LOS ANGELES TIMES | statesman.com
Sunday, February 01, 2009
WASHINGTON — The CIA’s secret prisons and Guantánamo Bay detention center are being shuttered. Harsh interrogation techniques are off-limits.
But, under executive orders issued by President Barack Obama last week, the CIA still has authority to carry out “renditions,” the secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the U.S.
Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that the rendition program may be poised to play an expanded role going forward because it is the main remaining mechanism — aside from Predator missile strikes — for taking suspected terrorists off the street.
“Obviously you need to preserve some tools. You still have to go after the bad guys,” said an Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing the legal reasoning. “The legal advisers working on this looked at rendition. It is controversial in some circles. … But if done within certain parameters, it is an acceptable practice.”
The decision to preserve the program didn’t draw major protests, even among some human rights groups.
“Under limited circumstances, there is a legitimate place” for renditions, said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.
But Malinowski said he has urged the Obama administration to require that prisoners be transferred to other countries only when there is a guarantee they will get a public hearing in an official court. “Producing a prisoner before a real court is a key safeguard against torture, abuse and disappearance,” Malinowski said.
Tags: CIA's secret prisons, Guantanamo Bay, harsh interrogation techniques, Human Rights Watch, President Barack Obama, rendition program, Tom Malinowski
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