisoned the wrong man.
At the CIA, the question was: Now what? Some officials wanted to go directly to the German government; others did not. Someone suggested a reverse rendition: Return Masri to Macedonia and release him. "There wouldn't be a trace. No airplane tickets. Nothing. No one would believe him," one former official said. "There would be a bump in the press, but then it would be over."
Once the mistake reached Tenet, he laid out the options to his counterparts, including the idea of not telling the Germans. Condoleezza Rice, then Bush's national security adviser, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage argued they had to be told, a position Tenet took, according to one former intelligence official.
"You couldn't have the president lying to the German chancellor" should the issue come up, a government official involved in the matter said.
Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake
Washington Post, December 3, 2005
Someone, presumably George Tenet, came up with the bright idea of paying off al-Masri to buy his silence.
Otto Schily, German interior minister at the time of Al-Masri’s abduction and torture , told a German parliamentary committee investigating the case that he was told about the hush money by Daniel Coats, former U.S. ambassador to Germany.
"Coats told me it had all been a mistake," Schily said under oath, recalling a conversation he had with Coats at the end of May 2004 about the abduction by the CIA of Masri, a German of Lebanese origin.
Schily told the inquiry that Coats said at the time that an Arab man with a German passport had been taken into custody, adding that the Americans had suspected his passport was fake and that Masri was on a U.S. "watch list."
"The terrorism theory was not confirmed," Schily said. "They (the Americans) apologised, gave him money and he promised to keep quiet."
Ex-Minister Claims US Paid Off Torture Victim
But al-Masri, whose testimony has been proven true in all other details of his imprisonment and torture, says he was never given an apology, an order to stay quiet, or money from the US government.
"I did not get any money from anyone, and I did not promise anyone that I would keep quiet about what happened to me," Masri told the German ZDF television station. IndyMedia; December 2005
al-Masrigate: Trying to Contain the Scandal
In May of 2004 Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned one of its citizens, Khaled Masri, for five months, and would soon release him, the sources said. There was also a request: that the German government not disclose what it had been told even if Masri went public. The U.S. officials feared exposure of a covert action program designed to capture terrorism suspects abroad and transfer them among countries, and possible legal challenges to the CIA from Masri and others with similar allegations.
Yet while keeping the case low-profile is considered vital, some steps at resolution have been made. German Interior Minister Otto Schily, the only German minister who was a loyal friend to the US even during the Iraq war, headed to Washington recently to visit with CIA director Porter Goss. One of the points on Schily's agenda was likely an attempt to explore whether another "el-Masrigate" can be avoided in the future. Berlin wants assurance that this was a one-time lapse. At the request of the Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, and the Chancellory, the German intelligence services had done their homework before Schily's visit. Sure enough, the Americans quietly admitted to kidnapping el-Masri and vaguely implied how the whole matter had somehow gotten out of hand. Der Speigel: February 2005
Der Speigel Acknowledges Bush Acts Outside of International Law
In Germany, the information on el-Masri isn't even enough for authorities to launch an investigation. The situation in the United States is completely different, though: Following Sept. 11, US President George W. Bush has authorized American agents to act outside of all internationally accepted legal norms in the fight against terror.
US Stands Accused of Kidnapping & Torture
February, 2005
Rice Lies, Merkel Contradicts
The Washington Apology
Washington has refused to comment specifically on the Masri affair, but says it regrets any mistakes it might have made.
"The United States has not transported anyone, and will not transport anyone, to a country when we believe he will be tortured. Where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured," Rice said December 5, 2005 at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington before departing for a four-day trip to Europe
"The American administration is not denying it erred in the case of al-Masri", Merkel said through a translator.
Merkel welcomed that admission and added that she is grateful for Rice's assurances that the United States conducts anti-terror operations legally and without the use of torture.
"I'm happy to say we have discussed the one case, which the government of the United States has of course accepted as a mistake," Merkel said. "I'm very happy that the foreign minister has repeated here that when such mistakes happen, they must be corrected immediately. Everything else must happen in accordance with the law."
But the al-Masri case will demonstrate that there is no oversight for the CIA's program of extraordinary rendition, and Merkel's confidence in the US operating within the confines of the law is ill-placed.
NO CIA OVERSIGHT
Unlike the military's prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- where 180 prisoners have been freed after a review of their cases -- there is no tribunal or judge to check the evidence against those picked up by the CIA. The same bureaucracy that decides to capture and transfer a suspect for interrogation-- a process called "rendition" -- is also responsible for policing itself for errors. WaPo
al-Masrigate: Tapping Phones in the Masri Case
German Prosecutors Tapped Masri’s Attorney’s Phones
December 7, 2006
In the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured by CIA agents, German media is reporting that prosecutors listened in on conversations between el-Masri's lawyer and journalists.
According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily, prosecuting attorneys targeted talks between Khaled el-Masri's lawyer, Manfred Gnjidic, and reporters from the German weekly magazine Stern as well as the German public broadcaster ZDF.
Prosecutors were apparently seeking more information about el-Masri's alleged kidnappers and in January this year, requested the Munich District Court to have Gnjidic's phone lines tapped, Stern magazine reported.
Prosecutors Tapped Masri's Attorney's Phones
How Many Cases of Wrongful Imprisonment and Torture Are There?
The CIA inspector general is investigating a growing number of what it calls "erroneous renditions," according to several former and current intelligence officials.
One official said about three dozen names fall in that category; others believe it is fewer. The list includes several people whose identities were offered by al Qaeda figures during CIA interrogations, officials said. One turned out to be an innocent college professor who had given the al Qaeda member a bad grade, one official said.
"They picked up the wrong people, who had no information. In many, many cases there was only some vague association" with terrorism, one CIA officer said. WaPo
Once again, it is foolish to expect a corrupt house to examine itself. Without CIA oversight we will never know how many Khaled al-Masri's there are.
What can you do about it?
You can support the case of Khaled al-Masri v. George Tenet. by becoming a member of the ACLU. (for as little as $20.00 a year.
The same goes for: Amnesty International and Witness.org.