By TigerHawk at 8/22/2009
08:52:00 AM
The Obama administration has rendered its supposedly first alleged bad guy,
"supposedly" because we obviously do not know whether there have been
secret cases. The case involves naked photographs and allegations of
food deprivation and other abuse. Bizarrely, the target is not accused
of terrorism per se, but for, well, inflating invoices.
A
Lebanese citizen being held in a detention center here was hooded,
stripped naked for photographs and bundled onto an executive jet by FBI
agents in Afghanistan in April, making him the first known target of a
rendition during the Obama administration.
Unlike terrorism
suspects who were secretly snatched by the CIA and harshly interrogated
and imprisoned overseas during the George W. Bush administration,
Raymond Azar was flown to this Washington suburb for a case involving
inflated invoices.
Azar, 45, pleaded guilty Tuesday to
conspiracy to commit bribery, the only charge against him. He faces a
maximum of five years in prison, but a sentence of 2 1/2 years or less
is likely under federal guidelines.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors declined to comment on the case Friday.
But Joanne Mariner, terrorism and counter-terrorism director at Human
Rights Watch, called the case "bizarre."
"He was treated like a high-security terrorist instead of someone
accused of a relatively minor white-collar crime," she said.
It
will be interesting to see whether "inflating invoices," which
presumably is an indicia of other corruption, is the actual offense
charged or whether Azar is in fact suspected of financing terrorists.
If the former, I suppose it is just another example of the Obama
administration cracking down on business offenses. Don't inflate your
invoices while abroad, guys, or you will be hooded, cuffed, subjected
to a cavity search, photographed naked, shackled and flown back to the
United States without judicial process. If the latter, then it is
unfortunate we brought him to the United States. Predictable, but
unfortunate.
I believe this is covered in the Constitution
and is OK if ordered by a President named anything but Bush.
You
have to wonder, with all the political badmouthing by Pelosi, Penetta
and the other left wing democrats of the CIA, if it will ever again be
possible for the US government to do anything secret without it being
leaked.
Of course, the anti-Americans should be able to rely on the captive
media to hide what they are ordered not to print/cover.
This is probably a case of bad handwriting.
President Obama scribbles a
note, "have CPA check this out", overzealous staffer reads CIA,
and the rest is history.
I wonder if the ACLU lawyers will track down
Obama's "operatives" and
photgraph THEM in front of their homes and release the pics.
As an aside...wouldn't it be poetic justice if Hurricane Bill ruined
Obama's vacation...
Let's see if Rachel Maddow gets worked up over
this. She may.
Meanwhile
"When ABC News anchor Charles Gibson was asked about anti-war protester
Cindy Sheehan's plans to travel to Martha's Vineyard next week, where
she will protest the Iraq and Afghanistan wars while President Obama is
vacationing there. Gibson, whose newscast and network featured Sheehan
when she led anti-war protests outside President Bush's Texas ranch in
2005, answered, "Enough already." "
Link, over
I suspect that there is far more to this than
meets the eye. Maybe protective custody for a very important witness.
With treatment like that, you would think he
was a Republican or something...
