ACLU responds to dismissal of CIA torture lawsuit

"The court's decision allows the government
to engage in torture"

Since 2001, a Gulfstream V turbojet has been seen at military airports from Pakistan to Indonesia to Jordan, sometimes being boarded by hooded and handcuffed passengers. U.S. District Court Judge James Ware dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday filed by the ACLU against Jeppesen Dataplan, citing information about the CIA's "rendition'' program is a state secret.
Photo courtesy washingtonpost.com

By Jason Bennert

February 15, 2008

The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday criticized a San Jose-based federal judge's decision to dismiss a lawsuit regarding the CIA's secret program to transport terrorist suspects overseas for interrogation and alleged torture.

U.S. District Court Judge James Ware dismissed the lawsuit against Jeppesen Dataplan, a San Jose-based subsidiary of aerospace giant Boening, late Wednesday afternoon. He ruled that information about the CIA's "rendition'' program is a state secret and cannot be revealed as part of the lawsuit.

"Continuing the case would jeopardize national security and foreign relations and ...no protective procedure can salvage this case,'' Ware wrote is his ruling dismissing the case.

Ware is the latest in a string of federal judges that have ruled actions by the Bush Administration since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 are state secrets and not subject to litigation. In a statement issued yesterday, ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said Ware's ruling means the administration's controversial anti-terrorist programs effectively have little or no oversight.

"The court's decision allows the government to engage in torture, declare it a state secret, and thereby escape any legal scrutiny for its actions,'' Wizner said.

Wizner also accused the administration of having a double standard when it comes to state secrets.

"Government officials are quite willing to discuss the CIA's detention and interrogation of other prisoners, most notably the six Guantanamo detainees charged this week with capital murder. Apparently, the government believes such activities are state secrets only when that claim will help the administration avoid accountability for illegal programs, but not when it will help seek the death penalty for alleged terrorists. Depriving torture victims of their day in court to prevent disclosure of information that the entire world already knows only compounds the brutal treatment our clients endured,'' Wizner said.

The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on behalf of five individuals who were allegedly transported overseas and tortured as part of the rendition program. Jeppesen Dataplan allegedly provided logistical and planning support for the flights.

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