The Republican leadership of Congress is attempting to legalize extraordinary rendition. "Extraordinary rendition" is the euphemism we use for sending terrorism suspects to countries that practice torture for interrogation. As one intelligence official described it in the Washington Post, "We don't kick the sh*t out of them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the sh*t out of them.”
The best known example of this is the case of Maher Arar <http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/maher_arar/index.html>. Arar, a Canadian citizen, was deported to Syria from JFK airport. In Syria he was beaten with electrical cables for two weeks, and then imprisoned in an underground cell for the better part of a year. Arar is probably <http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2004/01/arar_8_guilt_an.html> innocent <http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2004/01/arar_9_guilt_an.html> of any connection to terrorism.
As it stands now, "extraordinary rendition" is a clear violation of international law--specifically, the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Degrading and Inhuman Treatment. U.S. law is less clear. We signed and ratified the Convention Against Torture, but we ratified it with some reservations. They might create a loophole that allows us to send a prisoner to Egypt or Syria or Jordan if we get "assurances" that they will not torture a prisoner--even if these assurances are false and we know they are false.
Last month Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Congressman, introduced a bill <http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2004_cr/rendition-bill.pdf> that would clearly outlaw extraordinary rendition. But Markey only has 22 cosponsors, and now the House leadership is trying to legalize torture outsourcing--and hide it in the bill implementing the 9/11 Commission Report.
These are excerpts from a press release one of Markey's staffers just emailed me:
The provision Rep. Markey referred to is contained in Section 3032
and 3033 of H.R. 10, the "9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act of
2004," introduced by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL). The
provision would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue
new regulations to exclude from the protection of the U.N.
Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman, or
Degrading* *Treatment or Punishment, any suspected terrorist -
thereby allowing them to be deported or transferred to a country
that may engage in torture. The provision would put the burden of
proof on the person* *being deported or rendered to establish "by
clear and convincing evidence that he or she would be tortured,"
would bar the courts from having jurisdiction to review the
Secretary's regulations, and would free the Secretary to deport or
remove terrorist suspects to any country in the world at will - even
countries other than the person's home country or the country in
which they were born. The provision would also apply retroactively.
This provision was not part of the 9/11 Commission's
recommendations, and the Commission actually called upon the U.S. to
"offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to
treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law, and be generous and
caring to our neighbors." The Commission noted that "The United
States should engage its friends to develop a common coalition
approach to the detention and humane treatment of captured
terrorists. New principles might draw upon Article 3 of the Geneva
Conventions on the law of armed conflict. That article was
specifically designed for those cases in which the usual laws of war
did not apply. Its minimum standards are generally accepted
throughout the world as customary international law." These
standards prohibit the use of torture or other cruel or degrading
treatment....
Rep. Markey said, "When the Republicans 9/11 bill is considered in
the House, I intend to offer an amendment to strike the torture
outsourcing provisions from the Republican bill and replace it with
restrictions restoring international law as provided in my bill. It
is absolutely disgraceful that the Republican Leadership has decided
to load up the 9/11 Commission bill with legislative provisions that
would legitimize torture, particularly when the Commission itself
called for the U.S to move in exactly the opposite direction."
There is no possible way for a suspect being detained in secret to prove by "clear and convincing evidence" that he will be tortured if he is deported--especially when he may be deported to a country where has never been, and when the officials who want to deport him serve as judge, jury and executioner, and when there is never any judicial review. This bill will make what happened to Maher Arar perfectly legal, and guarantee that it will happen again.
Markey's staffer wrote to me that "this bill could be on the House floor as early as next week."