Torture suit too hot to be heard, U.S. says

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO -- A lawsuit accusing a Bay Area flight-planning company of aiding an alleged CIA program of kidnapping and torturing terror suspects threatens national security and is too sensitive to discuss fully in a public courtroom, an Obama administration attorney argued Tuesday.

"The case cannot proceed without getting into state secrets," Justice Department lawyer Douglas Letter told an 11-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Several judges noted that most of the essential facts of the case have been widely aired - the existence of the "extraordinary rendition" program under President George W. Bush, the five plaintiffs' accounts of their abduction and torture, and the alleged participation by Jeppesen Dataplan of San Jose - and asked why the case is too sensitive for the courts to hear.

Letter said he could reply only in a closed session. For the record, he said, "the U.S. government will not confirm or deny any relationship with Jeppesen."

... Jeppesen, a Boeing Co. subsidiary, was described in a 2007 Council of Europe report as the CIA's aviation services provider. In a court declaration in the current suit, a company employee quoted a director as telling staff members in 2006 that Jeppesen handled the CIA's "torture flights."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/15/BA6H1B4L3P.DTL&tsp=1

[alp227]

1. How many times does this administration have to be apologists

to torturemeisters of the past administration?

"Change"? Yeah right. I thought Candidate Obama wanted to reverse the foreign policy blunders of Chimpy.

[ixion]

2. as many times as it takes...

it's pretty obvious the same group of people are pulling the strings behind the scenes.

[cowcommander]

7. Did you really expect any better?

I don't recall any democratic pres candidate ever bringing up the issue of torture in last year's primaries. Obama is no different.

[No Elephants]

13. Not prosecuting criminal acts tends to ensure they will continue.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. That's exactly why it must be exposed

How sad to see Jeppesen come to this. It started as a local (Denver) company many decades ago, making a great contribution -- maps for pilots -- to commercial aviation.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. yeah round slide rules and such

[grahamhgreen]

4. Right - the prisons are SECRET!

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

Sick country

[optimator]

6. obama said he ended torture

so "state secrets" are not a valid defense unless obama was lying.

[saigon68]

12. He is lying

And apparently bowing to the very corporate interests that elected his predecessor.

[gratuitous]

8. When the secrets are revealed, when the secrets are illegal

The secrets harm national security far more than anything they're covering up.

[New Dawn]

9. USA: The land of prisoners, torture, unemployment, homelessness, and death.

[Alamuti Lotus]

11. "it'll make us look bad, so we have to cover it up"

Balls that require a wheelbarrow to carry around, I'll give them that.

[TexasObserver]

14. Recommend.

[damntexdem]

15. Well, since torture is a state secret, I suppose this is true.

Of course, torture is a secret we all know about; but that's only mere reality, not at all the stuff of politics or, most likely, judicial decisions.