Obama and Panetta OK More Kidnappings

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Friday February 06, 2009 20:50 by C.D. Stelzer

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times reported that executive orders signed by Obama approve the continued use of "extraordinary renditions" as a tool in the so-called "war on terror."

At issue is the transfer by the United States of prisoners to other countries that are known to use torture in their interrogations. The word "rendition," in the way that the Obama administration is choosing to legally interpret it, excludes the act of abduction itself. Evidently, the acutal kidnappings of people in foreign countries is not in question. Renditions, as they are being defined, apply only to "surrendering" prisoners over to foreign governments.

Under the terms of the Obama executive orders, the CIA is free to abduct foreign nationals across the globe and hold them for short periods of time for interrogation.

Oddly enough, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch found the CIA kidnappings acceptable. "Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place" for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

An anonymous former CIA agent told the Times that "renditions" are the least favorable option. "If they are in U.S. hands, you have a lot of checks and balances, medics and lawyers. Once you turn them over to another service, you lose control."

So in a sense the human rights organisation favours the strategy as much or more than the CIA itself.

Several European Union nations, including Italy, Germany and Spain, have raised strenuous objections to the CIA kidnappings within their borders in recent years.