Alleged torture victims' lawsuit dismissed on secrecy grounds

Five foreign men who claim they were kidnapped and tortured by the CIA had their lawsuit against a Boeing subsidiary dismissed Wednesday by a sharply divided federal appeals court because of the danger of state secrets being revealed at trial.

The suit brought against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. of San Jose sought to hold the defense contractor responsible for alleged civil rights abuses committed during counter-terrorism operations conducted by U.S. intelligence forces. Jeppesen reportedly supplied the flight services and other assistance to CIA interrogators who conducted the "extraordinary rendition" program.

In a 6-5 ruling by the full U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the majority agreed with U.S. Justice Department assertions that the case shouldn't go forward, even on the basis of unclassified evidence already revealed to the public.

The majority of the court said it reached the conclusion "reluctantly" that the claims of the five men couldn't be decided at trial because of the risk of courtroom disclosures damaging U.S. national security. The judges pointed out that the plaintiffs could seek other forms of compensation or congressional redress now that "our decision forecloses at least one set of judicial remedies."

Five judges joined in a dissenting opinion, arguing that to dismiss the men's claims before a court could evaluate their merits was an extreme application of case law to the government's assertion of the state-secrets privilege.

The American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented the plaintiffs said the 9th Circuit ruling would be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"To date, not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture program has had a day in court," said Ben Wizner, an ACLU staff attorney. "If this decision is allowed to stand, the United States will have closed its courtroom doors to torture victims while providing complete immunity to their torturers."

Charles S. Miller, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the government had no comment on the ruling.

In the 55-page majority opinion, the judges repeated in exacting detail the plaintiffs' claims of having been stripped, beaten, subjected to electrical shocks and laceration of genitals in the CIA's interrogation of foreign subjects suspected of having information about terrorist attacks.

-- Carol J. Williams

Comments

[Jim]

Hey, this is America; we will torture just whomever we feel like and if you don't like it leave!

[Jim]

Hey, this is America; we will torture just whomever we feel like and if you don't like it leave!

[Tirau]

Our government is out of control- "state secrets" are being used to justify everything and there is absolutely no oversight. Obama is continuing Bush's destructive policies, and in many cases extending them. The government and military work *for* us, not the other way around.

[RealityBites]

The traitors triumph again.
Time to start putting the real traitors on trial, the murdering criminals that send Americans to be murdered in their private corporate wars.

[AlexxGrr]

If the defenders (Boeing) refuse to defend themselves for any (including secrecy) reason, then the plaintiffs should be afforded a default judgement.

[CCC]

WE are not a democracy. A country is just as dark as it secrets. We have alot of them. We are a very dark county.

[Chris]

Tirau, just wanted to make sure that when you said " The government and military work *for* us", that 'us' meant the US citizens right? I have no problem with US government torturing foreigners who hold information regarding plot to kill many Americans and yet refuse to give us that info. It's the US law that's wrong, not the hard working CIA agents who want to protect us from terrorists.

[Stephen Real]

The 9th court sides with Bin Laden and all those who were down with this satanic cult of torture and humilation of the human being and conscious. You Judges are morally lost and legally gutless.
Man up humans!
I'm disgusted with the Ninth for being
down right lower then a weasel
in their totally unhuman
and anti-Christ decision that they chose to bestow on the peoples.
You sirs and madams disgust me!

[John]

So I'm guessing they won't get a settlement as a "sorry" from the feeral Government?

[Robert]

It is worth remembering that the phrase "enemy combatant" is nothing more than a rather vague accusation, and the rule of law says that someone accused of a crime deserves to be tried within a reasonable period of time, and not left to molder in a stinking prison or subjected to torture. Many who voted for Obama did so in the belief that this former Professor of Constitutional Law would keep such fundamental tenets in mind. The 9th District Court decision is dishonorable.
On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists( fast forward to the Bush Administration: "terrorists") Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Truman in the Blair House. The assassination was foiled, in part by White House Policeman Leslie Coffelt, who killed Torresola but was himself mortally wounded. Collazo was arrested, charged with murder, tried in Federal court and sentenced to death. He was imprisoned at Leavenworth. Two years later, Truman, who had seen combat in WWI, commuted his sentence to life (he was later freed by another veteran, Carter. Congress and the courts, many of whom had, unlike today's version, been in war themselves in WWI and WWII, did not go into a panic , revoke the Bill of Rights, invoke bogus "Patriot" Acts, "Military Commissions Acts," order executions by remote control drones or, as in the wake of Katrina violate the Posse Comitatus Act in New Orleans. There was no thought of sending anyone to Guantanamo. An "extraordinary rendition" in those days was a performance by an opera singer.

