Posted on 03/07/2005 12:41:01 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
NEW YORK: Suspected terrorists are being transferred by the Bush administration to foreign countries where torture as a method to extract information is common, the New York Times reported.
The paper said a secret programme, which has been in place since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US, gives the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) broad authority to act without case-by-case approval from the White House or the State or Justice Departments.
"The unusually expansive authority for the CIA to operate independently was provided by the White House under a still-classified directive signed by President Bush within days of the Sep 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon," the paper quoted officials as saying.
"The process, known as rendition, has been central in the government's efforts to disrupt terrorism, but has been bitterly criticised by human rights groups on grounds that the practice has violated the Bush administration's public pledge to provide safeguards against torture," it said.
The newspaper, however, quoted an unnamed official to rebut the assertions that the United States used the programme to secretly send people to other countries for the purpose of torture.
The transfers were portrayed as an alternative to what American officials have said is the costly, manpower-intensive process of housing them in the United States or in American-run facilities in other countries.
The official said the programme had been aimed only at those suspected of knowing about terrorist operations, and emphasised that the CIA had gone to great lengths to ensure that they were detained under humane conditions and not tortured.
"In recent weeks, several former detainees have described being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques and brutal treatment during months spent in detention under the programme in Egypt and other countries. The official would not discuss specific cases, but did not dispute that there had been instances in which prisoners were mistreated. The official said none had died," the newspaper said.
The Bush administration has refused to confirm that the rendition programme exists but former government officials told the newspaper that since the Sep 11 attacks, the CIA has flown 100 to 150 suspected terrorists from one foreign country to another, including to Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan.
"Each of those countries has been identified by the State Department as habitually using torture in its prisons," it said.
"We get assurances, we check on those assurances, and we double-check on these assurances to make sure that people are being handled properly in respect to human rights," the official said.
The official said that compliance had been "very high" but added, "Nothing is 100 percent unless we're sitting there staring at them 24 hours a day."
And for the record let this be said: Terrorists ARE terrorists. They are there to kill YOU. If you let them go, they WILL kill you.
It must be another Clintoid leak from the CIA.
Why not hire the best? After all, the best we could do was take their clothes off and put panties on their head.
I don't understand why, assuming there is truth in the article, America overlooks India for these tasks. Why bother to ask Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt et al, for interrogation services, especially when the ones they're being asked to interrogate are the products of these respective governments themselves. I'd say, lease these terrorists to the Indians.
India IS the best. 20,000 jehadis and counting...
The near-wipe out of Pakistan-trained terrorists(more than 20,000) in Kashmir, by the Indian military in the past ten odd years has created such a state of normalcy in the region that Kashmir has once again emerged as a hot international tourist destination.
It'll take years to get a secret services back after clitoon got his hands on them. At least we have a running start.
Why are they outsourcing this work. There are plenty of Americans who would do the job.
Another job Americans just don't have the stomach for anymore ...
"Another job Americans just don't have the stomach for anymore ..."
Sez our Marxist Press.
But not sez my friends in the Military....
at least stories like this give them something to think about

"Are the jumpers cables tight enough or would you like me to twist them most visciously?"
Thank you. Come again.
So what?
The hell with the rights group that protest too much for the rights of terrorists.
How about the rights of all the victims of these thugs?
If you have to take them up in helicoptors and throw a few out to get the info you need to save American lives, so be it.
I wasn't trying to hawk Kashmir as some sort of tourist's paradise(well, maybe a little), but to call it a minefield is a gross exaggeration. I was attempting to throw light on how places improve after terrorists are flushed out from them.
Here's a link or two...
Tourist inflow to Jammu and Kashmir records dramatic growth
http://www.strategiy.com/inews.asp?id=20050214234920
Excerpt:
Kashmir tourism witnessed a spectacular revival in 2004, as the tourism inflow to the state doubled over the corresponding figure in 2003, according to a delegation of senior ministers who are visiting the UAE. The foreign tourist inflow to Kashmir has grown by 108% in 2004 over 2003. These promising growth figures further strengthen the resolve of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation to intensify their effort to promote inbound tourism.
Another one...
Death is destiny: Israeli tourists flock Kashmir
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=35193
Excerpt:
Srinagar, August 19: Gulzar Ahmad, owner of a handicraft shop near scenic Dal lake in Srinagar, recently changed the language of his outlet's signboard from English to Hebrew.
It was another sign of the new acceptance of visitors from Israel. For the second successive year, Israelis top the list of foreign tourists visiting the region.
"Seventy per cent of my customers are Israelis," said 50-year-old Ahmad, a Muslim. "So I changed my signboard to attract more Israeli customers."
lol You may have a point.

These don't appear like your average minefield, do they?
Sure. I agree it is not yet entirely safe, but I hope you see that the eradication of jehadis is a good thing. And that Kashmir is not entirely a battlefield.
And give me 12 hours with OBL please...barring any unforeseen heart condition I'll guarantee he'll be alive for the first 11:59. You'll know it by the screaming.
New York Times = TRUTH? You put that equation in the same sentence? The Slimes wouldn't know truth if if came up and bit them in the A$$. Amen.
Conservative: Yep
Liberal: That's cruel and unusual punishment!
Conservative: Nope, that's the the way we usually do it!
Look, these guys weren't coming up to our forces and asking for sanctuary ~ !!!
There'd be less criticism if we took fewer prisoners.
Liberal: That's cruel and unusual punishment!
No so. Slick instituted the procedure because he wanted to be a good guy in everyones eyes. Well, almost everyone anyway.
Another example of outsourcing all our good jobs...
Wasn't it the Clinton admin. that outsourced terrorist torture? I know this was in place before 9/11..the media just doesn't want anyone to think that it was Clinton and not Bush.
Screw Amnesty International, the New York Slimes and all liberal do-gooders everywhere.
They are all in my basement. ;-)
They are all in my basement. ;-)
And don't put Kashmiris in poor light. They are some of the kindest of people on earth. They are not your usual jehadi. But it's important to state this: The ones responsible for most of Kashmir's mess ain't no Kashmiri. Most are Pakistan-born Islamic scumbags who've known education as coming only from a cleric. These are the same scumbags who trained the Afghanis to become the Taliban of yore. Kashmir has been a democracy for over 50 years, as a state of India. The same cannot be said of the part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan and China.
And about the locals being unfriendly to tourists, well, try asking someone who's been there. The locals are frustrated when these scumbags kill and terrorise the tourists. Their economy and livelyhood has been ruined by them, and they resent them more for this.
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