Human Rights Watch said yesterday that new evidence demonstrated that torture and mistreatment have been a deliberate part of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism strategy, undermining the global defense of human rights. U.S. partners such as Britain compounded the lack of human rights leadership by trying to undermine critical international protections.

This analysis is contained in their: Human Rights Watch World Report 2006

By Salman Rushdie, from The Register Guard

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the ugliest phrase to enter the English language in 2005 was ”extraordinary rendition.”

To those of us who love words, this phrase’s brutalization of meaning is an infallible signal of its intent to deceive. ”Extraordinary” is an ordinary enough adjective, but its sense is being stretched here to include more sinister meanings that your dictionary will not provide: ”secret,” ”ruthless” and ”extralegal.”

As for ”rendition,” the English language permits four meanings: a performance, a translation, a surrender – this meaning is now considered archaic – or an ”act of rendering,” which leads us to the verb ”to render,” among whose 17 possible meanings you will not find ”to kidnap and covertly deliver an individual or individuals for interrogation to an undisclosed address in an unspecified country where torture is permitted.”

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From The Scotsman

US policies in the war on terror are contravening international laws on human rights, a top European investigator says.

“The strategy in place today respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Conventions,” said Dick Marty, the head of a European investigation into alleged CIA prisons in Europe. “The current administration in Washington is trying to combat terrorism outside legal means, the rule of law.”

Marty, a Swiss politician leading the probe on behalf of the Council of Europe, said there was no question that the CIA was undertaking illegal activities in Europe in its transportation and detention of prisoners. “The question is: Was the CIA really working in Europe?” Marty said. “I believe we can say today, without a doubt, yes.”

The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, began its investigation after allegations surfaced in November that US agents interrogated key al Qaida suspects at clandestine prisons in Eastern Europe and transported some suspects to other countries via Europe.

New York-based Human Rights Watch identified Romania and Poland as possible sites of secret US-run detention facilities. Both countries have denied involvement. Marty said that European countries had “a fairly shocking attitude” toward US policies, and that attention should not be focused solely on Romania and Poland.

“All the indications are that this ‘extraordinary rendition’ was already known about,” Marty told a news conference in the Swiss town of Burgdorf, referring to the CIA programme of transferring terrorism suspects to third countries where some allegedly were subjected to torture.

Strasbourg, 13.01.2006 – Ren’ van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, today welcomed the proposal that the European Parliament create a temporary committee to investigate the allegations of secret CIA detentions in Europe.

“I am pleased to note the European Parliament’s support for Mr Marty’s activities and their wish to liaise and co-operate as closely as possible with our enquiry,” said Mr van der Linden, adding that Mr Marty shared this view. “Indeed, members of the European Parliament have already twice attended meetings of our Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. In addition, we will be inviting them to participate in the Assembly’s debate later this month. The fact that the European Parliament will be adding its efforts to those of our Assembly underlines the political importance of the enquiry and the necessity for common action.”

“I would like to repeat that it is in everyone’s interest ‘ including that of national governments in Europe and the USA ‘ to co-operate in discovering the truth of this affair, in order to prevent such violations of the international rule of law occurring in future,” continued Mr van der Linden.

The Assembly began its enquiry on 7 November last year, in the immediate aftermath of the original allegations. Since then, its Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has discussed the issue on three occasions. Following these meetings, requests for co-operation have been made to the national parliaments of all 46 Council of Europe member states, the US government (an Observer State of the Council of Europe), Eurocontrol (responsible for European air traffic management) and the EU Satellite Centre, along with Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the EU.

The Assembly will be debating the issue on 24 January, during its plenary session in Strasbourg. This work complements the requests made by the Council of Europe’s Secretary General to the governments of member states.

The Swiss government has acknowledged the authenticity of a fax leaked to the newspaper SonntagsBlick which appears to confirm the existence of secret CIA interrogation camps in Romania, Ukraine, Kosovo, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

From Swiss Info

A government spokesman said the fax in question intercepted by the Swiss intelligence services included information that was already known publicly but which had yet to be verified.

The Guardian looks forward to future Parliamentary action to hold ministers to account on rendition flights and comments on the current state of inactivity.

“In Britain, there is nothing, despite an absolute duty imposed on the government by its domestic and international legal obligations to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment. Ministers appear to have something to hide and the issue will not go away.”

By Richard Norton-Taylor in The Guardian

As they contemplate the future leadership of their respective parties, MPs returning to Westminster from their holidays insist there is another issue that they will not be distracted from. That is the government’s attitude, still to be satisfactorily explained, towards America’s practice of “extraordinary rendition” – flying Islamist suspects to secret camps where they are likely to be subjected to torture.

An all-party parliamentary group set up to probe the issue is preparing a number of moves this month to get to the truth. The group is chaired by Andrew Tyrie, Conservative MP for Chichester, who has two deputies – Chris Mullin, the former Labour Foreign Office minister, and Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman and candidate for his party’s leadership. They are determined to get answers to questions that ministers and officials have been so reluctant to provide. The Council of Europe is also on the warpath.

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From Ireland Online

Europe’s leading human rights body has backed calls for the Irish Government to mount a formal investigation of US military landings at Shannon Airport.

The call comes amid on-going controversy over the US “extraordinary rendition” programme that sees the CIA transporting suspected Islamic militants to secret interrogation centres around the world.

Several people detained under the programme have turned out to be innocent after allegedly being tortured for months in countries like Saudi Arabia and Syria.

Critics claim the CIA is effectively “outsourcing” torture because the practice is banned under US law.

