WP: Gonzales Defends Transfer of Detainees

[kskiska]

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday defended the practice of "extraordinary rendition," the process under which the United States sometimes transfers detainees in the war on terrorism to other nations where they may undergo harsh interrogation, trial or imprisonment.

(snip)

U.S. officials have privately described the threat of rendition as a powerful tool in prying loose information from suspects who fear torture by foreign countries. But Gonzales, speaking to reporters at the Justice Department yesterday, said that U.S. policy is not to send detainees "to countries where we believe or we know that they're going to be tortured."

That represents a slight modification of his congressional testimony in January that renditions would not be made to countries where it is "more likely than not" they will be tortured. Gonzales added yesterday that if a country has a history of torture, Washington seeks additional assurances that it will not be used against the transferred detainee.

At the same time, he said, the administration "can't fully control" what other nations do, according to accounts of his remarks by wire services. He added that he does not know whether countries have always complied with their promises.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15130-2005Mar7.html

[sasquatch]

1. I hate these people

That's all I need to say.

[beam me up scottie]

2. Yes of course we'll just have to

"trust" the governments that torture to not torture our prisoners. Makes perfect sense. Like letting coal-burning plants voluntarily decide to reduce their emissions. And trusting the corporations to set energy policy that will be beneficial to people as well as the environment. And trusting the churches to use the federal funds they get for secular purposes only. I could go on but, like I said, it makes perfect sense.

Aside from my sarcasm, I think I heard on CSpan this morning that sending these prisoners to other countries saves us money???
I don't have the transcript; was listening at work.

[2Design]

3. usa has sold its soul to the devil and it is called rw.....n/t

[ninkasi]

4. Who is this USA you speak of?

It's name sounds very much like the name of the county I was born in almost 62 years ago, but the actions are completely different. My country was proud of being the good guy...it would have been unheard of to send people to other countries to be tortured.

My country would never have attacked, without provocation, another country, destroyed the infrastructure, and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who had never done us any harm. My country would never have elected an unintelligent,arrogant, spoiled rich kid who thought the world owed him a crown because his name was Bush. Or, failing to be elected, my country would never have permitted a court stacked with men and women who followed his viewpoints to be installed illegally.

If anybody hears about my country, the one I was born in, and loved, will they please tell me how to get back there, to where I belong?

[beam me up scottie]

6. I've heard of this mythical land

but I thought it was like Atlantis.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. So when do we transfer Gonzales?

The Palace of Peace
The Hague
Home of the International Criminal Court

[IndianaGreen]

7. And who voted to confirm this piece of shit?

I just want to reaffirm that those that cast their votes for people like Gonzales and Condi Rice are the lowest form of scum on Earth.

[yo-yo-ma]

8. speaking out of both sides of his mouth

or speaking through his forked tongue

no change from his baseline

just leaving morality aside for a moment -- there is no evidence that torture or the threat of torture improves the collection of intelligence.

all it serves is a righteousness as old and stale as the old testament, as shallow as what's left of euphrates basin.

[Blue to the bone]

9. Sure, torture them elsewhere....no need for us to clean up the blood...

...and besides, who'll notice?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Clinton Did It Too

OK, take my license away. I was clearing out papers for the recycling today when I found this.

Google for "clinton rendition washingtonpost.com"

Clinton's War on Terror: The Covert Hunt for bin Laden

The complete text of that article seems not to be online anymore at the WaPo site. It can be found here:

Broad Effort Launched After '98 Attacks

>>
By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 19, 2001; Page A01
....

'He's Going to Beat Us Again'
....

Beginning in 1996, the Clinton team made increasing use of what Berger described as "a new art form" in the international commerce in terror suspects. Scores of times in the next five years, they persuaded allies to arrest members of al Qaeda and ship them somewhere else. Frequently, somewhere else was not the United States.

Such a transfer without legal process was called "rendition." Most took place in secret and have yet to be disclosed. A State Department accounting of extraditions and renditions in the 1990s, published in April, named only 13. At least 40 more, according to sources, were removed forcibly from one foreign country to another on behalf of the United States.

Most remain unknown. One episode took place in Albania the week after the embassy bombings. After foiling a truck bomb plot against the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, American intelligence officers guided Albanian authorities to five arrests of Egyptian Islamic Jihad members. The Americans flew the five men to Egypt, where they were executed after a military trial.
<<

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. And how is what Clinton did or did not do relevant to this discussion?

[Seabiscuit]

16. Because, according to Monica, he's got a crooked woodie.

:evilgrin:

[daleo]

11. By "harsh punishment" they mean torture.

Washington "can't fully control" what other (torture) nations do.

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean?

[Ms. Clio]

12. Once again, Gonzales demonstrates why he is the perfect little legal hack

for the PNAC psychopaths.

If they only need the "threat" of rendition to make those suspects start babbling, then why actually fly them to those torture-using countries?

[xxqqqzme]

13. why the need 2 send detainees

anywhere?

[Seabiscuit]

15. Gonzales deserves to be strung up like Mussolini