Hearing the "March of Rendition"

I have always thought of "rendition" as something an artist does. Maybe it is a still-life. Maybe the artist is a musician and delivers a beautiful musical piece.

I will not be able to hear that word anymore without thinking of America filling airplanes with terror suspects and shipping them to third world nations to be tortured. What has happened to the America I grew up with?

According to a New York Times report, the Bush Administration has been outsourcing torture. As reported:

In public, the Bush administration has refused to confirm that the rendition program exists, saying only in response to questions about it that the United States did not hand over people to face torture. The official refused to say how many prisoners had been transferred as part of the program. But former government officials say that since the Sept. 11 attacks, the C.I.A. has flown 100 to 150 suspected terrorists from one foreign country to another, including to Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan.

Somehow, we think that these people are safe in these countries and not subject to abuse and torture. The article continues:

"We get assurances, we check on those assurances, and we double-check on these assurances to make sure that people are being handled properly in respect to human rights," the official said. The official said that compliance had been "very high" but added, "Nothing is 100 percent unless we're sitting there staring at them 24 hours a day."

And things are getting worse:

Before Sept. 11, the C.I.A. had been authorized by presidential directives to carry out renditions, but under much more restrictive rules. In most instances in the past, the transfers of individual prisoners required review and approval by interagency groups led by the White House, and were usually authorized to bring prisoners to the United States or to other countries to face criminal charges.

As part of its broad new latitude, current and former government officials say, the C.I.A. has been authorized to transfer prisoners to other countries solely for the purpose of detention and interrogation.

What is happening America? Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and now rendition charters for torture.

James Madison, the fourth President of the United States once stated:

It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

In the year 1215, the Barons in England had extracted from King John the principle of due process of law. As Clause 39 of the Magna Carta stated:

No free man may be taken or imprisoned, or ousted of his lands, or outlawed, or banished, or hurt in any way; nor will we [the king] go against him, nor send our officers against him, save by lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
In other words, under the principles of due process of law (“the law of the land”) no free man could be put in prison and held there without legal justification.

This writ of habeas corpus has been a foundation for the freedom in America since its founding.

John Kerry! America's freedom is at risk! It is no small matter to overturn the writ of habeas corpus! Pull us all from the water of those who scorn the blessings of liberty and proclaim its 'march'! America is calling for leaders that can protect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of all of its inhabitants!

Bob