Where's the Outrage?

As usual, there’s so much to talk about.  I start off discussing the California Supreme Court and its upholding the ban on same-sex marriage.  I readily admit that I did not read Proposition Eight.  I also must say that I’m not criticizing the court, but it is clear that this is an untenable situation.  In the United States we are supposed to be equal.  What ever the state recognizes as a union between two adults (whether that is marriage, civil unions or Vulcan mind melding) should be the same for heterosexuals as it is for homosexuals.  The state should not discriminate.  The benefits two partners get should be available to gays and lesbians.  To me it is a simple case of civil rights.  General David Patreaus was on FOX News.  I play a rather long clip of him as he explains why Guantánamo needs to be closed.  He also states that we need to trust our justice system.  I was very surprised and pleased by his statements.  Finally, I give an update on the swine flu (Influenza A: H1N1).  There are now almost 9000 cases in the United States.  They’re have been over 15 deaths reported.  The swine flu is not going away.  We need to continue to be diligent.

I interviewed Dr. Jonathan Kotch from UNC Chapel Hill.  He is part of a group called Physicians for National Health Program.  We discuss the important aspects of health care refor, how we need to improve patient access and patient care.  Whatever system we come up with needs to be portable and cost-effective.  One of the big questions is whether the single-payer plan would be a viable alternative.  If the reason for health care reform is primarily cost, then what value does insurance add?  This is an excellent discussion.

Linda Monk is a constitutional scholar and author of the fabulous book, Words We Live By.  She is a graduate of Harvard Law School.  I invited her on the show to discuss what we should look for in a Supreme Court Justice.  A candidate for the Supreme Court should interpret the law narrowly.  There shouldn’t be an attempt for broad, over-arching interpretations.  We also discuss Barack Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.  This is a great discussion and well worth a listen.

I wrap up the show with more discussion on healthcare.  In my opinion, healthcare needs to be more integrated.  Physicians have to find a way to work together better.  As patients become more and more complex, there’s a need for better communication.

Enjoy the show.

The Errington Thompson Show 5-30-09 [ 52:45 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Civil Rights, Healthcare, Podcasts, Senate, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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Susan Boyle had none of the problems that almost tripped her up in the second round.  In the finals, she simply came out and sang.  That big voice didn’t fail her.  She should win a huge contract with a major record label.  The question is whether the record label can put Boyle in the right situation to be really successful.  Will she be managed correctly?  I really hope so.  I wish her well.

Watch her performance from last night:

Tags: Entertainment, Music by ecthompson md
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These guys are pretty amazing. They are the group that won over Susan Boyle, about whom I’ll post later.  Diveristy is not really a dance troup and they aren’t really a step show.  They aren’t really an acrobatic team, either.  They are somewhere in the middle.

Diversity won Britain’s Got Talent last night.  Watch the video:

Tags: Entertainment, Music by ecthompson md
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General David Petraeus sat down with Fox News.  He talked about Gitmo and torture and is thoughtful and candid. I think when the Fox anchor worries about putting the terrorist into our legal system, Petraeus gives a nice answer. ”You have to believe in our legal system.” I like that answer.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Iran, Military, Obama administration by ecthompson md
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I’m going to air this interview tomorrow on my radio show, but because I think that healthcare is extremely important, I’m posting this interview now. I interview Jonathan Kotch, MD from the School of Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill.  Dr. Kotch is a pediatrician and a doctor of preventive medicine. He has been active in health care policy for over 15 years and is part of an organization called Physicians for a National Health Program. This is an excellent converstaion. Enjoy.

ET Show discussion on Healthcare [ 13:43 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Healthcare, Podcasts by ecthompson md
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Liberals are nothing but whiny, Volvo-driving tree-huggers.  Can you believe what Sotomayor said now?

Here’s what she said in response to a simple question.

Questioner: Can you comment just about Sonia Sotomayor, and what she cares about, and let us see a little bit of your heart and what’s important to you in life?

SOTOMAYOR: … I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point.

SOTOMAYOR: I don’t come from an affluent background or a privileged background. My parents were both quite poor when they were growing up.

And I know about their experiences and I didn’t experience those things. I don’t take credit for anything that they did or anything that they overcame.

