Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake (ZOT! Extraordinary Rendition Into Kitten Chow)

Washington Post ^ | December 4, 2005 | Dana Priest

[Extraordinarily Renditioned]

Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake German Citizen Released After Months in 'Rendition'

By Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 4, 2005; A01

In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in Germany to pay an unusual visit to that country's interior minister. Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State Department transmitted via the CIA's Berlin station because they were too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation.

Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned one of its citizens, Khaled Masri, for five months, and would soon release him, the sources said. There was also a request: that the German government not disclose what it had been told even if Masri went public. The U.S. officials feared exposure of a covert action program designed to capture terrorism suspects abroad and transfer them among countries, and possible legal challenges to the CIA from Masri and others with similar allegations.

The Masri case, with new details gleaned from interviews with current and former intelligence and diplomatic officials, offers a rare study of how pressure on the CIA to apprehend al Qaeda members after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has led in some instances to detention based on thin or speculative evidence. The case also shows how complicated it can be to correct errors in a system built and operated in secret.

The CIA, working with other intelligence agencies, has captured an estimated 3,000 people, including several key leaders of al Qaeda, in its campaign to dismantle terrorist networks. It is impossible to know, however, how many mistakes the CIA and its foreign partners have made.

[Grut]

The Washington Post has some credibility, and this sounds like the kind of screwup -- and coverup -- we can expect when government goes Dramatic. It's a point I made often enough about Padilla, that we had no way of even knowing that the guy they were holding was Padilla and not some Hispanic janitor they'd arrested by mistake.

[gr8eman]

The Washington Post has some credibility

Sure...the WaPo has the utmost credibility in nitpicking the government's mistakes when their political opponents are in charge. However you would never read a story like this when Billy Jeff Bob was in charge.

[Grut]

However you would never read a story like this when Billy Jeff Bob was in charge.

Which doesn't mean that things like that didn't happen then, ought to have been reported then, and ought to be reported now.

[Last Exit]

I think Padilla was a real threat. When you read how they got him, it seals up any doubts.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

It doesn't help that the CIA is packed to the gills with liberals that would love to see the War on Terrorism fall flat on its face. To that end, the CIA is happy to make a few mistakes and look dumb for a day. Then they can turn around and blame it on White House pressure to capture suspects and Bush is the one who gets hounded mercilessly for the rest of his days over it while the CIA director gets a few bad editorials in the Sunday paper.

Funny how these stories were never out when Bubba was president. The CIA and FBI were running interference for all kinds of domestic and foreign policy adventures that he was into but the newspapers barely said anything, except to paint the critics as nutcases. The only critics of Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing, and Clinton's shifting of classified material over to Commerce so that it would no longer be classified, were conservatives in the non-traditional media who were roundly touted as whacko hate-mongers who were just out to create any scandal possible against Klinton.

[JRios1968]

[A.Hun]

[thoughtomator]

You smell to kitty like food!

[Alia]

Dear Dana,

You want me to believe everything you are asserting in this article? Fine. Name your sources. You are a mere "journo" in a time of a war, and you should not be trusted any more than any joe on the corner of the street rattling your tin pan.

Sincerely,

Alia

[Freedom_Fighter_2001]

[Chode]

Tired of hitting Troll holes BIGGER than J-Lo's ASS???
Then call the RKBA Fast... Pavers UP!!!

Looks like meat's back on the menu boys!!!

[cmsgop]

SAY HELLO TO MY LLIL FRIEND !!!!!!!

[The Red Zone]

Why has a newbie bringing bad news been zotted out so fast? Did ER do something worse on another thread? I think we DO want to know how screwups like this have taken place. There's no excuse for the passport fiasco described in the article.

[rlmorel]

[AliVeritas]

Z1715Z05Z04DEC

FR: ALIVERITAS
TO: ADMIN MODERATOR
TOP SECRET
POSSIBLE DU INFILTRATION AND TROLL ALERT
1. EXECUTE UNRESTRICTED DATABANK SEARCH FOR SLEEPER ACCOUNTS
2. PROSECUTE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE ALL TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
3.WARPLAN: CYBERZOT TAC 4

ALPHA STRIKE ALPHA STRIKE ALPHA STRIKE

WEAPONS ARE FREE REPEAT: WEAPONS ARE FREE

CODE: ZULU OSCAR TANGO CODE: ZULU OSCAR TANGO

END MESSAGE

[A.Hun]

[AliVeritas]

Z1724Z05Z02DEC

FR: ALIVERITAS
TO: ADMIN MODERATOR
TOP SECRET
POSSIBLE DU INFILTRATION AND TROLL ALERT
1. EXECUTE UNRESTRICTED DATABANK SEARCH FOR SLEEPER ACCOUNTS
2. PROSECUTE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE ALL TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY
3.WARPLAN: CYBERZOT TAC 4

ALPHA STRIKE ALPHA STRIKE ALPHA STRIKE

WEAPONS ARE FREE REPEAT: WEAPONS ARE FREE

CODE: ZULU OSCAR TANGO CODE: ZULU OSCAR TANGO

END MESSAGE

[The Red Zone]

Have we stumbled across the topic so explosive that we don't even dare cite a MSM article that nobody here has managed to deny the veracity of?

