CIA Knowingly Held Innocent Man

NBC News has reported that German Muslim Khaled el-Masri was abducted and held for five months by the CIA:

Senior U.S. officials tell NBC News that CIA officers had concluded by Spring 2004 that el-Masri was the wrong man. But NBC News has learned that he was held for six more weeks while officials debated how to handle the mistake.

Condoleeza Rice had to order them twice to release the man. This is inexcusable and counter-productive to winning the war on terrorism.

I can understand the confusion over the similarity in names, especially since el-Masri's passport appeared to be fake. But the people responsible for keeping el-Masri imprisoned long after his innocence was established deserve to be cashiered. I gave the CIA the benefit of the doubt when I first posted on this, and they let me down. They let us all down.