But I think that children learn a lot from their parents and they learn from what the parents say. But I think they learn a lot more from what the parents do and from what they take from the stories of their parents lives.

And that’s why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position.

And so it’s my job to apply the law. It’s not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result.

But when I look at those cases, I have to say to myself, and I do say to myself, “You know, this could be your grandfather, this could be your grandmother. They were not citizens at one time, and they were people who came to this country.”

When I have cases involving children, I can’t help but think of my own children and think about my children being treated in the way that children may be treated in the case that’s before me.

And that goes down the line. When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account. When I have a case involving someone who’s been subjected to discrimination because of disability, I have to think of people who I’ve known and admire very greatly who’ve had disabilities, and I’ve watched them struggle to overcome the barriers that society puts up often just because it doesn’t think of what it’s doing — the barriers that it puts up to them.

So those are some of the experiences that have shaped me as a person.

Oh, wait… my bad.  This wasn’t Sotomayor.  It was Samuel Alito during his confirmation hearing.  The whole thing should read like this:

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Judge Samuel Alito’s Nomination to the Supreme Court

U.S. SENATOR TOM COBURN (R-OK): Can you comment just about Sam Alito, and what he cares about, and let us see a little bit of your heart and what’s important to you in life?

ALITO: Senator, I tried to in my opening statement, I tried to provide a little picture of who I am as a human being and how my background and my experiences have shaped me and brought me to this point.

ALITO: I don’t come from an affluent background or a privileged background. My parents were both quite poor when they were growing up.

And I know about their experiences and I didn’t experience those things. I don’t take credit for anything that they did or anything that they overcame.

But I think that children learn a lot from their parents and they learn from what the parents say. But I think they learn a lot more from what the parents do and from what they take from the stories of their parents lives. ….

Well, that’s something else entirely, isn’t it?  What does say about Alito?  What does say about empathy and live experience?  More from Keith Olbermann (watch the video):

Tags: Bush Administration, Countdown, Party Politics, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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I mentioned this yesterday in a comment.  Conservatives are grasping at straws.  I believe that this nomination is a done deal.  Conservatives are desperately looking for any reason they can find to stop this nomination.  The other thing that Conservatives are doing is filling their coffers.  They are sending out mailers and emails with Sotomayor’s face on them.  They are asking their faithful for money and, if I’m not mistaken, money is pouring in. This is politics since the mid-1990s.  It is ugly and it is partisan.

From Crooks and Liars:

Rachel Maddow uses a baseball analogy to debunk the talking points the media is using coming from a Washington Times article on Sonia Sotomayor’s reversal rate. Media Matters has the breakdown as well.

Wash. Times, CQ uncritically report criticism that Sotomayor’s Supreme Court reversal rate is “high.” From the article:

In a May 27 article headlined “Sotomayor reversed 60% by high court,” The Washington Times uncritically quoted Conservative Women for America president Wendy Wright saying that Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court reversals — which the Times reported as three of five cases, or 60 percent — were “high.” Similarly, on May 26, Congressional Quarterly Today uncritically quoted (subscription required) Wendy Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, claiming that Sotomayor “has an extremely high rate of her decisions being reversed, indicating that she is far more of a liberal activist than even the current liberal activist Supreme Court.” In fact, contrary to the claim that a reversal rate of 60 percent is “high,” data compiled by SCOTUSblog since 2004 show that the Supreme Court has reversed more than 60 percent of the federal appeals court cases it considered each year.

The Times reported that “[t]hree of the five majority opinions written by Judge Sotomayor for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and reviewed by the Supreme Court were reversed, providing a potent line of attack raised by opponents.” The article then quoted Wright’s assertion that Sotomayor’s “high reversal rate alone could be enough for us to pause and take a good look at her record.” But according to data compiled by SCOTUSblog, Sotomayor’s reported 60 percent reversal rate is lower than the overall Supreme Court reversal rate for all lower court decisions from the 2004 term through the present — both overall and for each individual Supreme Court term.

