Page 3 of 3 Extraordinary rendition, extraordinary mistake
By Sangitha McKenzie Millar
undemocratic US partners in the Middle East. Circumventing legal channels
weakens international judicial and prosecutorial cooperation, which makes the
rule of law in countries such as Egypt and Syria even more vulnerable. For
example, since 1952 Egypt has suffered under total executive domination,
wherein dissension is subdued by extralegal methods and sometimes through
violent repression by security forces.
"Egyptian-American cooperation in extraordinary rendition strengthens the least
law-abiding elements of the Egyptian state, its internal security forces, and
thus corrodes the prospects for
full Egyptian democracy," writes Huq.
Additionally, the United States encourages human rights violators to continue
to torture though the extraordinary rendition program. This has proved true in
Sudan and Zimbabwe, which have justified "disappearances" of foes to the ruling
regimes on the grounds that the US also "disappears" people. Zimbabwe's
representative to the UN Human Rights Commission brushed off American criticism
of abuses by his government, saying, "Those who live in a glass house should
not throw stones ... [America has] a lot of dirt on its hands." Additionally,
in a meeting with representatives from Human Rights Watch, Egyptian Prime
Minister Ahmed Nazif responded to allegation of torture on the part of his
security forces by stating, "We’re just doing what the United States does."
Not only does extraordinary rendition empower local factions who are opposed to
the development of democracy, it is also a powerful recruiting tool for
al-Qaeda. In a hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
chairman Biden asserted, "In our long-term effort to stem the tide of
international terrorism, our commitments to the rule of law and to individual
rights and civil liberties are among our most formidable weapons ... the
controversial aspects of the United States government’s use of rendition have
been used by propagandists and recruiters to fuel and sustain international
terrorist organizations with a constant stream of new recruits."
Extraordinary rendition has also made cooperation between US and European
police and intelligence agencies more difficult. Faced with public pressure
over reports that European intelligence services were collaborating with US
agents in extraordinary renditions, European police and judiciaries have
limited the scope of counterterrorism cooperation. Extraordinary rendition also
undermines the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which emphasized the
need for the United States to "offer an example of moral leadership in the
world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law, and be
generous and caring to our neighbors".
Furthermore, experts have lamented that intelligence gathered as a result of
interrogations involving torture is not always accurate because it is obtained
under extreme duress. Scheuer says he has always distrusted intelligence
resulting from the practice because the admissions it produced were usually
"very tainted ... You could bet on the testimony given to you, it was altered
in a way that would serve the interests of the country that was giving it ...
it would be far from coupled with what was actually being said."
For example, a suspected al-Qaeda member named Ibn al Sheikh al Libi was
captured shortly after 9/11. The FBI, which uses traditional psychological
interrogation methods, initially questioned him. The Bush administration lost
patience with the FBI's methodology and turned him over to the CIA, which
eventually sent him to Egypt for interrogation. Reportedly, Al Libi's family
was threatened, he was waterboarded, and forced to remain standing overnight in
a cold cell while being repeatedly doused with cold water. Under these
conditions, Al Libi told his interrogators that Saddam Hussein was helping
al-Qaeda obtain chemical weapons. The Bush administration officials and others
used this false information repeatedly to justify the invasion of Iraq, and was
the closing argument in then-secretary of state Colin Powell's presentation to
the UN in 2003.
Beyond rendition
As details of the extraordinary rendition program have come to the fore,
academics, policy experts, and politicians have weighed in on the debate,
including both presidential candidates. Democratic presidential nominee Barack
Obama has said, "To build a better, freer world, we must first behave in ways
that reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people. This means
ending the practice of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be
tortured in far-off countries, of detaining thousands without charge or trial,
of maintaining a network of secret prisons to jail people beyond the reach of
law."
