Germany Seeks US Apology for Abduction

German Interior Minister Otto Schily has reportedly sought an apology from CIA chief Porter Goss over the alleged kidnapping of a German national by US agents, Newsweek reported, citing German sources. Khaled el-Masri, who is of Lebanese descent but has a German passport, claims to have been abducted by US operatives while on holiday in Macedonia on Dec. 31, 2003. Three weeks later, Masri said, he was put on an airplane to Afghanistan, where he was shackled, punched and interrogated about extremists at his mosque in Ulm, Germany. He further stated that he was released months later and dropped off on a deserted road leading into Macedonia. The case is being investigated by a Munich prosecutor as a kidnapping case, the weekly said. The CIA allegedly whisked foreign terror suspects to clandestine interrogation facilities, using a Boeing 737 plane specially dedicated for that purpose, Newsweek reported Sunday. The allegation, if proven true, is "further evidence that a global 'ghost' prison system, where terror suspects are secretly interrogated, is being operated by the CIA," the weekly wrote.