‘Extraordinary rendition’ a new departure

THE growing reports of ‘extraordinary rendition’ - the CIA practice of kidnapping terrorist suspects and delivering them to countries where torture is employed - takes us to a new point of departure.

We are no longer simply enduring the shabby failure of the ill-conceived Blair/Bush crusade against terrorism; there are few who now admit to sharing their belief that ideas can be destroyed with a cluster bomb. There are fewer still who believe that European citizens are safer now than we were three years ago.

But this is new territory. It is no longer the hypocrisy of denouncing Syria, for example, as a sponsor of terrorism while handing over prisoners to its government. Those who have been abducted are sent, often accompanied by western security agents, specifically to be tortured. Western security services are now using torture.