Condoleezza Rice Defends Extraordinary Rendition

Following on from the previous post, Condoleezza Rice admitted yesterday that America does fly terror suspects abroad for interrogation. Al-Qaeda suspects are moved under a process known as 'rendition', which she claimed was 'a lawful weapon'. She said, 'Renditions take terrorists out of action, and save lives. Such renditions are permissible under international law.' She did add, '... That allies' intelligence agencies worked with America to extract information from detainees.

Some questions seem to be raised by this:

• These are suspects! Innocent people. People who have not been charged with anything. Why is America so keen to get these people out of US legal duristriction?
• If what America is doing is legal under international law, why can't they extract information in the US where it can all be overseen by a legally accountable committee?
• Rice claims that the US seeks assurances that transferred people will not be tortured. What value are assurances from countries such as Egypt, Syria and Libya?
• As I said in the last post, how does this make America different to the kidnapping, torture and execution of people by terrorist groups in Iraq, - I thought Bush and co were supposed to be setting an example.
• What happens to those people who turn out not to be terrorists?
• How credible is the information extracted from these people?

I know many people have said it before, but for me, this activity destroys any moral credibility the present US administration had left. In the 21st Century, this is not a civilised way to behave. It is now time that Europe pulled together on this issue and tell America that they have grossly overstepped the mark in civilised behaviour.