Posted by Tina
This is not change, – Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union
Obama administration maintains Bush’s ‘state secrets’ policy, by Dan Glaister Guardian (UK)
** “Barack Obamas justice department has repeated a Bush administration policy of citing “state secrets” to prevent the release of evidence concerning extraordinary renditions. *** The decision, revealed at a hearing in a San Francisco appeals court, came days after the British high court ruled that evidence of renditions and torture must remain secret so as not to endanger the intelligence relationship between the two countries. *** The appeal in San Francisco’s ninth US circuit court concerned the case of Binyam Mohamed, the subject of last week’s high court ruling, and four other men. *** Civil rights lawyers had brought the appeal in the hope that the justice department would reverse the Bush-era policy. Last February the Bush administration intervened in a case brought against Jeppeson Dataplan, a subsidiary of Boeing, persuading Judge James Ware to dismiss the case on grounds of state secrets. *** The plaintiffs had accused the company, based in San Jose, California and Crawley, West Sussex, of helping the CIA transport them to countries where they faced torture and interrogation. The allegations raise the possibility that some of the CIA’s rendition flights were planned on British soil. *** The justice department said a year ago that should the case proceed, it could reveal the CIA’s methods in holding and interrogating terrorism suspects, as well as details of the cooperation of foreign governments. *** The Obama justice department, under attorney general Eric Holder, today reiterated that position, to the disappointment of civil rights campaigners.” **