Germany has ordered the arrest of 13 people believed to be CIA agents over the alleged kidnapping of a Lebanese-born German national, in one of the best-known cases of US “renditions” of terror suspects.

The prosecutor’s office in Munich, southern Germany said in a statement that the city’s administrative court had issued the arrest warrants on suspicion of abduction and grievous bodily harm.

German authorities are probing allegations by Khaled el-Masri that he was abducted by US agents in the Macedonian capital Skopje on New Year’s Eve 2003 and flown to a prison in Afghanistan for interrogation before he was released five months later in Albania.

Masri has said he was tortured while imprisoned.
(Source: Common Dreams)

Here we have a classic rogue state: a nation that ignores international law and sends its agents to kidnap innocent people and then tortures them for months.

Yep, the USA sounds pretty rogue to me.

In fact, it’s such a rogue state that it makes no bones about it: the USA withdrew from the ICC precisely because it knew it would be torturing innocent people and engaging in other war crimes. It was a pre-emptive withdrawal so they could wage their war of torture and massacre with no interference from “bleeding heart liberals.”

I doubt that Germany’s legal move will result in any justice for el-Masri. After all, the USA doesn’t care about any form of law apart from the law of its own military might.

But it’s a great step forward for the civilised, law-abiding nations of the world. We have to recognise war crimes when they occur and pursue the war criminals. It’s no coincidence that so far it’s only Germany which has had the courage to seek justice. It’s learnt a bitter lesson about war crimes and criminals from its own history.

If you don’t care about this for humanitarian reasons, maybe I can appeal to pure selfishness. Remember, el-Masri and all the other people kidnapped by the CIA never had any charges brought against them. They never had any legal counsel or were accorded any of their human rights. The USA doesn’t recognise those rights.

Imagine this happening to you. A knock at the door and you’re disappeared out of your country on a secret CIA plane, then you’re held against your will and tortured, never knowing if you’ll live or die. And, seeing how accurate the US intelligence services were about the WMDs they said Hussein had, your entire kidnapping may be based on a mistake.

No liberty, no freedom, no justice. Disappeared by the CIA. Do you want this to happen to you?