Paying the Piper

First Maher Arar got an apology from the Canadian government plus $9 million in compensation. Then a Spanish judge ordered Spain's intelligence service to declassify its records concerning CIA rendition flights. And then a German court issued arrest warrants for 13 people — presumably CIA operatives — in the abduction and torture of Khaled el-Masri (pictured above). Meanwhile, a European parliamentary committee approved a report alleging that European governments had full knowledge of US rendition flights. And an Italian judge is considering whether to pursue charges against 26 Americans, 25 of whom are thought to be from the Agency. A rough week! Far from fading away, as the Tyrant's thugs may have hoped last year, if anything these cases are multiplying, becoming ever more serious, with potential penalties emerging in sharp outline. As I observed over a year ago: the judicial process in Europe is not subject to American political control. Odds are good that at least some American persecutors and torturers will be held to account.