Rendition violates US law

Via Obsidian Wings: Newsweek reports on a leaked secret memo from the FBI which argues strongly that the US policy of extraordinary rendition - sending terrorist suspects to allied despotisms to be tortured - constitutes a violation of the Federal anti-torture statute which exposes policymakers to charges of conspiracy to commit torture:

In a memo forwarded to a senior FBI lawyer on Nov. 27, 2002, a supervisory special agent from the bureau's behavioral analysis unit offered a legal analysis of interrogation techniques that had been approved by Pentagon officials for use against a high-value Qaeda detainee. After objecting to techniques such as exploiting "phobias" like "the fear of dogs" or dripping water "to induce the misperception of drowning," the agent discussed a plan to send the detainee to Jordan, Egypt or an unspecified third country for interrogation. "In as much as the intent of this category is to utilize, outside the U.S., interrogation techniques which would violate [U.S. law] if committed in the U.S., it is a per se violation of the U.S. Torture Statute," the agent wrote. "Discussing any plan which includes this category could be seen as a con-spiracy to violate [the Torture Statute]" and "would inculpate" everyone involved.

(Emphasis added)

Reportedly up to 100 terrorist suspects have been rendered to countries such as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, and Uzbekistan since 9/11. Some have been taken from the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan, some picked up in the US or in allied countries, and some simply kidnapped off the street. Every single one of these transfers is a crime under US law - and those who planned and executed them, and who established the policy and gave the orders, should be held responsible.