The practice of extraordinary rendition didn't end under the Obama administration, though the controversial tactic that began in the George W. Bush era has been largely overshadowed by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Extraordinary rendition -- in which the U.S. seizes suspected militants and transfers them to allied countries for interrogation; critics call it "the outsourcing of torture" -- is still going on. President Obama chose to close secret overseas prisons, but decided to keep the practice of extraordinary rendition, pledging better monitoring to prevent torture. Human rights leaders were quoted as saying there would be little more than "diplomatic assurances" to prevent abuse in countries known to torture prisoners.
The current administration is still dealing with fallout from the Bush administration's excesses in the so-called War on Terror. On Wednesday, an Italian court convicted 23 American CIA agents, including the former Milan station chief, in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect in Italy. The prisoner was then transferred to Egypt, where he spent more than three years in solitary confinement with frequent abuse, according to human rights groups and interviews with the man's lawyer and family.
Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, was seized while walking to noon prayers at a mosque in Milan. Here's more from the AP's latest story about the case and the convictions (in absentia, which basically means none of the American agents can enter Europe while the verdict stands).
In May 2006, my news assistant Miret and I reported on Abu Omar's case, interviewing his attorney in Cairo and his relatives by phone from Alexandria. Here's our report on what happened to Abu Omar after he was snatched from an Italian street.
President Obama is betting that this won't happen again under stricter monitoring, but at least one case already casts doubt on notions of an improved renditions program. The Huffington Post published this account of a Lebanese construction manager with a third-grade education who reportedly was the first target of an Obama administration rendition. He's alleging torture, according to federal court papers filed in suburban Washington.
To: oscar.alarcon@coe.int
Subject: Urgent Stateless Travel Doc Request
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 00:33:10 -0700
I elevated specific US flights, operations, personnel, etc, from 2002 on.…
I wish very strongly to leave this country. And go back to the EU, where I might testify under international law and protection. And UN treaty. Please assist. The US will not grant citizenship documentation, so that I might leave this country. The UK will not grant citizenship documentation,- so that I might leave this country. So I -meet 2009 UN definition of "stateless." …
Please provide a confidential poc through which to pursue stateless travel certification, so that I might begin the process of leaving. It has been 8 years of almost daily violence, harm, abuse, privacy invasion, stalking, assault of children, threats to "hang" or harm children, horrible tapes, of children in duress, or very evil things, by Americans, since 2001….
To: otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int
I was one of the first in America, in 2002, to elevate the use of certain tactics, and certain flights, and specific UK and US personnel involved, in violation of Geneva, CAT, UN Universal. Not many females were privvy to this infomation; and my early executive-level communications may be substantiated. ..."
I submitted a tracing request, as a former US intelligence contributor and disappeared child's mother, in spring 2009. In accordance with the International Convention on Forced Disappearance. As an EU citizen. One of the two children was an EU citizen, whose repeated duress and torture I was forcibly exposed to. The other child, one of several assaulted in my presence to coerce or constrain my behavior, as a former intelligence contributor, is also most likely dead. "
****
Any assistance in elevating my child's plight outside of the US, would be very appreciated. Any assistance in leaving the US, same. With Eu citizenship I have the "right" to work without sponsorship in any EU territory or nation state. I do not out of honour wish to stay amoung these assailants and killers of my child.
Posted by: LCDesign | November 29, 2009 at 03:06 AM
Wow! I love this!*
Posted by: coach outlet | November 07, 2010 at 09:27 PM