Go Grab His Ass
A Los Angeles Times article this past Sunday called Obama preserves renditions as counter-terrorism tool begins
The CIA’s secret prisons are being shuttered. Harsh interrogation techniques are off-limits. And Guantanamo Bay will eventually go back to being a wind-swept naval base on the southeastern corner of Cuba.
But even while dismantling these programs, President Obama left intact an equally controversial counter-terrorism tool.
Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.
The left wing blogosphere is all abuzz with stories of how the LA Times was “punked” by Bush loyalists that have “burrowed” into the government during the transition period, waiting for the perfect time to commit “sabotage”. For example, see this article that explores the problem by using quotes from the left and looney Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC. Hmm. Methinks that left-wing paranoia has returned after two weeks.
The point made by liberals progressives is that renditions are okay. It’s that dastardly Bush’s extraordinary rendition program that stinks. The extraordinary rendition program connotes torture to many, even though many or most of the countries that receive prisoners are, like the United States, signatories to United Nations Conventions Against Torture (UNCAT).
According to the Wikipedia article on extraordinary rendition, this Presidential Decision Directive gave the CIA the green light for performing rendition against suspects of terrorism. Well, you know if the CIA is involved, things can, and should, get a little dicey. Sorry, but that’s reality. The interesting thing about that PDD? It was authored by Bill Clinton in 1995. The same article quotes from Richard Clarke’s Against All Enemies (pg. 143-4)
…’extraordinary renditions’ were operations to apprehend terrorists abroad, usually without the knowledge of and almost always without public acknowledgment of the host government…. The first time I proposed a snatch, in 1993, the White House Counsel, Lloyd Cutler, demanded a meeting with the President to explain how it violated international law. Clinton had seemed to be siding with Cutler until Al Gore belatedly joined the meeting, having just flown overnight from South Africa. Clinton recapped the arguments on both sides for Gore: “Lloyd says this. Dick says that.” Gore laughed and said, “That’s a no-brainer. Of course it’s a violation of international law, that’s why it’s a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass.”
Chalk one up for Ozone.
Go Grab His Ass -- Al Gore