Khalid el-Masri, a German of Lebanese descent, was traveling in Macedonia in December, 2003 when he was arrested by police because his name matched that of a suspected terrorist. He was then taken on a really fun trip on clandestine flights to and from places like Kabul, Baghdad, and Skopje, Macedonia, during five months of detention. He was privileged to enjoy abduction, drugging, confinement and torture. But after such a great trip he was suddenly cast out when the government realized it had kidnapped the wrong man. Oops.

The US government has not confirmed that it took el-Masri on his vacation but they do admit to having a rendition program that operates exactly the same way. The government has said the program is an effective tool in the "war on terror." It is also apparently good for making people whose names are similar to bad guys disappear. Good thing we’re not fighting the Irish or there would be a shitload of missing O’Neill’s.

El-Masri was obviously upset and decided to sue the US government. He has substantial evidence to back up his story, which German prosecutors have verified. But last Thursday a federal court in Virginia threw out the lawsuit because the judge accepted the government's claim that any alleged activities relating to el-Masri were "state secrets." The state secrets objection has been used before. It is a proposition that even simple lawsuits against the government can involve issues that would be genuinely harmful to national security if they were exposed. In this case it is being used by a reckless administration to hide totally illegal actions.

The states secrets objection is a privilege that was rarely used until Bush took office. It was claimed only 55 times between 1954 and 2001 but now has been used 23 times since Sept. 11, 2001. So everything is looking up, now we can kidnap people, torture them then say, “oops” and send them on their way. No repercussions for KIDNAPPING an innocent man.

Combine this with the NSA refusing to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to investigate the warrantless eavesdropping program and today’s announcement that the FCC also will not pursue the matter because it cannot obtain classified material and I conclude we are living in one secretive fucked up country that is heading toward a dangerous place.

Everybody got his or her passport? Not that you can use it if your name is on the no fly list…