Harold's Left:

The rule of law. You hear politicians say it all of the time in reference to part of the fiber that makes America a truly unique civilization. I'd certainly like to know how the following plays into that...

Two days ago in Milan, Italy, 23 Americans were tried in absentia and convicted of illegally capturing Hassan Osama Nasr (aka Abu Omar) off the streets of Milan in broad daylight in 2003. Nasr was reportedly flown to Eygpt where he was tortured with electric shock, beatings, and threats of rape. The CIA suspected Nasr of recruiting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was subsequently released in 2007. The investigation into the rendition of Nasr came not at the hands of the Italian government, but the Milan local district attorney's office independently. They pursued these charges out of Milan in a quest for not only justice, but to symbolically show that the U.S. cannot conduct operations anywhere it wants to without jurisdictional approval.

Renditions are essentially Bush-era tactics that allow for CIA operators to 'pull' anyone they want, from anywhere they want, whom the believe could be involved in terrorism. No trial. No due process. What's more is not only are these individuals just taken off the street, they are tortured. Again without trial, without due process.

Conservatives will claim that when progressives applaud this sort of decision we are once again "rooting against America". To the contrary. There is absolutely nothing American about taking people of the street (regardless of what we suspect they did) in another nation's jurisdiction, and torturing them without due process. If anything, this is the exact opposite of what America should stand for. Do progressives want to us go after people who wish to do us harm? Of course. However, we want to do it the American way; in the constrains of the laws upon which we live by everyday. We want to do it in a way that does not further perpetuate the international stigma of American arrogance, thus creating even more enemies. We want to do it in a way that is responsible and legal.

Imagine if China or Russia snatched up an American citizen and flew them to some island and tortured them. Would we ever accept that? Of course not, nor should we. Yet, it seems almost silly not to hold ourselves to the same standard of conduct.

President Obama changed the Bush policy of outright renditions by essentially saying that we can take people as long as we ensure they are not tortured and prisoners are "rendered to justice". A step in the right direction, but not certainly not ending the practice. Let's keep moving forward until we are truly adhering to the rule of law.

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