Tags: Obama administration, Rachel Maddow Show, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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I’ve mentioned high-value terrorists. I wrote about Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or Mohammed Al-Qahtani (most of this story comes from Jane Mayer’s book, The Dark Side). In August 2001, prior to September 11, Al-Qahtani arrived at the Orlando airport in Florida.  He had $2800 in cash and no luggage.  He came here on a one-way ticket from Saudi Arabia and was refused entry into the country.  Further detective work, after 9/11, showed that Mohammed Atta was waiting for him in the parking lot.  Al Qahtani was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan in December of 2001.  He was in United States custody for almost 7 months before he was fingerprinted and identified as an Al Qaeda operative.  He was the 20th hijacker.  He was at the famed Malaysia meeting in 2000. (Why we didn’t get better intelligence at the Malaysia meeting is still a mystery to me.  Why we allow the Malaysian intelligence agency to take the lead is mind-boggling.)

FBI interrogator Ali Soufan, who interrogated Abu Zubaydah before he was taken away by the CIA, was called into question Al-Qahtani.  He got a lot of information in a short period time.  He even identified a sleeper cell located in Chicago.  This wasn’t enough information for US officials, who “knew” that Al Qahtani was holding out.  Tougher measures were needed.  My question is why would officials assume that a low-level screw-up who’d been captured twice in less than six months would have a treasure trove of information?  I’m just asking.  It is clear that there was a lot of outside pressure being placed on US officials.  In April of 2002 there was a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Tunisia.  The US Consulate in Karachi was attacked in June.

It is clear that towards the end of 2002, the FBI backed out of the picture.  There’s a steady stream of information from Washington to Guantánamo and back to Washington.  Donald Rumsfeld and the commander of Guantánamo Major General Dunlevy had what was described as “close and constant contact.”  By November of 2002, the gloves indeed came off.  For 48 of the next 54 days, Al-Qahtani was only allowed to sleep for four hours a day.  Besides being stripped naked, he was strip-searched and forced to undergo enemas in front of females.  He was intentionally touched by females, making it impossible for him to pray (you can’t pray if you’re unclean and you’re unclean if you’re touched by female).  He was forced to stand so long his feet and hands swelled.  He needed to have his hands and feet bandaged and elevated to treat the painful swelling.  At one point, he was treated like a dog, which included being placed in a leash and forced to jump around.  There was more degrading treatment.  He became so dehydrated at one point the physician had to start a special IV.

What did we learn from these harsh interrogations of Al-Qahtani?  Nothing.  The process was slow and time-consuming. I’m forced to scratch my head and ask the question, “Why?”  We learned nothing.  We should’ve known he knew nothing.  Now my question is, how do we try this guy? How do we put him in jail, where he belongs, for the rest of his life?

Tags: Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Bush Administration, Torture by ecthompson md
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Here’s what I don’t understand. Where was all of this energy when George H. W. Bush appointed her in the first place?

From AL:

… I have to say that I’m somewhat shocked by the sheer brazenness of the Republican attacks on Sonia Sotomayor. I expected the standard “I oppose her because she’s liberal, not because she’s Hispanic” line, but instead nearly all the criticism seems to explicitly revolve around her ethnicity. She’s a racist, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh are telling us. She’s an affirmative action mediocrity, says the Weekly Standard.

Putting aside for a moment the deeply offensive and counterfactual nature of these attacks, I’m led to wonder whether the GOP has completely lost its collective mind. If you want to have any hope of ever getting another Hispanic vote, here’s a tip: at least pretend that your opposition to Sotomayor has nothing to do with her race.

More importantly, though, take a step back and look at how insane this “identity politics” criticism is. As far as credentials go, Sotomayor is virtually identical to the last Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito. They went to the same undergraduate school, Princeton (where Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude). They both went to the nation’s top law school. And they’ve had successful law careers that led to successful tenures as federal Appeals Court judges. But somehow because Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican descent as opposed to Italian descent, she is somehow less qualified. That’s nonsensical and insulting on several levels. Moreover, these same conservatives bristle as the suggestion that Clarence Thomas was less qualified than others for the job of Supreme Court Justice. He went to Yale, after all.

