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Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 04:31:42 PM EST
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Great reads: Jane Mayer in the New Yorker on Outsourcing Torture, a history of the U.S. "extraordinary rendition" program and Billmon's collection of quotes on torture.

[hat tip to Mark at Norwegianity, who made an extensive list of great reads today while home recovering from the flu]

Update: The New York Times has a lengthy article Sunday about Mamdouh Habib, a detainee who sued to stop the U.S. from sending him back to Egypt:

Mamdouh Habib still has a bruise on his lower back. He says it is a sign of the beatings he endured in a prison in Egypt. Interrogators there put out cigarettes on his chest, he says, and he lifts his shirt to show the marks. He says he got the dark spot on his forehead when Americans hit his head against the floor at the prison at Guant�namo Bay, Cuba.

We wrote a long piece on Mr. Habib last month when he sued to stop the U.S. from sending him from Guantanamo back to Egypt. Mr. Habib is now back home in Australia where his lawyer is preparing a lawsuit against the U.S. and also alleges that the Australian Government knew Habib was being tortured.

Update: Jeanne at Body and Soul has lot's more.

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    Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 04:50:29 PM EST
    Hmmm, feeling lazy - when did this rendition thing start? -C

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 04:54:15 PM EST
    9/12 ;-)

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 05:23:03 PM EST
    j - Actually, I was being sarcastic. Look it up. -C

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Feb 12, 2005 at 11:47:31 PM EST
    In 96, we had an Iraqi who wasn't to pleaseed to end up under our watch- we held him in Jordan. The treatment he recieved from them was none to pleasant. I had the grave misfortune of sitting in on a debrief with this poor fellow after he had been in their control for nearly a month. We got some decent intel from him, He was happy we weren't zapping him with juice or hitting him with blackjacks. My understanding is the poor guy had an accidental heart attack by taser a month after I met him. My personal take is the guy really didn't have that much more to give us. This sort of thing has been going on for years. We use the threat of turning them over to other less humane nations all the time,, and if that doesn't work we follow through, and hope the acquiring power can get the intel we were hoping for. The prisoner gets the option on whose custody and interrogation techniques he would prefer usually, however my poor acquintance in Jordan never got that opportunity. All I know is executive fiat tossed him into Jordanian control. That would mean someone cabinet level in the Clinton Administration. That is the way of the world, and knowing what I know of our capacity and situation in the region at the time, I understand the decision, although I wish it were not so. There all many thing that happen, decisions that make one cringe taken in every administration all for the greater good of the country- and if you believe in the goodness of America, the world. If you have reports of Gitmo goombas having to go through this, realize they chose it, and pray they talk early and often- the Egyptians have no moral sense of humanity with their political interrogees.

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#5)
    by soccerdad on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 05:38:36 AM EST
    Its my opinion that the Bush admin doesn't care if it works. Its being done as means of intimidation. If innocents are tortured then released and go home and spread the word of their treatment so much the better. That means the word is getting out that the US will do anything, no matter how depraved, no matter how illegal, no matter how inhumane to fight "terror". This assertion is backed up in principle by the military's actions in Iraq. Look at the 2nd attack on Fallujah. Plenty of notice was given allowing most insurgents to move on to places like Mosul. Then they flatten the place, take over a hospital, bomb another, kill civilians, block relief from getting in etc. Pure intimidation, "shock and awe". So the admin doesn't care about its effectiveness, its legality or morality, because it is the war against terror don't ya know.

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 06:07:38 AM EST
    Yeah, Soccer, your penetrating analysis of the situation is compelling. Bush (via Rove's mind control) and his generals sacrificed 50 of our soldiers on a PR campaign. Have to run, buying some waterfront land down in FL. Maybe a bridge later. -C

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 10:54:51 AM EST
    ooops...to continue... You see, none of this makes sense. We have a Canadian citizen being pervented from re-entering Canada after the Americans have basically said, here we don't want him, and if you don't take him, we'll have to send back to Syria, because he has dual citizenship. Will the real problem maker stand up? And is that a maple leaf on his collar?

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#9)
    by soccerdad on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 11:58:46 AM EST
    Cliff you are a moron as usual, if i'm so wrong why don't you give us another interpretation it should be easy. I don't see you putting facts out - oh i forgot you just critisize.

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#10)
    by jondee on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 12:26:17 PM EST
    Hey give the guy a break - its Sunday,and after a couple of mint juleps he gets a little misty remembering the days of "Strange fruit hangin in the tree."

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 08:04:41 PM EST
    jondee - You'd never say that if you'd ever actually had a mint juliep. Like the pre-A/C days it is one of those things best contemplated at a distance. socccer, my point was that rendition was a clinton era policy, though you'll not usually see that noted in leftie blogs and the (reduntantly leftie) MSM. As usual I refrain from calling you a moron in order to refrain from insulting morons. I do remain, however, impressed at the typing skills of someone with such a demostratedly small cerebellum. -C

    Re: Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 11:16:39 PM EST
    et al - The article leaves out an interestingf fact. Canada was cooperating with the US in the Arar affair, and when the US tried to return him, they refused. Result: He got sent to Syria. I am ashamed to use this link, but it is useful, so there. ;-) This source is much more acceptable "July 6, 2004 A report released at the inquiry confirms the RCMP were in contact with U.S. authorities from Arar's arrest in New York to his deportation to Syria"

    Secret Rendition Plan: Outsourcing Torture | 11 comments (11 topical)