"Extraordinary" May Be the Key Word

I've had a few posts on this idea that Obama is continuing extraordinary renditions. Something rumbling underground?

After the Times report on continued renditions, [Scott Horton, a contributing editor with Harper's magazine] went on a tear, saying the paper "just got punked" in a story titled, "Renditions Buffoonery."

"The earlier renditions program regularly involved snatching and removing targets for purposes of bringing them to justice by delivering them to a criminal justice system," he wrote. "It did not involve the operation of long-term detention facilities and it did not involve torture. There are legal and policy issues with the renditions program, but they are not in the same league as those surrounding extraordinary rendition. Moreover, Obama committed to shut down the extraordinary renditions program, and continuously made clear that this did not apply to the renditions program.

"In the course of the last week we’ve seen a steady stream of efforts designed to show that Obama is continuing the counterterrorism programs that he previously labeled as abusive and promised to shut down. These stories are regularly sourced to unnamed current or former CIA officials and have largely run in right-wing media outlets. However, now we see that even the Los Angeles Times can be taken for a ride."

On Maddow's show, Horton said, "Even human rights advocates feel that there is a role for renditions still," though he was careful to draw a distinction between Bush's "extraordinary renditions" and what Obama, and presidents dating back to Reagan, have allowed to carry on.

  Raw Story