Okay, this will be a pretty sorry excuse for a diary. I'm really busy at work . . . BUT Eric Holder was forced to admit he okayed Clinton-era extraordinary renditions. Arguably a violation of the Convention Against Torture.
Raw Story reports:
Under fire from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed that he had approved of rendition — essentially, legalized kidnapping — apparently more than once during his tenure as President Bill Clinton’s deputy attorney general.
Cautioning Holder that any potential investigation into the Bush administration’s torture program could result in Democrats being roped in, "Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Richard Shelby of Alabama pressed Holder on the CIA’s ‘rendition’ program that moved terrorism suspects from one country to another,
Great, giving the Republicans ammo for lobbying against full investigation and prosecution of Bush-era criminals. This is doubly troublesome because the Convention Against Torture addresses issues of refoulement:
No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
It seems to me that if those extraordinarly renditioned were sent to States known to torture, then Clinton AND Holder may have violated the treaty.
Triply troubling is the bald fact the guy who is supposed to determine whether torturers or those who ordered torture should be prosecuted MAY WELL HAVE enabled torture by okaying extraordinary rendition. He is hardly an impartial unbiased decision maker.
This fucking stinks. Why is this guy our attorney general?? Were there NO nominees who have not participated in extraordinary rendition or torture??? WTF??