From TP:

Since President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court this morning, conservatives — such as Karl Rove — have publicly questioned whether she has the qualifications and “intellect” for the job. Today on CNN, however, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said there is “no question” that Sotomayor is qualified:

GONZALES: I have no questions in my mind about her qualifications in terms of education, experience. A president is not required to nominate the most qualified person to the court. I think he’s obliged to nominate someone who is well-qualified, and I think by any measures, she is well-qualified. I think there are legitimate questions about her judicial philosophy.

I’m not sure that I would want to take an endorsement from Alberto but I think that is shows who crazy the Right has become.  Someone that President Bush (the greater) nominated has now become so totally unacceptable to the Right.  In a way I think that all of their froathing at the mouth is good.  When Obama has the opportunity to choose someone else for the court sometime in the future he can choose a true liberal.  He can choose someone that will act as a counterweight to Scalia, Roberts and Thomas.

Tags: Media, Obama administration, Party Politics, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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Matthew Alexander is a former interrogator. He was in Iraq and interrogated over 300 prisoners. He was told time and time again that the torture of Muslims motivated Muslims to pick up arms against the United States. So who do you think is lying… Cheney or this former interrogator, Matthew Alexander? It seems to me that VP Cheney is trying to keep himself out of jail.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Bush Administration, Iraq, Torture by ecthompson md
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President Barack Obama has chosen federal appeals judge Sonja Sotomayor as his nominee to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court.  I am positive that the White House has vetted this nominee thoroughly.  I’m sure they’ve looked for domestic servants or gardeners who were being paid under the table and I am positive they looked to see whether she has had illicit affairs with men or women.  Tax problems or illicit affairs are really the only things that can hold up this nomination.  She is a product of Princeton University and Yale Law School.  She was appointed to US District Court by President George H. W. Bush and was elevated to the Court of Appeals by President Clinton.  This woman looks outstanding on paper.

Glenn has words of praise.

From NYT:

President Obama announced on Tuesday that he will nominate the federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents raised in a Bronx public housing project to become the nation’s first Hispanic justice.

Judge Sotomayor, who stood next to the president during the announcement, was described by Mr. Obama as “an inspiring woman who I am confident will make a great justice.”

The president said he had made his decision after “deep reflection and careful deliberation,” and he made it clear that the judge’s inspiring personal story was crucial in his decision. Mr. Obama praised his choice as someone possessing “a rigorous intellect, a mastery of the law.”

But those essential qualities are not enough, the president said. Quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mr. Obama said, “The life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience.” It is vitally important that a justice know “how the world works, and how ordinary people live,” the president said. (more… )

Tags: Obama administration, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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I just saw the movie Angels and Demons. It was much better than The Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks has lost 35 or 40 pounds and he looks good. The movie lacks those dull, slow parts that so dominated the first one. It’s very entertaining and, in my opinion, more respectful of religion.  It is well worth the admission price.

North Korea proved that they are less respectful of the rest of the international community by setting off some sort of nuclear device earlier today. It will take several days to analyze the data, but it seems clear that North Korea set off some sort of large device. Now what? Should there be consequences for defying the international community? Who should enforce those consequences? The United States? Should the United States try to enforce something unilaterally? That sounds a lot like what the Bush administration did with Iraq. The international community will not go for the US going its own way, again. Should the United States, Russia, China and the European Union try to do something jointly? It is important to remember that no matter what we do, North Korea has the ability to retaliate, not against us, but against the South Korean civilians. It will be interesting to see if President Obama will be able to forge a coalition that will actually force North Korea into some sort of international compliance.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell went on the offensive yesterday to combat charges that several Republicans, including Dick Cheney, have thrown at him (remember, Powell left the Republican party). He argued that he is still Republican. To paraphrase his argument, the Republican Party needs to, dare I say it, change. Now there are a lot of Americans who still believe that Colin Powell can save the Republican Party. I don’t know. Maybe he can. I know it’s a long way to the 2012 elections, but I don’t see Colin Powell as a viable candidate. I believe that his reputation is too tainted with the stain of Iraq. I just don’t see how the Republican Party can move forward without dealing with some of their more radical elements. This would include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Cheney.

