Extraordinary rendition

Extraordinary rendition is the CIA activity of "transferring" or "flying captured terrorist suspects from one country to another for detention and interrogation" without the benefit of "formal legal proceedings." [1][2]

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"Extraordinary" or "Irregular" Renditions

"Persons suspected of terrorist activity may be transferred from one State (i.e., country) for arrest, detention, and/or interrogation. Commonly, this is done through extradition, by which one State surrenders a person within its jurisdiction to a requesting State via a formal legal process, typically established by treaty. Far less often, such transfers are effectuated through a process known as extraordinary rendition or irregular rendition. These terms have often been used to refer to the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one State to another." --Michael John Garcia, Legislative Attorney, American Law, Library of Congress September 22, 2005.

To date, the only public inquiry into extraordinary rendition has been conducted by the Arar Commission in Canada, into the abduction and torture of Syrian-Canadian citizen Maher Arar.

Bush administration statements on "rendition"

Condoleezza Rice

• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Upon Her Departure for Europe, Andrews Air Force Base, December 5, 2005: "Rice Says United States Does Not Torture Terrorists. Secretary says 'rendition' vital, legal tool to combat terrorism, save lives."

Alberto R. Gonzales

• R. Jeffrey Smith, "Gonzales Defends Transfer of Detainees," Washington Post, March 8, 2005.

Scott McClellan

• Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, James S. Brady Briefing Room, December 6, 2005. Click on "Rendition."

Documents & Reports

• "Patterns of Global Terrorism-2000," Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Department of State, April 2001: Appendix E: Extraditions and Renditions of Terrorists to the United States (1993-1999).
• "Patterns of Global Terrorism-2001," Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Department of State, May 21, 2002: Appendix D: Extraditions and Renditions of Terrorists to the United States (1993-2001).
• "The United States' Disappeared. The CIA’s Long-Term Ghost Detainees." A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, October 2004.
• "Cairo to Kabul to Guantanamo." A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, March 28, 2005.
• "Renditions: Constraints Imposed by Laws on Torture," CRS Report for Congress, September 22, 2005 (Update); prepared by Michael John Garcia, Legislative Attorney, American Law Division. Posted by Federation of American Scientists.
• Fact Sheet: "Extraordinary Rendition," American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), December 6, 2005.
• Two British Torture Memos (.pdf) regarding information obtained via torture in Uzbekistan being used by the US and UK released in the blogosphere December 29, 2005.
• Report: "Below the radar: Secret flights to torture and 'disappearance'," Amnesty International USA, April 5, 2006. Full report (45-page pdf).

Related SourceWatch Resources

• blowback
• cooked intelligence
• Dispatches: Kidnap and Torture American Style
• enemy combatant
• Enemy Prisoner of War Camps in Iraq
• global detention system
• Guantanamo Camp Xray
• Independent Panel to Review Department of Defense Detention Operations
• Legal Arguments for Avoiding the Jurisdiction of the Geneva Conventions
• Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base
• Post-war Iraq
• President's Military Order of November 13, 2001, Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism
• The CIA Secret Prisons Leak
• war on terrorism (many related SW links)

External Links

Definitions

• rendition in the Wikipedia.

2002

• Duncan Campbell, "US sends suspects to face torture," Guardian (UK), March 12, 2002.
• George B. Newhouse, Jr., "The Long Arm of the Law. The United States has statutory authority to pursue terrorists wherever they may be found throughout the world." "This article appears in the September 2002 edition of Los Angeles Lawyer (Vol. 25, No. 6) and is here reprinted with their permission, ©2002 by the Los Angeles County Bar Association, All Rights Reserved."

2003

• "Maher Arar: statement," CBC News Online, November 4, 2003: "The following statement was read by Maher Arar in Ottawa on November 4, 2003, less than one month after being released from prison in Syria." Maher Timeline, updated October 27, 2005. Also see Maher Arar in the Wikipedia.
• Morton Sklar, "The Blood Doesn't Wash Off. Any U.S. or Canadian official who sends a person to another country to be tortured is guilty of a major criminal offense and liable for damages," Globe & Mail (Canada) (Common Dreams), November 10, 2003.
• Robyn E. Blumner, "Delivering people into the hands of torturers," St. Petersburg Times, November 16, 2003.

