Newsweek has obtained an FBI memo written three years ago that warns against the United States use of "extraordinary rendition".
...offered a legal analysis of interrogation techniques that had been approved by Pentagon officials. After objecting to techniques such as exploiting "phobias" like "the fear of dogs" or dripping water "to induce the misperception of drowning," the agent discussed a plan to send the detainee to Jordan, Egypt or an unspecified third country for interrogation. "In as much as the intent of this category is to utilize, outside the U.S., interrogation techniques which would violate [U.S. law] if committed in the U.S., it is a per se violation of the U.S. Torture Statute," the agent wrote. "Discussing any plan which includes this category could be seen as a con-spiracy to violate [the Torture Statute]" and "would inculpate" everyone involved.
The article says that this memo, like others before it "reflect unease". That phrase implies uncertainty. But the FBI memo is quite certain and clear...criminal liability for all involved.
It seems no one wanted to be identified for this article but one anonymous FBI source assured that it
really wasn't a legal opinion as much as it was advice (my eyes did a 360 at that one), while another said the memo is a reflection of concerns about "rendition" among many in the FBI.
It is estimated that more than 100 terror suspects have been rendered (god, I hate that term) since Bush signed off on the policy after 9/11. An unidentified senior intelligence official makes this sadly funny claim:
...said rendering suspects to their country of origin can aid intel because local interrogators speak the language better and understand the cultural sensitivities of the suspects. "No one is sent anywhere for the purpose of being tortured."
I suppose the statement is technically true. We send detainees to countries that the State Department has criticized for using torture, but that's not the reason we send them...we're sending them out of cultural sensitivity...if they happen to get tortured in the process, well...too bad?