Panetta and rendition?

This morning, the Washington Times writes that Republicans will be questioning Leon Panetta, the Obama Administration’s nominee for the Director of the CIA about rendition – the practice of capturing a criminal in one country and moving him to another country which might have more lenient laws for questioning suspects. It’s one of the charges that the Left likes to level at the Bush Administration, but apparently, the Bush Administration isn’t the first to employ the tactic;

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for CIA director, Leon Panetta, served as White House chief of staff during the time the Clinton administration accelerated a practice of kidnapping terrorist suspects and sending them to countries with records of torturing prisoners, human rights organizations and former U.S. officials say.

Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will question Mr. Panetta, chief of staff for President Clinton from 1994 to 1997, about what, if any, role he played in shaping the policy known as “extraordinary rendition,” a Republican aide on the committee said. Mr. Panetta’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for Jan. 27. The aide asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

[…]

[Rendition] took place dozens of times under the Clinton administration and rose dramatically after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to human rights organizations and former national security officials.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with using varying legal systems against terrorists, they certainly use our legal system against us. However I find it particularly delicious that the Hope and Change President would name someone to a sensitive posting who may have engaged in the practice that Hollywood found so disturbing they made a movie about it.

Category: Politics