Court abdicates its responsibility
Re “The price of secrecy,” editorial, Oct. 11
It is incredible that a citizen of Germany says he was kidnapped by U.S. government agents, abused and transported to Afghanistan for torture in a secret prison, then dumped on an Albanian hillside five months later when the agents realized he was not the right person. This sounds more like the behavior of Nazi Germany or Augusto Pinochet’s Chile. But even more unbelievable is that the American court system is allowing our government to get away with this criminal behavior.
The U.S. has become a rogue nation, one that believes it alone has the right to disregard legal norms and the rights of other nations. The state-secrets defense, born solely out of the military’s desire to cover up its lies and ineptitude in the U.S. vs. Reynolds case, has been allowed by courts to become an easy way for the government to avoid accountability.
The Supreme Court has invented a new right of the government to ignore the law -- talk about judicial activism.
Alex Murray
Altadena
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The more I heard about the imprisonment of the German citizen Khaled El-Masri, who says he was abducted, tortured and imprisoned for over five months by the CIA, the more sick to my stomach I became.
What ever happened to justice, honor and decency? If you wonder why people hate us, this is it.
The current administration is refusing to allow justice to take place by hiding behind “state secrets.” It makes me embarrassed to call myself an American.
Cpl. Robert A. Pratt
Marine Corps
San Diego
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Re “ Secrecy trumps torture appeal,” Oct. 10
And now the demise of the American democracy is complete. We have a president who acts like a king and recognizes no limits to his power; a Congress that meekly submits to him and lacks the courage to compel his obedience to the expressed will of the people; and, finally, a judicial branch that has abdicated its responsibility to hold wrongdoers in high places accountable on the bogus rationale of “state secrets.”
What secrets can a government have from its people in a democracy, except maybe plans to end that democracy? “Democracy” is a Greek word meaning “rule of the people.” Not here, not in 21st century America.
Chris Apostal
Silver Lake
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If a person screams while being tortured but no court of law will pursue the truth, does he really make a sound?
Eugene Sison
San Dimas
