The United States and much of the Western world have been off-shoring business for decades now. This practice has seen the growth and flourishing of many industries happen, but it has also allowed some nations to find "surrogate countries" for their more devious practices. One such practice is the torture of individuals for the purpose of extracting information. On October 31st 2005, President George Bush announced "we do not torture (in the USA)" in response to rising critique of CIA's interrogation methods. Yes, we do not torture in the USA. We, like many other western nations today, have developed a keen system of off-shoring torture to one of our allied nations (probably in the third world) and hire their officers to do our dirty work.
In Macedonia, Khaled El-Masri is bringing up charges against the Macedonian government for torture. Masri was tortured for months and then was dumped on the side of a road in Albania. El-Masri was originally in CIA custody but was later turned over to the Macedonian government and was "held incommunicado and interrogated in a hotel for several weeks at the
behest of the United States, and then handed over to CIA personnel at
Skopje airport." (Al Jazeera 1) This way, the United States could use the barbaric methods it sought to use without suffering the repercussions.
Masri was under suspicion of using websites to try to recruit for a terrorist organisation in the USA. In October 2012 the United States Embassy in London (where Masri was being tried) announced it wanted Masri extradited to the USA ‘‘as quickly as possible’’ (Haaretz 1)
Associated Press. "Radical Preacher Abu Hamza Al-Masri to Be Extradited to U.S., British Court Rules." Haaretz.com.
Haaretz Newspaper, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/radical-preacher-abu-hamza-al-masri-to-be-extradited-to-u-s-british-court-rules-1.468471>.
Li, Darryl. "Khaled El-Masri and Empire's Oblivion." - Opinion.
Al Jazeera Newspaper, 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/12/20121217143214129234.html>.
Jens, I thought this post was very interesting. It contains a lot of information and you keep it short and sweet. If I were to edit this post just a bit, I'd elaborate a bit more. Just so the readers fully grasp and understand, instead of having it go right over their heads. Also, make the title a bit more creative and catchy. By having a title that hooks you, it grabs your attention so you're way more willing to read it. Other than that, I think your post was very thoughtful and direct!! Great topic. :)
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting take on outsourcing/offshoring! I thought that looking at the U.S. government as a kind of corporation that outsources was a really interesting concept. I would have had no idea about this issue, and I thought you did a great job turning a very political issue into one that confronts our government directly. One thing I would improve about this would be to have a more central thesis to tie the whole thing together, and a little more development of your own opinion: otherwise, it's basically restating a story. However, I really enjoyed this post, and overall you did a really nice job! Well done!
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