the c.i.a. abducted roughly 3,000 people between 2001 and 2005, sending them to so-called 'black sites' - prisons or other facilities in countries where the c.i.a. could torture them without violating u.s. law (because the torture did not happen on u.s. soil).

at least one of them - a german citizen - turned out not to be the person the c.i.a. thought he was. instead, he was an innocent bystander that they kidnapped, shipped overseas, interrogated, beat, tortured, and sodomized him for 4 months before realizing their error and releasing him.

he sued, but under pressure from the bush administration, every u.s. court - including the supreme court - declined to hear the case.