Many progressives are upset that Barack Obama has decided to push ahead with military commissions. Personally, I think that military commissions set a terrible precedent. Putting precedent aside, though, I understand that President Obama is in a terrible situation. People like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the so-called “20th hijacker” Al-Qahtani are clearly terrorists. If given the opportunity, they would try to wreak havoc either on the United States or United States interests around the world. They need to be tried and jailed for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, both of them were subjected to harsh interrogations (torture). There’s no court in the United States that would try these guys. Most, if not all, of the evidence would be thrown out. So what do you do with them? Indefinite detention without charges seems repugnant to me. If we could find a way to try Terry McVeigh and the so-called Blind Sheik, then we should be able to find a way to try and convict these two terrorists. We have to have some evidence that was not obtained by illegal means. We must. (I hope.)

Finally, Ryan Leaf has been arrested. I’m not laughing at the misfortune of others, but… just a little over 10 years ago, Ryan Leaf was the number two draft choice for the San Diego Chargers. He went from the anointed one to a bum in less time than Sarah Palin has. The former NFL quarterback has been indicted on drug and burglary charges. This says something about our society and about Ryan Leaf. Maybe putting athletes up on a pedestal is not the best idea.

Oh, this is a great Memorial Day story.

Tags: Civil Liberty, Domestic Issues, Movies, North Korea, Obama administration, Party Politics, Torture by ecthompson md
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It is time to bring everyone home. I’m not sure want we are trying to achieve in Afghanistan. Whatever it is, I’m not sure that staying in Afghanistan will achieve it.

President Barack Obama delivers a wonderfully thoughtful and short speech at Arlington National Cemetery today.

From Obama’s Speech:

I know that there is nothing I will not do to keep our country safe, even as I face no harder decision than sending our men and women to war — and no moment more difficult than writing a letter to the families of the fallen. And that’s why as long as I am President, I will only send our troops into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary, and I will always provide them with the equipment and support they need to get the job done. (Applause.)

I know that military families sacrifice more than we can understand, and feel an absence greater than we can comprehend. And that’s why Michelle and I are committed to easing their burden.

And I know what a grateful nation owes to those who serve under its proud flag. And that’s why I promise all our servicemen and women that when the guns fall silent, and you do return home, it will be to an America that is forever here for you, just as you’ve been there for us. (Applause.)

With each death, we are heartbroken. With each death, we grow more determined. This bustling graveyard can be a restless place for the living, where solace sometimes comes only from meeting others who know similar grief. But it reminds us all the meaning of valor; it reminds us all of our own obligations to one another; it recounts that most precious aspect of our history, and tells us that we will only rise or fall together.

So on this day of silent remembrance and solemn prayer I ask all Americans, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, whatever you’re doing, to pause in national unity at 3:00 this afternoon. I ask you to ring a bell, or offer a prayer, say a silent “thank you.” And commit to give something back to this nation — something lasting — in their memory; to affirm in our own lives and advance around the world those enduring ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity for which they and so many generations of Americans have given that last full measure of devotion. (more…)

Tags: Domestic Issues, Military by ecthompson md
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Let’s remember those who are important on Memorial Day. No matter how some try to tell us that we are different and separated, we are all Americans. Let’s remember.

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson md
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There are about 10 miles of hair in this video!

Artist: Soul II Soul
Tune: Back to Life

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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Memorial Day

Tags: Domestic Issues by ecthompson md
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This was a mega-hit 10 years ago.

Artist: TLC
Tune: No Scrubs (live version)

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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I haven’t done a news roundup in a while. I’ve been terribly busy. Plus the computer that I usually blog on has been sick. Now that it has a new CPU I’m up and running.

• Ursula Burns has been named the new CEO of Xerox. She is the first black female to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Congratulations to her.
• Crooks and Liars and Glenn Greenwald are just a few of the progressive bloggers that were disturbed by Barack Obama’s preemptive detention program which was unveiled yesterday. I’m not sure that Barack Obama is going as far as embracing Bush’s policies, but he is getting a little too close for my taste. This is Majority Report stuff.  I think it is important for us to push back. We need to push President Obama to the left.