2004

• Christopher H. Pyle, "Torture by proxy. How immigration threw a traveler to the wolves," San Francisco Chronicle, January 4, 2004.
• Tom Engelhardt, "'Extraordinary rendition' and other terms of our times," Tom Dispatch, January 6, 2004.
• Matthew Clark, "Preventing 'rendition'. The US and Canada take steps to ensure 'torture-by-proxy' doesn't happen again," Christian Science Monitor, January 13, 2004.
• Kareem Fahim, "The Invisible Men. Canadian inquiry may reveal CIA secrets on outsourcing torture," Village Voice, March 30, 2004.
• Jessica E. Vascallero, "Markey aims to block transfers of suspects," Boston Globe, March 24, 2004.
• Reed Brody, "Prisoners Who Disappear. Ghost Detainees of the United States," International Herald Tribune, October 12, 2004. Special to Human Rights Watch.
• Deborah Pearlstein, "Rewarding Bad Behavior. Months after Abu Ghraib, senior officers implicated are in line for promotions, and the House is pushing to legitimize torture," The American Prospect, October 19, 2004.
• Katherine Hawkins, "Torturous Passage. The House decided not to condone torture -- but that hasn’t stopped it in the past," The American Prospect, October 20, 2004.

2005

• Jane Mayer, "Outsourcing Torture. The secret history of America's 'extraordinary rendition' program," The New Yorker, February 7, 2005 (posted); February 14, 2005.
• "More on outsourcing torture," No Right Turn, February 10, 2005.
• Georg Mascolo and Holger Stark, "The US Stands Accused of Kidnapping," Der Spiegel (about.com), February 14, 2005.
• Andrew Cohen, "Extraordinary Rendition," CBS News, February 18, 2005.
• "U.S.-Held Prisoners Transferred Abroad Subjected to Torture." Michael Ratner interviewed by Scott Harris, ZMag, February 22, 2005.
• Ari Berman, "Shipped in Secret," The Nation, February 23, 2005.
• Charles Colson, "Outsourcing Evil. Torture and the Two Cities," Prison Fellowship Ministries, February 24, 2005.
• Jim Lobe, "Student in 'Rendition' Case Returns to US for Trial," AntiWar.com, February 25, 2005.
• Michael Hirsh, Mark Hosenball and John Barry, "Aboard Air CIA," Newsweek, February 28, 2005.
• Bob Herbert, "It's Called Torture," New York Times (Common Dreams), February 28, 2005.
• Douglas Jehl and David Johnston, "Rule Change Lets C.I.A. Freely Send Suspects Abroad to Jails," New York Times, March 6, 2005; also posted by TruthOut.
• Scott Pelley, "CIA Flying Suspects To Torture?" CBS News, March 6, 2005.
• Doug Ireland, "N.Y. Times Has Really Bad Day On Torture, The Constitution, & Pentagon Mendacity," Common Dreams, March 6, 2005.
• "Bush backs policy on terror suspects," Reuters (Boston Globe), March 7, 2005.
• Ari Berman, "National Sec-recy," The Nation, March 8, 2005.
• Elaine Cassel, "Rendition & Tortured Confessions. The Appalling Case of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali," Counter Punch, March 8, 2005.
• Editorial: "Torture by Proxy," New York Times, March 8, 2005.
• Shaun Waterman, "Analysis: Rendition A Routine Practice" and "Ex-Cia Lawyer Calls For Law On Rendition," UPI (spacewar.com), March 9, 2005.
• Michael Scheuer, "A Fine Rendition," New York Times, March 11, 2005.
• "Rendition Comes Out of the Closet," Talk Left, March 11, 2005.
• "Rendering Al Qaeda. So how is the CIA supposed to squeeze terrorists?" Opinion Journal, March 11, 2005.
• William Fisher, "Rendition, or Outsourcing Torture?" AntiWar.com, March 12, 2005.
• Jim Lobe, "Rendition, or Outsourcing Torture?" AntiWar.com, March 12, 2005.
• Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin, "Extraordinarily Irresponsible," Progress Report, March 15, 2005.
• Dana Priest, "CIA's Assurances On Transferred Suspects Doubted. Prisoners Say Countries Break No-Torture Pledges," Washington Post, March 17, 2005.
• Kevin Zeese, "The Outsourcing of Torture," Democracy Rising, March 24, 2005.
• Megan K. Stack, "Case Allegedly Shows US Practice of Secret Arrests," Los Angeles Times (TruthOut), March 30, 2005.
