The report of the Council of Europe‘s special rapporteur on CIA rendition flights has been published and it does not make for cheerful reading. Based on the information available he concludes that many European states have been responsible for or colluded in breaches of human rights of identified and unidentified persons in breach of their international and national legal requirements. The reports details cases and
It must be emphasised that this report is indeed addressed to the Council of Europe Member
states. The United States, an observer state of our Organisation, actually created this reprehensible
network, which we criticise in light of the values shared on both sides of the Atlantic. But we also
believe to have established that it is only through the intentional or grossly negligent collusion of the
European partners that this “web” was able to spread also over Europe.
European leaders should lose their jobs and face charges over this. Some might. The report makes it clear that the US is justifying rendition on its interpretation of fine legal points: morality does not come into it.
We now return you to your scheduled week of hatred against gays. Don’t mind the black-clothed hooded guys in the corner. They’re not coming for you today.