Obama OK With CIA Rendition

Prez allows abductions, transfers to continue, promises suspects won't be tortured
By Laurel Jorgensen,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2009 6:50 PM CST
Obama OK With CIA Rendition
Barack Obama delivers a speech about terrorism at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington in this 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Torture techniques are out and Guantanamo Bay is facing closure, but Barack Obama is keeping one anti-terror tool: rendition, the Los Angeles Times reports. He signed an executive order allowing the CIA to continue the practice of secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to US-friendly nations. "You still have to go after the bad guys," an Obama official said.

But the CIA can no longer hold suspects long-term or ship them off to countries to be tortured. Human Rights Watch has urged Obama to ensure that prisoners are only transferred to nations where they are guaranteed a public hearing. "Producing a prisoner before a real court is a key safeguard against torture, abuse and disappearance," a Human Rights Watch director said.
(Read more President Obama stories.)

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