Irish peace activists say planes involved in the programme have landed at Shannon on numerous occasions, but the Irish Government says it accepts US assurances that no prisoners were on board any of the flights.

The Irish Human Rights Commission has said the Government has a duty to conduct a proper investigation rather than simply accepting such assurances.

The 46-nation Council of Europe, set up to safeguard human rights and democracy on the continent, has now backed this stance, saying the issue should concern all Irish people.

A White House official’s wisecrack about an ancient Chinese philosopher actually provides critical insights into Bush’s views on spying and executive branch power.

By Noah Leavitt at AlterNet

Last week, White House spokeperson Trent Duffy provided the Bush administration’s rationale for its extralegal program to spy on United States citizens. Duffy quipped: “The fact is that Al Quaida’s play book is not printed on Page 1, and when America’s is, it has serious ramifications. You don’t need to be Sun Tzu to understand that.”

Duffy was referencing the “big idea” of Sun Tzu’s seminal work, “The Art of War,” which could be stated as “the ideal strategy is to win without fighting — to defeat the enemy before combat becomes necessary.”

It was an odd but telling comment, and worth exploring for the critical insights it provides about Bush’s views on spying and executive branch power.

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Americana has commented on the US support for Uzbekistan and the publication of the Tashkent Telegrams.

Go here to read the analysis

While David Jenkins sends a (still just) seasonal letter God Rest Ye Merry Torturers

From Reuters

MILAN (Reuters) – A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy’s financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.

Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.

A European Union warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require approval of any government.

The warrant was agreed by the European Union in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and was hailed as a key part of the bloc’s fight against terrorism.

Spataro told Reuters he had also asked Interpol to try to detain the suspects anywhere in the world.

Earlier this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not believe CIA agents had kidnapped Nasr, but added that governments were not going to defeat terrorism by playing by the rules.

Justice officials believe Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is still in custody in Egypt. Italian investigators have accused him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq, and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.

There has been a series of investigations into whether U.S. intelligence officials used Europe as a hub to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation.

The U.S. embassy in Rome was not immediately available for comment.

Questions from Ming Campbell to Goverment Minister Adam Ingram in the House of Commons on 14th December

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) on how many occasions since September 2001 US-registered aircraft tail number (a) N313P and (b) N44982, formerly N8068V and N379P, has landed at United Kingdom military airfields with (i) Kabul and (ii) Baghdad as its (A) origin and (B) destination; [35460]

(2) on how many occasions since September 2001 US-registered aircraft tail number (a) N313P and (b) N44982, formerly N8068V and N379P, has landed at United Kingdom military airfields with an airport in (i) Jordan, (ii) Syria, (iii) Romania and (iv) Poland as its (A) origin and (B) destination; [35444]

(3) on how many occasions since September 2001 US-registered aircraft tail number (a) N313P and (b) N44982, formerly N8068V and N379P, has landed at United Kingdom military airfields with an airport in (i) Libya, (ii) Uzbekistan, (iii) Morocco and (iv) Egypt as its (A) origin and (B) destination. [35443]

Mr. Ingram: The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

By Richard Norton-Taylor in The Guardian

A chief constable has begun inquiries into allegations that CIA “torture flights” have landed in Britain, the human rights group, Liberty, said yesterday. It said Michael Todd, chief constable of Greater Manchester police, had agreed to start investigations on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). Mr Todd is the member of Acpo’s terrorism committee responsible for aviation.

After meeting with Mr Todd, the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said: “We are very pleased that the police are taking these concerns seriously. If suspects are being taken through the UK to face torture, there have been serious breaches of international and domestic law. We intend to help the police and call on individuals with any information to come forward.” Acpo described the meeting as “useful” and said further talks were planned in January.

A Greater Manchester police spokesman said it had been a “useful exploratory discussion”.

Liberty acted after the Guardian reported that CIA or CIA-chartered jets had flown into the UK approximately 210 times since 2001. It wrote to the chief constables of Bedfordshire, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, the Metropolitan police, the Ministry of Defence police, Suffolk, Sussex, Thames Valley and West Midlands last month asking them to seek assurances from the US that it is not using British airports to transport – or “render” – terrorist suspects to secret camps or countries known to have tortured prisoners.

Liberty said the police had asked for further evidence, and has asked anyone with information about CIA flights using British airspace or airports to contact the organisation, even anonymously.

By Tom Blackburn in the Palm Beach Post

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did her impression of Evita Peron’s Rainbow Tour through Europe two weeks ago. Did the lady win through? As the song says, “The answer is yes… and no.”

She did shift the subject briefly from torture to “extraordinary rendition.” But her audience didn’t believe her about that, either. At the end, European foreign ministers made noises as if they believed her, but they have to live with the big galoot she represents, believe her or not.

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From the Los Angeles Times

By Khaled El-Masri, KHALED EL-MASRI, a German citizen born in Lebanon, was a car salesman before he was detained in December 2003.

THE U.S. POLICY of “extraordinary rendition” has a human face, and it is mine.

I am still recovering from an experience that was completely beyond the pale, outside the bounds of any legal framework and unacceptable in any civilized society. Because I believe in the American system of justice, I sued George Tenet, the former CIA director, last week. What happened to me should never be allowed to happen again.

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Channel Four News has learned new details about suspected rendition flights through the UK at military airfield, RAF Northolt. Officially ministers are still insisting that information about flights is not recorded centrally and would prove too costly to provide.

But their foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller has been following the trail.

Click here to watch their special news report

In addition, this press release from Amnesty International provides further details linking flights to renditions.