Monday, October 19, 2009

British High Court rejects U.S./British cover-up of torture evidence:

All of this highlights two vital points: (1) the extent to which the Obama administration has been willing to go to cover up evidence of the Bush administration's torture regime; when I interviewed Mohamed's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, in April, he made clear that these threats were part of a joint cover-up between the U.S. and Britain; and (2) the way in which American citizens are forced to rely on the institutions in foreign countries -- British courts and Spanish prosecutors -- to learn about what our own government has done. War crimes can never stay hidden for long. It's only a matter of time before all of this evidence comes out one way or the other, and when it does, those who worked so vigorously to keep it concealed will be rightly judged to have been complicit in its cover-up.

The Obama administration is not only trying to block evidence of what was done to Mohamed from being disclosed in this British court proceeding, but also in America's judicial system, where it has repeatedly asserted the "state secret privilege" to demand dismissal of Mohamed's lawsuit, which seeks to recover damages for his rendition and torture. They're doing that because they're The Most Transparent Administration Ever -- obviously.