RENDITION

A discussion of "rendition" and the torture issue.

Critics argued that Bush employed rendition to "outsource" torture or to secret terrorism suspects. They also asserted that diplomatic channels could not reliably protect transferees from torture because it occurs secretly. Finally, many activists argued that even without torture, rendition violated norms of procedural fairness because the rendered individuals do not have the ability to appear before a court to contest the transfer and because they do not have access to legal counsel.



After an L.A. Times article reported that Obama will continue the renditions policy, many liberals have come forward to defend the new boss. The typical liberal defense argues that rendition is not wrong in and of itself, but that removal of persons for the purpose of torturing or indefinitely detaining them violates human rights norms. Because Obama has banned the use of torture (which pre-existing statutes and treaties already prohibited) and ordered the CIA to close its longterm detention centers, many liberals dismiss the L.A. Times article as misleading.