[Babs]

The Rules of the Game

What is the difference between extradition and extraordinary rendition? I would say not much especially if the Justice Department's extradition request to a foreign country is based on a lie.

In addition what’s the difference between extraordinary rendition - which is a kidnapping of a foreign person and transporting them elsewhere in order to torture, and kidnapping a US citizen by transforming a Santa Monica Courtroom into a back alley, populating it with County of Los Angeles’s secret white sheriff deputy thugs so as to intimidate and torture the victim for reporting Official corruption and of course to end her case.

For the already tortured Plaintiffs against a Boeing subsidiary - they should accept Judge Raymond C. Fisher's authored en banc 9th Circuit decision of 9/8/10 as a blessing in disguise. The decision is a reason not to continue to beat their heads against a brick wall, since there will be no justice for them in America, as that is the status quo.

If the Plaintiffs walk away now they will be free to get on with their lives as opposed to wasting their lives trying to squeeze an ounce of justice out of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or the US Supreme Court in America.

Just as you can’t get blood out of a stone,

an American government is NOT going to pay for torturing you whether you happen to be an innocent American or an innocent foreign person.

The main inclination of US and local government is to cover up any Official wrongdoing, and not give any individual any acceptable settlement or justice whether they are American or foreign.

So buyer beware, don't waste your life seeking any justice in America. And even when you think you are winning another judicial decision will arrive years and years later to stab you and your case in the back from behind.

[Wanda]

American reactions to this court ruling

One of the primary functions of a court of law is to provide a venue that allows the powerless to challenge the powerful. By deciding that the powerless have no recourse to law and justice, this court has effectively ceded their power to the executive. The reign of terror has officially begun.
...

Obama has disappointed his supporters by keeping Gitmo open and doing nothing to lead the nation away from the barbarism begun by Bush.

Where is the change he promised?

This may be a victory for Obama, but it is a defeat for America.
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So the government can secretly do anything in the name of protecting secrets? Who is going to protect us from this type of government? And who is going to protect us from these stooges wearing judge robes?
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I think 9th CIRCUiT FEDERAL APPEALS COURT FLUSHES CONSTITUTION DOWN TOILET would’ve been a more accurate headline. The entire state-secrets concept should be abolished. Instead, even as a citizen, I have absolutely no guarantee that I can’t be kidnapped by the CIA at 3am tomorrow morning, tortured secretly in ‘black-box sites’, and have no legal recourse. So basically I have no rights anymore, even as a citizen. Right now we might be using these powers on ‘terrorists’, but it’s not inconceivable that an upcoming political regime in America could start labeling dissidents as ‘terrorists’. So welcome to ’1984′, President Obama. I’ll be glad to see how President Palin uses these expanded powers you’re about to bequeath her. And the scariest part? No matter what country you’re in, the CIA can always find you if they really want to
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Extraordinary rendition is a crime, not a secret. It is really quite disingenuous of President Obama to accuse Florida pastor Terry Jones of putting our soldiers in harm’s way by burning copies of the Quran when his administration continues to defend Bush policies of equating past torture with current national security. A national policy of secrecy regarding torture is going to recruit as many terrorists as the individual act of burning the Muslim sacred text. Obama is an embarassment. He promised an open administration and he has failed to deliver.
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Oh, that’s great. So now our brave SS-CIA-men may torture with impunity. But, as far as I remember, torturing constitutes international crime and so is universally punishable. Where is the justice, guys? And there is our democracy?
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This is just wrong. What it is about Mr. Obama that the right finds so abhorrent. He is just continuing the Bush/Cheney doctrine. Change?

The United States has to do better than this.
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Another utterly shameful chapter in our nation’s history.
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The circular logic of the ruling would make Kafka proud, and may yet cause Orwell to rise from the dead.