Shredding Law and Human Rights in the War on Terrorism.
Newsweek: Aboard Air CIA. The
evidence backing up Masri's account of being “snatched” by American
operatives is only the latest blow to the CIA in the ongoing
detention-abuse scandal. Together with previously disclosed flight
plans of a smaller Gulfstream V jet, the Boeing 737's travels are
further evidence that a global “ghost” prison system, where terror
suspects are secretly interrogated, is being operated by the CIA.
Several of the Gulfstream flights allegedly correlate with other
“renditions,” the controversial practice of secretly spiriting suspects
to other countries without due process. “The more evidence that comes
out, the clearer it is that there's been a stunning failure of
accountability,” says lawyer John Sifton of Human Rights Watch.
This
is not just a blow to the CIA. It's yet another blow to America's image
in the world, and to our national honor.
To ship suspects off to foreign countries, where they can be tortured
or otherwise “interrogated” in ways that would be flagrantly illegal
here, is to spit on our commitment to human rights. It turns us, by
proxy, into what we profess to abhor. It shames us, or it should. [Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc.]