You’re Only as Sick as Your Secrets

Alcoholics Anonymous has a saying - You’re only as sick as your secrets. Over the past six years the Bush Administration has exploited it’s authority by using “state’s secrets,” in order to cover its abuse of power in the name of the so-called “war on terror.” Two examples of the use of the government secrecy to shield its actions can be seen in the warrantless NSA spying program and in the act of “extraordinary rendition.”

If you want a primer on the Bush Administrations’ inconceivable use of secrecy, simply look at the case of Oregon charity, al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. This case is related to the NSA’s illegal warrantless spying program. Click here for my mid-2006 analysis of the constitutionality and legality of the NSA warrantless spying program.

A recent New York Times/International Herald Tribune article provides surreal examples of government secrecy. For example, one government lawyer declined to divulge whether he had a particular security clearance, saying information about the clearance was classified. Other revelations from this article include:

• Judges have to make an appointment to review the government’s filing in the case and then cannot keep a copy. Lawyers for the plaintiffs cannot see the government’s filings at all. I’m no lawyer, but I would imagine it difficult to mount a counter-offence to a document that you cannot view.
  
• Judges have been told to use only Justice Department computers to write their decisions. The Justice Department asked to inspect and delete files from the computers on which lawyers for the plaintiffs had prepared their legal filings.
  
• The Justice Department has filed legal papers, not with the court but by placing them in a room at the Department of Justice. As the article says, “They have filed papers, in other words, with themselves.”

Despite the Bush Administration’s concerted efforts to keep the details of warrantless domestic surveillance secret, details are leaking out. Because of pressure from the public and the newly-elected Democratic majority in Congress, the Justice Department has begrudgingly “allowed” judges from the FISA court to review the NSA warrantless spying program (which they have been legally required to do all along). They also have decided to allow select members of Congress to view documents related to the program. Public pressure and Congressional oversight is slowly shedding light on the secret NSA Spying program.

A second example of how the US uses States Secrets to cover up its misdeeds is in the area of “extraordinary rendition,” the practice of capturing private citizens off of the street and sending them off to a country such as Syria or Egypt to be tortured. Two names that you may already be familiar with are Khaled el-Masri and Maher Arar. El-Masri is a German citizen, who was on his way to family vacation when he was picked up in Macedonia in December, 2003. He was beaten, stripped naked, and drugged. He was then flown to a CIA interrogation center in Afghanistan where he continued to be beaten and interrogated. Despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence, the CIA continued to hold El-Masri until May, 2005, at which time they released him without charge, without apology and without comment. When El-Masri tried to sue the US, the Bush Administration claimed “states secrets” and asked for the case to be dismissed. The case was thrown out on May 16, 2006.

Similarly, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen was picked up in the United States in September, 2002. The US Government sent Arar to Syria where he was routinely tortured until his release in October, 2003. Again, the US government was sued and again, the Bush Administration appealed to the courts using the argument of State’s Secrets. In February 2006, a judge ruled in favor of the Bush Administration, saying that rendition of Arar was a matter of national security.

Both of these would be very sad cases indeed if they were allowed to remain shrouded in the secrecy of the Bush Administration. However, moves from the Democrats in Congress are promising to shed light on the dark secrets of the extraordinary rendition program. Senator Patrick Leahy, the new Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has insisted that US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales share all documentation on the rendition of Arar.

Outside of the US, the pressure continues to mount over the Bush Administrations’ extraordinary rendition program. In Canada, the Prime Minister has issued a formal apology to Maher Arar. The Canadian government has also agreed to pay Arar $8.9 million. This increases the pressure on the US government to come clean in it’s involvement in the Arar case in particular and in extraordinary rendition in general. In Germany, prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents involved in the rendition of El-Masri. In another case, in Italy, a Judge is deciding whether to put 26 CIA agents on trial for the 2003 rendition of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. Nasr, who is also known as Abu Omar, was taken from Milan, Italy to Egypt where he was tortured and beaten. Once again, the power of public opinion is working to shed light on the cover of darkness required for the Bush Administration to carry on its unconstitutional and illegal activities.

There’s another saying about secrets – If you name the secret, you get its power. For the last six years the Bush Administration has held all of the power in the NSA spying and the practice of extraordinary rendition. Now we citizens have a chance to take back the power. Transparency in government is a cornerstone of our democracy. Without transparency, we are not citizens of a democracy but are instead prisoners in a totalitarian state. It is up to us, the citizens of the United States to insist on transparency in government. It is vital to our freedom that we demand the truth on warrantless spying and on extraordinary rendition. Only by demanding the truth can we heal the sickness of the Bush Administration’s secrets.