El-Masri’s case is crucial

Re “I am not a state secret,” Opinion, March 3

Khaled El-Masri’s case perfectly illustrates the inherent flaw in the Bush administration’s argument that it must be able to disregard our rights to fight terrorism. The administration insists that it needs the power to kidnap, imprison and torture people and ignore constitutional rights. Whenever anyone opposes these infringements on our rights, right-wing pundits cry, “They want to give rights to terrorists.” This ignores the fact that (newsflash!) the government makes mistakes.

The purpose of these rights is to protect innocent people and to prevent the kind of atrocities that were inflicted on El-Masri. I’m not willing to purchase my “security” at the cost of condoning the abduction and torture of innocent people.

DEBORAH MILLAIS

Ventura

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Every American with a flag on his front porch should express outrage and concern over the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program. There is nothing extraordinary about El-Masri other than that he is Arabic and Muslim.

A similar tactic was used by Stalinist Soviet operatives for years, with many abductees never accounted for. This flawed system of detention, as practiced by the Bush administration, will hopefully become obsolete with new presidential elections. Perhaps the first priority of our next president should be to apologize to the world for establishing such programs while we preached to others the evil of their doing so.

DAVID N. SEAMAN

Long Beach

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El-Masri wants to know why the U.S. is resisting his lawsuit for illegal arrest, torture and detention without charges, and why the government resists admitting its mistake. If the government admits that his case was unjust, it will be pushed that much closer to having to face several hundred other probably unjust imprisonments -- victims still being held at Guantanamo Bay after years of deprivation and abuse without either charge or trial.

That’s why El-Masri’s case is so important and why the government is using its vague extended umbrella called “threat to national security” to try to cover its odious mistakes.

JEAN GERARD

Los Osos

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Since when did the U.S. government become the worst human rights violator on the planet? We can only hope that El-Masri and others realize that the current government is not America and is representative only of the worst of this country. Perhaps we are being “defended” by convinced and dedicated patriots. Or perhaps they serve their own not-so-patriotic agenda. It seems most likely that we will be a worse country for it. The question is, how much worse before the nightmare ends?

DAVID ROBBINS

Princeton, N.J.