CONDOLEEZZA RICE: BETWEEN THE LINES

CONDOLEEZA RICE WAS VERY CLEAR on where the United States stands on torture, black site prisons, extraordinary rendition, and the sovereignty of European nations. The Europeans have anxiously awaited the announcement that they are still children of an Old World who do not understand the New World Law and Order

"We us not you, you weenies must bring people often mistaken for terrorists to our version of expedited justice however we want wherever possible," she said. "But there have been way too many cases where the local government cannot torture detain or prosecute a suspect the way we would, and traditional extradition is not a good option because respecting the law takes too long."
"In those cases," she added, "the local government can make the demanded sovereign choice to cooperate  or else in the transfer of a soon to be waterboarded suspect to a third country, which is known as a rendition.
"Sometimes, these efforts are misunderstood and if they are we just don't give a shit.  Fuck you, you bitches," she said.

WHICH PART IS MISUNDERSTOOD? International treaties?  And why aren't these suspects brought to the United States for the treatment they receive after "rendition?"  Because that treatment here in the United States is illegal.

MAKING THE MOVE Current and former CIA officers speaking to ABC News on the condition of confidentiality say the United States scrambled to get all the suspects off European soil before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived there today. The officers say 11 top al Qaeda suspects have now been moved to a new CIA facility in the North African desert.

SO NOW THE EUROPEANS HAVE less of a problem, the one the Moroccans just picked up.

ECHIDNE ON UNDERSTANDING: I want to hear a lot more about "the efforts being misunderstood", a lot more. Like in what way are we misunderstanding them, exactly? Is it that the European interrogation centers were just chosen because they had excellent food and beer?

CONDOLEEZZA RICE’S FULL STATEMENT can be found at Times Online UK.  And by the way, September Eleventh changed everything, including  respect for international law and the Geneva Conventions, which Rice again renders “quaint.”

The captured terrorists of the 21st century do not fit easily into traditional systems of criminal or military justice, which were designed for different needs. We have to adapt. Other governments are now also facing this challenge.

IF YOU READ Rice’s statement in full, you will find very civilly toned defenses of uncivil lawlessnes, defense of civilizations in couched, offensive terms.  You will also see lies.

The United States does not permit, tolerate, or condone torture under any circumstances. Moreover, in accordance with the policy of this administration:
- The United States has respected - and will continue to respect - the sovereignty of other countries.
- The United States does not transport, and has not transported, detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture.
- The United States does not use the airspace or the airports of any country for the purpose of transporting a detainee to a country where he or she will be tortured.
- The United States has not transported anyone, and will not transport anyone, to a country when we believe he will be tortured. Where appropriate, the United States seeks assurances that transferred persons will not be tortured.

MORE FROM TIMES ONLINE UK on rendition here.

GERMAN COMPLICITY Spiegel has a variety of stories about the German connection to extraordinary rendition and  black sites in Europe.  The Unites States Air Force base at Rammstein has been a hub for rendition flights and CIA agents for some time. The previously discussed  Masri case.  Khaled Masri's story is  a sore point for the Germans

The Masri case was immediately classified top secret. Schily and the whole government remain steadfastly silent on the kidnapping of a German citizen. Even when the man's attorney asked the government for help in investigating the case, the government didn't utter a word. When the case entered the judicial system, Schily and his colleagues remained silent. The German government, witness to the entire incident, pretended not to know anything. In a court of law, such behavior amounts to the suppression of evidence. It's only due to the obstinate research by the public prosecutor and several journalists that the case has been unravelled in detail and will be brought before a US court on Tuesday.
The German government was similarly discreet in the case of another of its citizens, the German-Syrian Mohammed Haydar Zammar. German authorities knew since Sept. 11, 2001 that Zammar was involved in recruiting the suicide pilots. But they couldn't prove anything. When he traveled to Morocco at the end of 2001 he disappeared under mysterious circumstances and was taken by the CIA to Syria where he was interrogated with the methods that are customary in that country.

METHODS THAT ARE CUSTOMARY is euphemism for torture.  Extraordinary rendition is really quite ordinary in its casual cruelty, its clear realities obscured by stormy words and clouded terms

Comments

[Mary]

There is rendition and then there is extraordinary rendition. The first is legal and used all the time, but the 2nd is just another term for torture by proxy. The term rendition does not fit in this instance as there is NO judicial act. Connie was just trying to downplay the whole ugly mess and hoping no one would notice she left out one big word - extarordinary. See
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendition

[The Heretik]

The rendition of this same old song and dance renders me near overblogged and waterlogged from the seas of deceit we find ourselves swimming in. Words have no meaning, laws mean nothing. Bush the stand up guy and his cohort stand language on its head. Then they spin it around. Oy,

[PoliShifter]

I am getting sick and tired of the Bush Administrations hypocrisy.

First Cheney says Bush will veto any anti-torture provision. Now Bush is trying to comprimise with McCain. Bush says we do not torture. Then we hear about black sites in eastern Europe. Just when it seems the Administration MIGHT be coming around they send out ol' Condi Rice to muddle the debate.

Last month all those wanting to bring troops home were traitors and cowards.

Bush says "stay the course" while Rumsfeld and Condi say we are going to bring some troops home next year.

Are they not then by Bush's logic traitors and cowards for saying they are going to bring some troops home?

Why all the contradictions and hypocrisy?

[media girl]

You sound like one of those accountability liberals. Why can't you be a patriot and hold the rest of the world in contempt like a good Bushie?

[Neil Shakespeare]

What a speech, huh? Had to post on these 'rehabilitation camps' myself.