• Stephen Grey, "United States: trade in torture," Le Monde diplomatique, April 2005.
• James Mawson, "Expendable or Vital in the 'War on Terror'?" Muslim Uzbekistan.com, April 4, 2005.
• Jeffrey St. Clair, "The Road to Rendition. Torture Air, Incorporated," Counter Punch, April 9/10, 2005.
• Daniel Byman, "Reject the Abuses, Retain the Tactic," Washington Post, April 17, 2005; also posted by Brookings Institution.
• Lisa Myers, Aram Roston and NBC Investigative Unit, "CIA accused of detaining innocent man. If the agency knew he was the wrong man, why was he held?" NBC News, April 21, 2005.
• Susan B. Glasser, "U.S. Figures Show Sharp Global Rise In Terrorism. State Dept. Will Not Put Data in Report," Washington Post, April 27, 2005.
• Don Van Atta, Jr., "Growing evidence U.S. sending prisoners to torture capital. Despite bad record on human rights, Uzbekistan is ally," New York Times (San Francisco Chronicle), May 1, 2005.
• Helen Thomas, "'Ghost detainees' should haunt CIA," Hearst Newspapers (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), May 5, 2005.
• Reuel Marc Gerecht, "Against Rendition. Why the CIA shouldn't outsource interrogations to countries that torture," The Weekly Standard, May 16, 2005; also posted May 9, 2005, by American Enterprise Institute.
• Danielle Knight, "Outsourcing a real nasty job. Shipping terrorism suspects overseas for some tough questioning may make sense. But is it legal?" US News & World Report, May 23, 2005.
• Alan Cowell, "Amnesty accuses U.S. of 'atrocious' violations," New York Times (International Herald Tribune), May 27, 2005.
• "Pre 9/11 Renditions," Human Rights Watch, June 2005.
• Dr. Liaquat Ali Khan, "Friendly Renditions to Muslim Torture Chambers," Baltimore Chronicle, June 7, 2005.
• Reuel Marc Gerecht, "What's the Matter with Gitmo?" American Enterprise Institute, May 27, 2005; posted in The Weekly Standard, July 4/11, 2005 (issue).
• Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, "More Questions on Missing Imam. If the CIA did abduct Abu Omar in Italy, the timing suggests his rendition was connected to the upcoming war in Iraq," Newsweek (MSNBC), June 29, 2005.
• Tim Naftali, "Milan Snatch. Extraordinary rendition comes back to bite the Bush administration," Slate, June 30, 2005.
• "Exclusive: Secret Memo—Send to Be Tortured," Newsweek (MSNBC), August 8, 2005.
• Laura Rozen, "Italy Revolts Against Rendition," The American Prospect (CBS News/Associated Press), August 9, 2005.
• Giles Tremlett, "Spanish police expose more CIA links to secret flights of detainees. 42 operatives traced going through Palma airport. Names unearthed match Italian and German inquiries," Guardian (UK), November 15, 2005.
• "All about the 22 CIA agents' involvement in Abu Umar's 'Rendition'," Al Jazeera, November 16, 2005.
• Dana Priest, "Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake. German Citizen Released After Months in 'Rendition'," Washington Post, December 4, 2005.
• Anne Gearman, "Rice to Address CIA Prison Issue in Europe," Associated Press, December 5, 2005.
• "CIA Used Irish Airport," Prensa Latina, December 5, 2005.
• "Extraordinary Rendition Scandal Reaches New Heights: Rice on the Offensive in Europe Over Bush Administration's Use of 'Torture Flights'," Democracy Now!, December 5, 2005.
• Andrew Tyrie, "British Tory MP Blasts Extraordinary Rendition, Says Britain Broke International Law and 'Complicit in Torture' if Flights Passed Through UK," Democracy Now!, December 5, 2005.
• "CIA Flights Made 50 Landings at Ireland's Shannon, Amnesty Says," Bloomberg News, December 5, 2005.
• "Canada will investigate allegations of secret CIA flights," CBC News (Canada), December 5, 2005.
• "Debating Rendition Tactics," PBS Online NewsHour, December 5, 2005: "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday defended the CIA practice of snatching and transferring terror suspects overseas for questioning, a tactic also known as rendition."
