Real American Heros

I took that title from the lame Budweiser commercials, and in keeping with the same,

Here's to you Mr. ACLU Lawyer!

I went to see a presentation by ACLU lawyer, Steven Watt, who is currently representing Kalid El-Masri. He spoke about EL-Masri's story, which included being abducted by CIA agents from his home in Germany, taken to Afghanistan via Bagdad, while drugged and shackled and chained to the floor of a CIA plane. Upon arrival in Afghanistan, he was subjected to various forms of brutal torture, and was detained for several months even after the CIA realized they had an innocent man. El-Masri is now seeking justice in American courts.

Watt talked about the obstructionist tactics utilized by the US Goverment, first among which, is claiming the "State Secret" priveledge, which, in essence, is a provision that allows the Government to say that if a particular case goes foward, it will inherently harm National security. The Government's invokation of the State Secret provision in this case, and others, is garbage, but it is difficult to challenge.

During the presentation, I started thinking about what this Scottland-born lawyer was doing, and how important that kind of work is to our fragile democracy. I thought about television and People magazine and Nike and Michael Jordan and Jennifer Lopez. Then I thought about how great it would be if the ones who fight for justice in the world were the ones who made millions of dollars and were featured on the front page of tabloids and were idolized by the common man. Were it that way, things would be as they should be.

Alas... the Human.

A Strange Animal.