Ooops! You're Served

Khaled el-Masri, the ummm German citizen, who we ummm disappeared and sent off to secret detention to be waterboarded into submission, until we decided that OOOPS, he's the wrong guy, and let him go, is suing George (Medal o' Freedom) Tenet and other CIA officials for his illegal incarceration. Since the recent unpleasantness in Chile, disappearing someone is considered an international crime, so it will be interesting to see the ramifications of this suit. I am afraid (actually I'm afraid they won't!) that a handful (read: ALL) BushCo officials may end up in the dock at the Hague, charged with war crimes.

The suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Khaled el-Masri claims that in 2003 he became the innocent victim of a CIA tactic known as extraordinary rendition, ACLU and court officials said.

Under this practice, terror suspects are captured and flown to other countries for interrogation, and human rights advocates say suspects often wind up being tortured in countries in the Middle East and other regions

...

Masri spoke at an ACLU news conference in Washington via a satellite video link from Stuttgart, Germany, after he was denied entry to the United States on Saturday night in Atlanta. ACLU officials said he was put on the first available flight back to Germany.

The suit, which the ACLU called the first legal challenge of the CIA's rendition program, charges that Tenet and other CIA officials violated U.S. and universal human rights laws and they authorized agents to kidnap Masri.

"His unlawful abduction and treatment were the direct result of an illegal CIA policy," the ACLU said.

Masri, in a statement released by the ACLU, added: "I am asking the American government to admit its mistakes and to apologize for my treatment."

(Emphasis mine)