• David Charter, "An innocent man's five months in CIA 'salt pit'," Times Online (UK), December 6, 2005.
• David Corn, "More on Rice and Torture/Waxman on Oversight (or the Lack Thereof)," DavidCorn.com, December 6, 2005.
• Suzanne Goldenberg and Luke Harding, "Detainee flights have saved European lives, says Rice," Guardian (UK), December 6, 2005.
• Chris Marsden, "Rice defends illegal 'renditions,' threatens to reveal European complicity," WSWS, December 6, 2005.
• Tom Regan, "Rendition not foolproof. Rice defends practice but records show serious mistakes have been made," Christian Science Monitor, December 6, 2005.
• Anne Penketh, "The questions Condoleezza must answer. You say the US does not permit torture under any circumstances. So why are you bending the torture rules?" Independent (UK), December 6, 2005.
• "Extraordinary and Unacceptable," Guardian (UK), December 6, 2005.
• Colin Brown, "MPs dismiss US denials as 'disingenuous' and 'beyond belief'," Independent (UK), December 6, 2005.
• Will Lester, "AP Poll: Most Say Torture OK in Rare Cases," Associated Press (Washington Post), December 6, 2005.
• Paul Tait, "America 'abusing' mandate in Iraq," Reuters (The Age (Australia)), December 6, 2005.
• Suzanne Goldenberg, "US defence of tactic makes no sense says legal expert," Guardian (UK), December 6, 2005.
• "Human rights group to sue CIA," Guardian (UK), December 6, 2005.
• Craig Whitlock, "CIA Ruse Is Said to Have Damaged Probe in Milan. Italy Allegedly Misled on Cleric's Abduction," Washington Post, December 6, 2005.
• Greg Sampson, "Bush denies US rendition for torture but Rice acknowledges 'mistakes'," Jurist, December 6, 2005.
• "Extraordinary Rendition Under Fire: Lawsuit Charges CIA with Kidnapping and Torture of German Citizen," Democracy Now!, December 7, 2005.
• Patrick Martin, "Bush, Rice defend US abductions, torture, secret prisons," WSWS, December 7, 2005.
• Lila Rajiva, "Flying the Friendly Skies. What Did European Agencies Know About the Torture Flights?" Dissident Voice, December 7, 2005.
• "Handling Terror Suspects," PBS Online NewsHour, December 7, 2005.
• Michael Jansen, Opinion: "Rendition and torture are no solution," Jordan Times, December 8, 2005.
• Editorial: "Conspiracy to Torture," The Nation, December 8, 2005 (posted); December 26, 2005 (issue).
• Anthony Lewis, "The Torture Administration," The Nation, December 8, 2005 (posted); December 26, 2005 (issue).
• Haroon Sidiqui, "Rice's tortured logic on torture," Toronto Star (Canada), December 8, 2005.
• Douglas Jehl, "Qaeda-Iraq Link U.S. Cited Is Tied to Coercion Claim," New York Times, December 9, 2005.
• "Disgusted," Fire Dog Lake, December 9, 2005.
• "Poland was main CIA European detention base: report," Reuters, December 9, 2005.
• "US defends prisoners' transfers," BBC, December 10, 2005: John Bellinger, "State department senior legal advisor ... has defended the country's treatment of terror suspects and the transfer of prisoners to third countries for interrogation ... told the BBC Washington sought reassurance in those countries that prisoners would not be tortured."
• "Poles to probe CIA prisons claim," BBC, December 10, 2005.
• Farah Stockman, "Firms get scrutiny over CIA captures. Companies' roles in flights questioned," Boston Globe, December 11, 2005.
• "European Parliament to Launch CIA Prisons Investigation," Deutsche Welle, December 15, 2005.
• "'Rendition' Not New to Europe, Powell Asserts," Washington Post, December 18, 2005.
• "Powell raps Europe on CIA flights," BBC, December 17, 2005: "Ex-US Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that Europeans are being disingenuous when they deny knowledge of the rendition of terror suspects."
• Dipesh Gadher, "MI5 'colluded with CIA' over suspect sent to torture jails," Times Online, December 18, 2005.
• "Powell: Europe chiefs feign shock," CNN Europe, December 19, 2005.

