Leon Panetta, Barack Obama's choice to head up the CIA, begins Senate Confirmation hearings today. When first announced, I praised
Mr. Panetta as a great choice; a proven manager and a clear opponent to
the use of torture by the CIA. When it was later reported Mr. Panetta,
as President Clinton's Chief of Staff, was involved in the expanded use
of rendition, I wrote:
But,
should this story be proven true, this is a deal breaker for me and
Panetta would be an unacceptable choice to direct the CIA. Torture,
whether conducted in our name in some rat filled basement in Cairo or
some nice clean cell in Guantanamo is morally reprehensible and
illegal. And those who engage in rendition or torture are unfit to
occupy public office. (Link)
Since then, I've read more on the use of rendition by the U.S. and how it has evolved during the last twenty years. And I mistakenly assumed the "extraordinary" rendition was the norm. It's not.
Richard Clarke, counterterrorism advisor to Presidents Clinton and Bush wrote an op-ed the Boston Globe outlining the differences between rendition and "extraordinary" renditions. After detailing the renditions, convictions and incarcerations of Muhammad Salameh, Ramzi Yousef, and Mohammed Sadeek Odeh, Mr. Clarke continued:
...the return to the United States of Yousef and Odeh were "renditions" as defined by a directive from the first President Bush. Although all renditions have become controversial, these examples did not involve dragging criminals to a third country for torture or interrogation, nor did they violate US law or human rights. In these cases, the country in which the criminals were arrested waived their own extradition process and handed them over to US officials on the guarantee that they would be brought to the United States and afforded the same rights of the accused in the US justice system. The Supreme Court has even ruled that renditions occurring without the cooperation of the nation of arrest are legal if the accused is expeditiously brought into the US justice system.
I'll wait to see how Mr. Panetta answers questions about the use of rendition and acceptable practices.
The thing is, they're ALL corrupt! Politics and money are bedfellows. I think each and every one of our politicians (except maybe the newbies who don't yet know the ropes) is getting something for nothing.
We plebians, of course, get nothing for something.
My 2ยข.
Posted by: bee | February 05, 2009 at 01:15 PM
I resist believing that.
Posted by: Jay McDonough | February 08, 2009 at 10:01 PM