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Witnesses testified about the policy of “extraordinary rendition” in the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants, as well as the potential impact on relations with European countries. Among the topics they addressed were the findings of a European Parliament report on forcible abduction of suspects who were later secretly transferred to European facilities for interrogation, foreign public opinion of U.S. policy and prisoner treatment, questions about the legality of the rendition practices, charges of the torture of detainees, and U.S. treaty obligations on the proper treatment of prisoners.

High-flying lifestyle of the CIA's rendition men · VIP status for agents who transfer terror suspects · New book reveals disturbing details Guardian In January 2004 a crew of CIA agents checked into the five-star Marriott Son Antem golfing resort in Palma for a well-deserved rest. The agents had just flown from Rabat in Morocco to Afghanistan and back to Algeria - a gruelling 8,000-mile journey - and were looking forward to luxuriating in the hotel's spa where, as the brochure put it, they could "journey to deep inner peace". But as the crew were basking in comfort at US...

Italian spy chiefs held over investigation into CIA rendition of terror suspect By Malcolm Moore in Rome (Filed: 06/07/2006) Two Italian spy chiefs were arrested yesterday on suspicion of helping the CIA to snatch an imam in Milan and fly him out of the country. Marco Mancini, the head of counter-espionage at the military intelligence agency Sismi, and Gustavo Pignero, the agency's chief official in the north of the country, were placed under investigation to examine whether they will face kidnapping charges. They are suspected of assisting American agents three years ago when they abducted Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also...

Europe’s opponents of the war on terror have a new half-inch thick document to add to their armory. On Wednesday, Swiss politician Dick Marty put together a well-publicized report for the Council of Europe condemning America for a policy of rendition. The United States is charged with globally establishing a “spider’s web” relationship with national intelligence networks for the purpose of apprehending terrorist suspects and taking them into secret custody. “Europe,” he explains, “already has a long and painful history of terrorism” and has been wise and experienced enough to have fought back “primarily by means of existing institutions and...

Update: In 2002 the WaPo called the International detention (prison) story vital - in 2005 they quote another official calling it a burden. In 2002 they informed people that Clinton initiated the practice of extraordinary rendition. In 2005, they made it look like a creation of George Bush. What changed?

Want to know why the MSM is hush hush about Algore's rants and anti-American talks overseas to Arabs and others? I went looking for the origin of "Extraordinary rendition" and came across some interesting reading. Seems Algore has a very short memory, but like most things Algore lies about, this was an eye opener

Strasbourg, 24.01.2006 – It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware of the “rendition” of more than a hundred persons affecting Europe, according to Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly investigator Dick Marty, whose interim assessment was made public today in an information memorandum. Citing statements made by American officials and others, Mr Marty said there was “a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of ‘relocation’ or ‘outsourcing’ of torture”. He added: “It has been proved – and in fact never denied – that individuals have...

  CIA-Backed Team Used Brutal Means To Break Up Terrorist Cell in Albania By ANDREW HIGGINS and CHRISTOPHER COOPER Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL     TIRANA, Albania -- Ahmed Osman Saleh stepped off a minibus here in the Albanian capital in July 1998 and caught what would be his last glimpse of daylight for three days. As he paid the driver, Albanian security agents slipped a white cloth bag over Mr. Saleh's head, bound his limbs with plastic shackles and tossed him into the rear of a hatchback vehicle. Supervising the operation from a nearby car were ...

Britain's foreign secretary confirmed Tuesday that the U.S. has made at least three requests to make rendition flights through Britain since 1997. In a written statement, Jack Straw said government officials had completed a search of records and found two applications had been approved and one turned down. All three cases relate to requests in 1998 by the administration of then U.S. President Bill Clinton to transfer individuals directly to the U.S. A Foreign Office spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with government policy, said one additional case had been discovered since Straw revealed details of two...

The Taoiseach's office has refused to release any information it has about the CIA's 'extraordinary rendition' flights, on the grounds that to do so may compromise the security, defence or international relations of the state. The Council of Europe this weekend said that CIA jets travelling through Irish airports should be searched by gardai to ensure that prisoners are not being carried. A report published by the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) last month had recommended that Gardai (Irish National Police) board such flights. Extraordinary rendition involves the abduction of suspected militants from foreign countries by members of the CIA...

"It turns out that renditioning was activated by President Bush's predecessor. In an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit, Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, said he developed the practice for none other than William Jefferson Clinton."

The US Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) controversial "rendition" program was launched under US president Bill Clinton, a former US counter-terrorism agent has told a German newspaper. Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned from the agency in 2004, has told Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system. "President Clinton, his national security adviser Sandy Berger and his terrorism adviser Richard Clark ordered the CIA in the autumn of 1995 to destroy Al Qaeda," Mr Scheuer said. "We...

The CIA's controversial program of having terrorist suspects captured and questioned on foreign soil began under President Bill Clinton, a former US agent says. Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned last year, told yesterday's issue of the German newspaper Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system. "President Clinton, his national security adviser Sandy Berger and his terrorism adviser Richard Clark ordered the CIA in the autumn of 1995 to destroy al-Qaeda," the newspaper quoted Mr Scheuer...

MILAN, Italy -- When the CIA decides to "render" a terrorism suspect living abroad for interrogation in Egypt or another friendly Middle East nation, it spares no expense. Italian prosecutors wrote in court papers that the CIA spent "enormous amounts of money" during the six weeks it took the agency to figure out how to grab a 39-year-old Muslim preacher called Abu Omar off the streets of Milan, throw him into a van and drive him to the airport.

BERLIN (AFP) - The CIA's controversial "rendition" program to have terror suspects captured and questioned on foreign soil was launched under US president Bill Clinton, a former US counterterrorism agent told a German newspaper. Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned from the agency in 2004, told Thursday's issue of the newsweekly Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system. " President Clinton, his national security advisor Sandy Berger and his terrorism advisor Richard Clark ordered the CIA...

The CIA's controversial "rendition" program to have terror suspects captured and questioned on foreign soil was launched under US president Bill Clinton, a former US counterterrorism agent told a German newspaper. Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned from the agency in 2004, told Thursday's issue of the newsweekly Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system. "President Clinton, his national security advisor Sandy Berger and his terrorism advisor Richard Clark ordered the CIA in the autumn of...

An Italian judge has issued European arrest warrants for 22 purported CIA operatives wanted for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric, a prosecutor said Friday. Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the warrants allowed for the arrest of the suspects in any of the 25 European Union member countries. Italy issued warrants for the arrest of the 22 suspects within its own borders earlier this month. Prosecutors are seeking the suspects' extradition for their alleged involvement in the abduction of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from a Milan street in February 2003. The suspects are all described as U.S. citizens. Prosecutors have...

LONDON (Reuters) - Rendition, the controversial practice of moving terrorism suspects from one country to another, is not new and European governments should not be surprised by it, Colin Powell said on Saturday. The former U.S. Secretary of State was speaking to the BBC after his successor, Condoleezza Rice was forced to defend the practice during a recent trip to Europe. The trip was overshadowed by allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency ran secret prisons in eastern Europe and covertly transferred suspects via European airports. "Most of our European friends cannot be shocked that this kind of thing takes place,"...

Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake German Citizen Released After Months in 'Rendition' By Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, December 4, 2005; A01 In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in Germany to pay an unusual visit to that country's interior minister. Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State Department transmitted via the CIA's Berlin station because they were too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation. Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully imprisoned one of its citizens,...

Last month, Italian authorities charged 13 CIA operatives with kidnapping an Islamic cleric known as Abu Omar. Now former Albanian intelligence officials reveal that the imam was once an informant valued by the CIA.