Republican presidential nominee John McCain has said that he wants to close
Guantanamo Bay but would not restrict CIA interrogation methods to those in the
US Army Field Manual. Although he supported the Military Commissions Act,
calling it a ban on torture, critics of the Act say that it allows a president
to secretly decide what kinds of treatment will be permitted at CIA prisons and
absolves American intelligence agents of any acts of torture or abuse they have
already committed. In fact, when the act passed in 2006, Bush announced that he
now had the power to keep secret CIA prisons open.
In October 2007, the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees held an
emotional joint hearing on the Maher Arar case. Arar attended via video
conference from Canada after the Bush administration denied the congressional
request to allow him into the country to attend the hearing. Republican and
Democratic members of a US congressional panel issued personal apologies to
Arar and denounced the Bush administration for refusing to admit its mistake in
sending him to Syria. Representative Delahunt said to Arar, "Let me personally
give you what our government has not - an apology" and Representative Dana
Rohrabacher said, "We should be ashamed."
Rohrabacher also denounced the Bush administration for denying Arar entry to
the United States, saying, "Not letting you come here adds insult to injury."
The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on extraordinary rendition’s
impact on transatlantic relations in April 2007. Delahunt, chairman of the
subcommittee on international organizations, human rights, and oversight and an
outspoken critic of extraordinary rendition, stated, "Congress has a role here
in ensuring that our laws - our values - are respected by any administration.
This Congress unfortunately has abdicated its oversight responsibility - a
failure which these hearings will begin to correct. But while Congress took no
action, others stepped up to the plate. Much of what we know about the
renditions program is known because of the important work of news agencies and
nongovernmental organizations. In January, the European Parliament made an
important contribution to the debate by issuing a report on what the CIA was
doing in Europe, and on their own governments' apparent complicity in its
operations."
The extraordinary rendition program has garnered negative attention from all
types of media, and even historically conservative publications such as The
Washington Times have run opinion editorials critical of the policy. Weekly
columnist Nat Hentoff detailed the rendition of German citizen Khaled el Masri,
arguing, "These kidnappings and subsequent tortures have done much to discredit
the United States in countries from which the suspects were taken - and they
have interfered with our intelligence gathering from officials there who are
now accused of complicity with American disregard of the laws of those
sovereign nations."
One result of the current firestorm of criticism of the program is the National
Security with Justice Act of 2007, introduced by Biden and cosponsored by
senators Thomas Carper and Robert Menendez. The bill would protect legitimate
intelligence activities while limiting rendition to cases where prisoners are
sent to face justice with due process, and requires an independent court review
of transfers to ensure that no one is sent to face torture or detention without
charge.
When introducing the bill, Biden acknowledged the effect the program has had on
US allies. A related bill, the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act, was
introduced by Representative Edward Markey in March 2007 and would require the
State Department to provide annual reports to appropriate congressional
committees regarding countries where there are substantial grounds for
believing that torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment is commonly
used in the detention or interrogation of individuals and would prohibit
rendition to such countries. The bill enjoys the support of 60 co-sponsors and
is pending before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Ultimately, the US policy of extraordinary rendition relies on disingenuous
diplomatic assurances and can result in the torture and prolonged detention of
innocent individuals. It also tarnishes the reputation of the US in the
international community and undermines American national interests by
alienating its allies and weakening counterterrorism efforts.
Accordingly, the next administration needs definitively and publicly to end the
extraordinary rendition program. In addition, there needs to be some level of
accountability in terms of recognizing how and where erroneous renditions have
occurred and providing appropriate compensation. One place to start would be
with Maher Arar, who should immediately be removed from the US terrorist
watch-lists and appropriately compensated for his suffering.
Furthermore, the new administration and congress should support the National
Security with Justice Act, currently pending before the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary, as well as the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act, pending before
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The prospect of a new administration
presents a unique opportunity to repair the US reputation in the international
community. However, the US will never regain its moral authority until it can
speak with absolute moral clarity on the issue of torture.
American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond, by Michael
Otterman. Publisher Pluto Press, ISBN 0745326706206 (978-0745326702) 296 pages.
Sangitha McKenzie Millar, a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus, is a
research associate at Citizens for Global Solutions.
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