[A.Hun]

No, its a slow day and no one gives a damn about the Washington Post or Dana Priest.

[Thebaddog]

I'm doing casual math and 36 mistakes out of 3000 snatches doesn't sound abnormal. The only thing strange is the admission to the Germans when the fellow could have been returned without comment.

And who is the spikey haired chick authorizing the snatches? She sounds like a keeper.

[nopardons]

Moron!

[RIGHT IN LAS VEGAS]

your Mother swallows

[Theresawithanh]

Ratz, missed the IB4Z! I was too involved in watching football to post my usual "Welcome to FR. Enjoy your stay, however long it may be".

Oh well, better late than never, I guess!

[Chgogal]

How many times do you hop on a bus to Macedonia because of a spat with your wife while unemployed to let off steam?

This whole thing reeks of major CIA/State Department leak campaign and combined with the Plame Blame Game and authorized CIA smear books published during an election year is quite nauseating. One would think the DNC hired the CIA as of a midterm election year dirty tricks operator or something. Here is a Guradian link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1390256,00.html

It's interesting that the CIA cannot differentiate between a real passport or fake one. That's what my $40 billion dollars purchases. Thank God for the Hellfire Hit this week otherwise I would be so ticked!

Also Dana Priest knows all these poor innocent CIA victims. Wonder if this great reporter can locate Osama for us instead? It might save a few lives?

[Vigilanteman]

Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State Department transmitted via the CIA's Berlin station because they were too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels . . .

But not to sensitive to leak to fifth columnists in the Washington Post. Personally, I think everyone above the level of secretary in the CIA should be fired, then asked to reapply. Rehire only those with clean background checks, exncluding any with checkered history of working on behalf of fifth columnists back in their college days.

[Thunder90]

[HiTech RedNeck]

Doubtless most would describe this situation as "suspicious as heck." Similar name to high profile terrorist, found on an odd errand, and apparently nobody knew what the high profile terrorist actually looked like.

Given that however, I too am majorly peeved that the apparent difference between this man's freedom and captivity hinged on nothing more than the authenticity of a German passport. Someone is grossly incompetent and/or still lying.

[Paul_Denton]

ZOT target spotted. Fire at will.

[darkwing104]

Whatever...

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Viking Kitty/ZOT ping list!. . . don't be shy.

[darkwing104]

Whatever...

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Viking Kitty/ZOT ping list!. . . don't be shy.

[Thunder90]

[The Red Zone]

Have you noticed how this issue has gotten virtually no airtime on FR? Supposedly, Masri was going to file his lawsuit in the USA today. Did that get called off? Why should there even NEED to be a lawsuit? -- I'd think that the administration should want to bend over backwards to make it up to those who due to no malfeasance of their own found themselves in the belly of the beast. And make it plain to the whole world that they were doing so.

[vigilante2]

[reagan_fanatic]

Z O T !

[WakeUpAndVote]

[PilloryHillary]

[IYellAtMyTV]

[Cboldt]

ACLU Complaint, El-Masri v. Tenet, was filed December 6, 2005.

Complaint <- 240 kB PDF file
http://www.aclu.org/natsec/emergpowers/22207prs20051206.html

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today announced the first ever lawsuit against former CIA director George Tenet challenging the CIA's abduction of a foreign national for detention and interrogation in a secret overseas prison. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, an innocent German citizen victimized by the CIA's policy of "extraordinary rendition." ...

The lawsuit, El-Masri v. Tenet, will be filed this morning in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

El-Masri is represented by Ann Beeson, Ben Wizner and Melissa Goodman of the ACLU National Legal Department, Paul Hoffman of Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman, LLP, Rebecca Glenberg of the ACLU of Virginia, and Victor Glasberg of Victor M. Glasberg & Associates.

[Cboldt]

Have you noticed how this issue has gotten virtually no airtime on FR? Supposedly, Masri was going to file his lawsuit in the USA today. Did that get called off?

-bump-

I found the complaint (linked at post above) while searching for examples of ACLU stories that cite the names of counsel.