Posted on Sunday, March 06, 2005 1:55 PM
It's official, and it's lovely...
The process of transporting suspected terrorists to nice, humane countries like Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan, known as rendition, was authorized under a still-classified directive signed by President Bush within days of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
According to a senior US official, it had been aimed only at those suspected of knowing about terrorist operations, and emphasized that the C.I.A. had gone to great lengths to ensure that they were detained under humane conditions and not tortured, but other (former) officials stated that they believed that. in practice, the administration's approach may have involved turning a blind eye to torture.
Source: NYT: Rule Change Lets C.I.A. Freely Send Suspects Abroad to Jails. (Mirror).