2006

• "UK memo fuels CIA flights row," CNN Europe, January 19, 2006.
• Daniel Dombey, "European Report Raps US over Rendition Flights," Financial Times (UK) (truthout), January 24, 2006.
• Paul Reynolds, "Rendition report adds to terror debate," BBC, January 24, 2006: "The interim report by the Council of Europe on the issue of 'extraordinary renditions' is another sign of the suspicion with which sections of popular opinion in Europe hold the United States."
• "Europe 'knew about' CIA flights," BBC, January 24, 2006.
• Nicci Smith, "Europe in the dock over the 'outsourcing' of torture by US," The Scotsman, January 25, 2006.
• "Amnesty calls for 'torture flights' probe," The Scotsman, January 31, 2006.
• Nile Gardiner and James Jay Carafano, "The Great EU Inquisition: Europe's Response to the U.S. Rendition Policy" (WebMemo #988), Heritage Foundation, February 6, 2006.
• Gerri Peev, "MPs to quiz officials over 'torture flights'," The Scotsman, February 23, 2006.
• Harvey Thompson and Julie Hyland, "Britain: Government minister admits US 'rendition' planes landed in UK," WSWS, March 8, 2006.
• Hannah K. Strange, "U.S.: EU governments 'allowed renditions'," UPI (Monsters and Critics (UK)), March 10, 2006.
• Andrew Woodcock, "73 stops in UK by planes linked to rendition flights," The Scotsman, March 18, 2006.
• "CIA flights in city fuel stop," The Scotsman, March 24, 2006.
• "Amnesty accuses US on rendition," BBC, April 5, 2006.
• Gethin Chamberlain, "Human rights group details new claims on CIA 'torture flights'," The Scotsman, April 5, 2006.
• James Kirkup, "100 landings on Scots soil by US jets with torture links," The Scotsman, April 8, 2006.
• "'No proof' of US terror flights," The Scotsman, April 21, 2006.
• "CIA 'kidnapped terror suspects on EU territory'," The Scotsman, April 26, 2006.
• "European MPs confirm more than 1,000 CIA flights in Europe," CBC News (Canada), April 26, 2006.
• "CIA's 1,000 undeclared flights violates treaty," The Scotsman, April 27, 2006.
• "Macedonia denies 'CIA abduction'," BBC, April 28, 2006.
• Martin Kreickenbaum, "Amnesty International report exposes European complicity in secret US rendition programme. Part 1: The fate of three Yemenis," WSWS, April 28, 2006.
• Martin Kreickenbaum, "Amnesty International documents European complicity in secret US rendition programme. Part 2: Collaborating with CIA kidnappers," WSWS, April 29, 2006.
• "ACLU Applauds Europeans for Investigating Rendition and Torture Claims, Effort Called a Model for U.S." and "Extraordinary Rendition - In Depth," American Civil Liberties Union, May 11, 2006.
• "US lambasted on secret detainees," BBC, May 12, 2006.
• "Kirk call to end 'torture flights'," The Scotsman, May 15, 2006.
• Simon Freeman, "UN panel tells America to end torture and close Guantanamo" and "UN torture panel has long list of 'concerns' about US," Times Online (UK), May 19, 2006.
• Souad Mekhennet and Craig S. Smith, "German spy agency admits it knew of 'rendition' by U.S.," New York Times (International Herald Tribune), June 2, 2006.
• Daniel Dombey, "Europeans 'colluded' on rendition flights," Financial Times (UK), June 7, 2006.
• "European states colluded with secret CIA flights: report," CBC News (Canada), June 7, 2006.
• Geoff Meade, "Britain named for colluding in US rendition flights," Independent (UK), June 7, 2006.
• "'Terror flight' inquiry uncovers collusion," Times Online (UK), June 7, 2006.
• Philippe Naughton, "Europe 'colluded with web of CIA rendition flights'," Times Online (UK), June 7, 2006.
• "UK is blamed in rendition flight report," The Scotsman, June 7, 2006.
• "Europe 'aided US in CIA flights'" and "UK 'colluded in terror flights'," BBC, June 7, 2006.
• Jan Silva, "Secret CIA Flights Stopped in 2 Countries" (Romania and Poland), Associated Press (Forbes), June 7, 2006.
• Stephen Grey and Ian Cobain, "From logistics to turning a blind eye: Europe's role in terror abductions," Guardian Unlimited (UK), June 7, 2006.
• "Report: CIA flights 'spider's web'," CNN Europe, June 7, 2006.
• "Watchdog hears CIA flights report," BBC, June 27, 2006: "Europe's human rights body is debating a report accusing 14 European states of colluding with the CIA on secret flights transferring terror suspects."
• Peter Baker and Michael Abramowitz, "A Governing Philosophy Rebuffed. Ruling Emphasizes Constitutional Boundaries," Washington Post, June 30, 2006.