Germany Looks Into a U.S. Link in Kidnapping and Torture Claim -NYT

[Rose Siding]

On the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2003, Khaled el-Masri was traveling on a tourist bus headed for the Macedonian capital, Skopje, where he was hoping to escape the "holiday pressures" of home life during a weeklong vacation.
When the bus reached the Serbia-Macedonia border, Mr. Masri said, he was asked the usual questions: Where are you going? How long will you be staying? Mr. Masri, a German citizen, did not think much of it, until he realized that the border guards had confiscated his passport.

The bus moved on, but an increasingly panicked Mr. Masri was ordered to stay behind. A few hours later, Mr. Masri, a 41-year-old unemployed car salesman, said he was taken to a small, windowless room and was accused of being a terrorist by three men who were dressed in civilian clothes but carrying pistols.

"They asked a lot of questions - if I have relations with Al Qaeda, Al Haramain, the Islamic Brotherhood," recalled Mr. Masri, who was born in Lebanon. "I kept saying no, but they did not believe me."

It was the first day of what Mr. Masri said would become five months in captivity. In an interview, he said that after being kidnapped by the Macedonian authorities at the border, he was turned over to officials he believed were from the United States. He said they flew him to a prison in Afghanistan, where he said he was shackled, beaten repeatedly, photographed nude, injected with drugs and questioned by interrogators about what they insisted were his ties to Al Qaeda.

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/09/international/europe/09kidnap.html?hp&ex=1105246800&en=937fc77cd9a3b4a8&ei=5094&partner=homepage

This could be a big case. The Germans believe the guy and his attorney points to the CIA policy of "renditions"

"-handing custody of a prisoner from United States control to another country for the purposes of interrogation - because he shares the same name, with a slightly different spelling, as a man wanted in the Sept. 11 attacks. The policy has come under increasing criticism as other cases have come to light recently."

The US isn't being cooperative at all. If it didn't happen, wouldn't they want to assist an investigation that says so? Bush's February visit is going to be aaaaaaawkward.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. He was, in effect.... terrorized. EOM

[acmavm]

2. Officials from the United States. Gee, ya think? bush** has a 'mandate'

from Satan to violate the rights of any human being no matter what country they're in and regardless of whether or not they just might be innocent. And who is the legal whizbang that told bush** he could do this? The waste of humanity that's about to become a new member of our government, that's who.

Why the dems aren't shouting from the rooftops about what a joke of a human being and what a travesty of a member of the legal profession Gonzales is makes me want to scream. Like I said yesterday, there are 168 dems who need to be finding another line of work.

[WhiteTara]

9. Biden is number 1!

that slime called Gonzoles "the real deal" in an ass
sucking manner during the "hearing".

[unpossibles]

3. no no! it's ok!

he is not a legal combatant in uniform! </sarcasm>

:crazy: :puke:

[Wilms]

4. Well. Bush is wanted in Chile.

So when he visited, Chile passed a temporary law to leave him alone.

Too bad. We'll have to get him later....

[Rose Siding]

5. on page three...

snip>
Mr. Masri said that a hood was put over his head but that he believed he was driven to the airport because he could hear the roar of planes. He said he was brought to a room and beaten. He said his clothes were cut off him with knives and he heard the sounds of cameras taking pictures. "After I was naked they took off my mask so I could see, and all the people were in black clothes and black masks," he said. "There were seven or eight people."

Mr. Masri said a couple of men put him in a blue warm-up suit, handcuffed him and tied his hands to his belt, put earplugs in and blindfolded him. He said he was put on a plane, where he was forced to lie on the floor. Someone injected his arm, and he said he fell into a deep sleep.
...
That first evening in prison, Mr. Masri said, a man he assumed was a doctor, wearing a thin black mask, came to his cell to take a vial of blood. He said he believed that the doctor was American because he spoke English. Mr. Masri said he was repeatedly punched in the head and neck by several guards who accompanied the doctor. He also said he was forced to run up and down stairs with his arms shackled behind his back.

The following morning, Mr. Masri said, an interrogator walked into his cell and, in a thick Lebanese accent, began shouting at him. "He told me, 'Where you are right now there is no law, no rights, no one knows you are here, and no one cares about you.' "

Mr. Masri said the man had a stack of documents and told him they knew "everything" about him, including that he was an associate of Mohamed Atta, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who is believed to have helped the hijackers. They also accused him of being a senior Qaeda operative who was trained in Jalalabad, he said. "I denied everything - I kept saying, 'No, no, no.' "
----------

We tortured an innocent German.

[nosmokes]

7. yeah, but he's from olde europe.

that makes it obsolete and quaint, right?

the dude was a muslim and he was crossing international borders, he musta been up to no good.

is there no decency in the bushco administration? surely there are some that must be as sickened by this type of shit as we are. sooner or later the lid is gonna blow, i hafta believe that.

[atommom]

6. We're going to be left with no allies at all if BushCo stays in power.

I believe the story. It jibes well with accounts I've read elsewhere (including one about a Canadian who was "rendered" and tortured). I can't believe how despicable our government has become. :(

[Rose Siding]

8. Has this gotten any coverage in the German press?

I looked on Newslink, but couldn't find any sites that had translations.

[seemslikeadream]

10. 'Ghost' jet used for terror suspects

December 29, 2004
A US jet registered to a ghost company whisks terror suspects to countries that use torture, according to the Washington Post.

The Gulfstream V turbojet had been seen at US military bases around the world, often loading hooded and shackled suspects and delivering them to countries known to use torture, a process the CIA calls "rendition", the newspaper said.

The jet, with the tail number N379P, had been seen in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

The executives of the plane's corporate owner, Premier Executive Transport Services, were all listed with dates of birth in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, but with social security numbers issued since 1998, the Post said. It was unable to locate any further business or credit information on them or the company.

....

The "rendering" of suspects to countries that employ interrogation techniques banned in the US is worrying and could violate the UN Convention on Torture, said Morton Sklar, US executive director of the World Organisation for Human Rights.
more
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11799413%255E401,00.html


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1103442

[TankLV]

11. Another straw on the camel's back.

When will the american sheeple decide that we've had enought?