Policy of rendition
How would Obama reconcile this controversial policy with his rhetoric on human rights?
Barack Obama, the US president, is being accused of recycling one of his predecessor’s most controversial policies: the transfer of prisoners for interrogation, also known as rendition.
In January, the president announced the creation of a special task force on interrogations and transfer policies, and this week that task force has given its recommendations.
They include improving their ability to interrogate what they call the most dangerous terrorists by creating a specialised interrogation group.
The other recommendations cover the transfer of prisoners from country to country for interrogation, commonly known as rendition.
It was criticised during the Bush administration because many prisoners apprehended and transferred under the the protocols were transited through countries that allow torture.
Many of these prisoners have claimed they were tortured during this process.
Has rendition helped the US in its so-called war on terror? And how would Obama reconcile this policy with his rhetoric on human rights?
Inside Story presenter Sohail Rahman is joined by Cori Crider, an attorney at the human rights group Reprive, Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and spokesman for the human rights organisation Cageprisoners.
This episode of Inside Story aired from Wednesday, August 26, 2009.