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March 09, 2005
Rendered by Mistake
Isn´t this great? Sending people off to be tortured is now reported as "one of the most important secret weapons in the war on terror." The only problem? A few people have been "rendered" by mistake. If only we could get that under control:
You may not have heard the term "rendition," at least not the way the Central Intelligence Agency uses it. But renditions have become one of the most important secret weapons in the war on terror.In recent years, well over 100 people have disappeared or been "rendered" all around the world. Witnesses tell the same story: masked men in an unmarked jet seize their target, cut off his clothes, put him in a blindfold and jumpsuit, tranquilize him and fly him away.
They're describing U.S. agents collaring terrorism suspects. Some notorious terrorists such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the mastermind of 9/11, were rendered this way.
But as Correspondent Scott Pelley reports, it's happening to many others. Some are taken to prisons infamous for torture. And a few may have been rendered by mistake.
Is anyone interested in actually asking why they hate us? That people whose family members and friends and neighbors have been tortured, bombed, killed "by mistake" may be a lot more likely to believe the only language the West speaks is the language of violence...
Posted by zeynep at March 9, 2005 03:51 PM
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Comments
David Ignatius has a piece in the Washington Post where he suggests that the reason that prisoners are rendered is that it is more effective. He then goes on to say that 'what's gained by transferring a prisoner to his home country for interrogation is emotional leverage, according to Arab and American intelligence chiefs. A hardened al Qaeda member often can't be physically coerced into giving up information, no matter how nasty the interrogator. But he may do so if confronted by, say, his mother, father, brother or sister. That family contact is possible if he's near home; it's impossible if he's in an orange jump suit and warehoused at Guantanamo Bay.'
What he fails to make clear is that the mother, father, brother or sister is probably being tortured in front of the prisoner.
This maybe the true reality of rendition.
Posted by: blowback at March 9, 2005 10:20 PM
I render myself several times a day when I'm single, less so if in a relationship.
Honestly, could they BE any more obtuse with language? This administration is a disgrace. Bush likes to come off as all folksy/aw-shucksy and plain-spoken (and, well, he is plain-spoken) but this administration parses language to such dreadful ends. What a disgrace. So "rendering" now means kidnapping, transporting, torturing? Wow, what a flexible word. And Clinton was impeached for a blowjob.....
Posted by: Assess_Evil at March 10, 2005 05:16 PM