Public Policy Center, University of Nebraska
Date of this Version
2007
Abstract
Rendering terror suspects to nations that permit the use of torture is one of several methods the United States has added to its national security arsenal in recent decades. News leaks and reports regarding the "outsourcing of terror" are not new, especially after September 11, 2001. According to a former CIA official, "[w]e pick up a suspect or we arrange for one of our partner countries to do it. Then the suspect is placed on civilian transport to a third country where, let's make no bones about it, they use torture. If you want a good interrogation, you send someone to Jordan."
Jordan is a United States ally that is - according to other former officials - "willing to help any way they can" and has "the most professional and sophisticated interrogators [the United States] can rely on." Reports by Amnesty International
and other news sources have identified Jordan as a transit or destination point for terror suspects apprehended in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Allegations of torture associated with the rendition of terror suspects to Jordan should not be surprising. A U.S. State Department country report on human rights in Jordan that was released on March 6, 2007, referred to a number of torture allegations and other basic human rights violations committed by its government.
Comments
Published by Abdel-Monem in Suffolk Transnational Law Review (2007) 31(1). Copyright 2007, Suffolk University