The Quadrangle

Issue date: 2/1/06 Section: Perspectives

Media Credit: cnn.com Khaled el-Masri spent five months in an American-run prison in Afghanistan

I often hear George W. Bush say that protecting the American people is the most important part of his job. Events like Sept. 11, the war in Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina are just three examples of why this president has been an abysmal failure on issues concerning security. In the post 9/11 world we often have to stop and remember that national security must be balanced with the law. After all, this is America. We are a nation that values the rule of law, and the United States Constitution. We pride ourselves on freedom, equality, and justice for all. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has often forgotten these American ideals.

Whether were talking about the Patriot Act or extraordinary rendition, which is the term used by the government to describe the procedure of sending criminal suspects to countries other than the United States for imprisonment and interrogation, the administration has forgotten what our nation stands for. Rendition, of course, spits in the face of due process of law and the prohibition of torture.

My biggest beef with the rendition program is the fact that people are often tortured and then released after they were found to be totally innocent. This has been of particular relevance since the fall of 2001. Take the case of Khaled el-Masri, a man who was born in Kuwait with German nationality. In 2003, he was taken off a bus by Macedonian agents while on vacation in the Republic of Macedonia. After being held for three weeks, El-Masri was taken to the Skopje airport where he was placed in the custody of the CIA, where he claims to have been injected with drugs. After waking up, he found himself in an American-run prison in Afghanistan containing prisoners from Pakistan, Tanzania, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. El-Masri was held for five months and interrogated by the CIA through an interpreter. He alleges he was beaten and kept in solitary confinement. Then, after his five months of interrogation, he was simply released. The CIA claimed that his name had been mixed up with another suspected terrorist.

Other examples similar to this have surfaced, but I wonder how many more like this are out there. I support our attempt to hunt down members of al-Qaeda, which is why I, unlike the president, haven't forgotton about the man who slaughtered 3,000 of our citizens, Osama bin Laden. We cannot, however, proceed with programs like rendition. Torture is a crime, and the rendition program often tortures innocent people like Khaled el-Masri. We have to remember the law and the name of our nation, America.

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