rssPanetta Hearing, Part Deux: Kit Bond is a Disgrace
Friday, February 06, 2009 at 10:40 am
- 4 Comments
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) is harping on CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta for saying that people were rendered for torture. “What evidence are you basing that on, or would you like to retract that?”
“The press has identified extraordinary renditions, but no one has quite defined it,” he says, offering a definition. First is “where individuals are delivered to black sites and questioned there … that kind of rendition will not take place.” The second: “where individuals are turned over to a country for question … there were efforts by CIA to seek and receive assurances where prisoners wouldn’t be mistreated … There are claims that that was not the case, but I can’t assess the validities of those.” Panetta says he’ll seek the same kinds of assurances, in concert with the State Dept. to “determine that they are in fact” followed upon, and adds that the forthcoming cabinet-level review will expand on how to get more ironclad assurances. The third kind: rendition “for a legal action” which he says should continue.
But Bond gets what he wants. “I’ll retract the statement,” Panetta says, to appease the senator. Amazingly, Bond says the facts about extraordinary rendition are based on “rumors and news sources … hearsay,” fueled by “liberal blogs.” This is a really disgusting display from the senior Republican on the intelligence committee. Are Maher Arar — who was kidnapped by U.S. officials and handed over to the Syrians for torture — and the Canadian government, which launched an official inquiry into his case, a bunch of liars? How about Khalid el-Masri? Is Jane Mayer just a trafficker of rumor? Is the Council of Europe?
Bond just used his position on this committee to try to force the American people to unlearn something that they have very painfully learned. He’s the one who’s sacrificed his credibility on this issue, not Panetta — but he did succeed in getting Panetta to retract the statement.
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4 Comments
Comment posted February 6, 2009 @ 8:51 am
Watch the documentry Cheney's Law by Frontline, a PBS video which History Channel needs to run Primetime, but use of this timelime discused in the movie related to the timeline here in America will show the conection between the laws used by or government and the laws used against sex offenders in America. The use of law or should we say the abuse of law against people who have diffrent ideas about life, and liberity, are not changed in the twenkle of an eye. Care for mankind? I am sure their are many in other lands wondering just what that means when Dad comes home with night frights and a tortured mind over their rendition to re`educate so the world is not one persons idea of right. Panetta has seen this prospect by recignizing the torture and the atempt to cover it up, not harping on the matter, but effectually offering adjustment like a sail boat tacking to hold derection.
Comment posted February 6, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
Kit Bond has just become a collaborateur after-the-fact in George W. Bush's war crimes.
Comment posted February 6, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
Watch the documentry Cheney's Law by Frontline, a PBS video which History Channel needs to run Primetime, but use of this timelime discused in the movie related to the timeline here in America will show the conection between the laws used by or government and the laws used against sex offenders in America. The use of law or should we say the abuse of law against people who have diffrent ideas about life, and liberity, are not changed in the twenkle of an eye. Care for mankind? I am sure their are many in other lands wondering just what that means when Dad comes home with night frights and a tortured mind over their rendition to re`educate so the world is not one persons idea of right. Panetta has seen this prospect by recignizing the torture and the atempt to cover it up, not harping on the matter, but effectually offering adjustment like a sail boat tacking to hold derection.
Comment posted February 6, 2009 @ 8:54 pm
Kit Bond has just become a collaborateur after-the-fact in George W. Bush's war crimes.
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