THE CURIOUS CASE OF KHALED EL-MASRI

In early February Spiegel Online trumpeted "Munich to US: 'Don't Send Your CIA Thugs out into Europe's Streets'" in reporting that the Munich public prosecutor had issued arrest warrants for 13 suspected CIA agents thought responsible for the abduction of Lebanese-born German citizen Khaled el-Masri. As it turns out el-Masri is definitely a thug and, unlike CIA agents, doesn't have a job; unless beating up social workers counts as work:

Just one day later, however, the headline had acquired a certain unintended irony as reports emerged that Masri himself had beaten up a social worker in his hometown of Neu-Ulm, leaving the man hospitalized for three days. The assault occurred on Monday, Jan. 29. According to a Feb. 2 report in the Südwest Presse newspaper, citing the local Neu-Ulm prosecutor's office: "Masri is supposed to have pulled the man by the hair and thrown him against a wall. Then he threw a table at him, punched him in the face and stomped on him."

There's lots more to the Khaled el-Masri story; go here to read all about it.