• The swine flu is not dead. There are now over 6,000 cases in the US and nine deaths.  I think we will see a large outbreak during the winter months. We need to pay attention what is going on down in the Southern Hemisphere because it is the winter months down there now. The United States, trying to be preemptive, is investing $1 billion in immediate production and testing of a N1H1 vaccine.
• The “Four Terrorists Who Weren’t.” This sounds so much like the guys in Miami or the guys that wanted to attack Fort Dix. I’m not impressed.
• ESPN’s Jim Rome has never been accused of being a genius… or even tactful. He was talking with special guest Jay Mohr when Mohr went off on a tangent basically accusing Michele Obama, the First Lady, of being butch. The statement was unnecessary, over the top and uncalled for.  It wasn’t funny and, frankly, it was wrong.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Race, Rachel Maddow Show, Terrorism, War on Terror by ecthompson md
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On one hand I like to commend this guy, conservative talker Eric “Mancow” Muller for being brave enough to be waterboarded. On the other hand, though, when you read descriptions about it, it’s clear that waterboarding is torture. I don’t have to hit my head against the wall to know that it’s going to hurt. I have no desire to jump out of a speeding car to find out that I could break bones. I have no desire to have somebody put a wet cloth over my nose and mouth while I aspirate water. I feel pretty confident that that’s drowning. Also… what took him so long? The United States has been waterboarding since 2002 and I posted my first video of somebody getting themselves waterboarded back in 2006. That was three years ago. Where’s this guy been?

Watch the video:

From TP:
Turns out the stunt wasn’t so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,”Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”

“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’”

Tags: Party Politics, Torture by ecthompson md
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I’ve become somewhat overwhelmed by what my country, the United States, has done. While I’m still struggling with the definition of “torture,” I believe that some abuse (most of the things that I’ve read) can be classified as torture. We have a long history in our country of delineating good treatment from bad treatment of detainees (prisoners or soldiers).

I’ve come across a story of Khaled el-Masri (I found the story in Jane Mayer’s book, the Dark Side. Other accounts of this tale can be found here and here.)  El-Masri was a Muslim of Lebanese descent but became a German citizen in 2003. He had a German passport. Going across from Macedonia into Serbia for a vacation from the family, he was stopped at a checkpoint. For 13 days he was held by Macedonian authorities. He was not allowed to call his family. He was not allowed access to a lawyer. As it turns out, he has the exact same name as a terrorist the United States government was looking for. As a twist of fate, this happened around the holidays so the Macedonian authorities had difficulty verifying the new German passport.

Almost immediately the CIA was alerted of his capture. The CIA wanted him transferred to a prison in Afghanistan. So, basically we have a man who was stopped at a checkpoint. He is arrested and detained for 13 days without Macedonian authorities verifying that the redesigned passport was indeed an official German passport. United States officials, the CIA, desperately wanted to talk with this man.

After 13 days, El-Masri believed that he was going to be released. He was taken to the airport, where he was blindfolded and led into a small room. In this room, he was stripped of all his clothes, photographed and beaten. Earplugs were placed in his ears, a hood is thrown over his head and he was thrown on a jet, tranquilized and sent to Afghanistan. Over the next 149 days, a debate raged within the CIA. The head of the counterterrorism division believed that he, el-Masri, was in fact a terrorist, even though she has never seen or spoken with this man. CIA agents, in Afghanistan and at Langley, argue that they have no evidence against him. In Afghanistan, el-Masri was thrown in a cold dank cell. The water was foul and the food was even worse. He developed chronic diarrhea. He lost some 40 to 50 pounds. He was given frequent enemas.  According to reports, he was threatened with death. “You’re in a country where no one knows about you. There is no rule of law. If you die, you will be buried here. No one will ever know.”

After 149 days, El-Masri was released as only the CIA could do it. There is no explanation. He was simply flown to Albania. He was driven down the long winding road and given back his possessions, told to walk and not look back. He was met by three men who gave him some food and took him to the Tirana airport. From there he was flown home.

I have a problem understanding how you can whisk somebody away from their family for almost five months without one shred of evidence. I find this completely mind-boggling, nauseating and stupid.  One CIA officer call the program of rendition – Kidnap, Inc.

Tags: Bush Administration, Security, Torture by ecthompson md
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