Writer 1

Andrew Writer

Professor Housenick

POLS 3473

11 April 2017

Effectiveness of the Extraordinary Rendition Program

INTRODUCTION
In the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the

CIA was forced to confront an enemy that refused to wear a uniform and abide by the rules of

war. Combatting an adversary that could disappear into a civilian population and use the laws the

U.S. is bound to abide by against them, became increasingly difficult, especially in matters of

intelligence gathering by interrogating terrorism suspects. Islamic extremists are a unique enemy

due to their deeply held conviction that they are fighting a holy war, and thus arent afraid of

death. This makes conventional interrogation techniques considerably less effective. This led the

Bush 43 administration to expand the CIAs extraordinary rendition program. Its successes have

spoken for themselves in spite of the controversy it has brought upon itself.

Extraordinary rendition is the extra-judicial transfer of terrorists between countries to

avoid legal restrictions on torture. This program has been utilized by a number of U.S.

Presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. It is a highly

controversial subject in the international community, with some declaring that it has been

invaluable to U.S. counterterrorism operations while those on the opposite side consider it an

egregious human rights violation. Its legality has and will be contested but its effectiveness in the

War on Terror should not be.

 Writer 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This subject has been highly controversial and, naturally, a lot has been written regarding

its merits, legality, and effectiveness so this paper draws from a number of credited sources.

There were numerous scholarly journals, books, and news articles referring to this subject over

the last 15 or so years.

The number of diverse viewpoints have been covered thoroughly in this paper and are

well represented in the sources used. A number of articles have been referenced regarding the

legality of the renditions and what happened to them after they arrived in these countries

including Rendition to Torture by Alan Clarke, The Siren Song of Interrogational Torture:

Evaluating the U.S. Implementation of the U.N. Convention against Torture an article in Duke

Law Journal, Of camps, gulags and extraordinary renditions: Infrastructural violence in

Romania an article in Ethnography, Empire Crime, Rendition and Guantnamo Bay: The Case of

David Hicks a State Crime Journal, Extraordinary Rendition, "Disappearances" and Secret

Detention from Amnesty International, Five Facts and Five Fictions About CIA Rendition from

Frontline World, and "The Law": "Extraordinary Rendition" and Presidential Fiat a Presidential

Studies Quarterly article.

A number of sources were also included to shed light on public perception and certain

examples of renditions, both successful and not. These include U.S. Officials and Military

Personnel Face Charges in Foreign Courts; United States Will Not Extradite; U.S. Officials

Criticize Foreign Investigations in the American Journal of International Law, The Strategies of

Terrorism from the MIT Press, Extraordinary Rendition and U.S. Counterterrorism Policy from

the Journal of Strategic Security,

 Writer 3

ROOTS OF THE PROGRAM