Aside from passing an anti-torture amendment recently that Bush blew off with a signing statement, the Congress of the United States of America appears to be afraid to take real action to address government/CIA complicity in extraordinary renditions.
But the Europeans aren't going to let it slide. They are taking matters into their own hands with some serious investigations that seem to be finally yielding some serious results.
I don't know what the prosecutorial options might be. I imagine that the prosecution by Europe of American entities would be difficult to do, for a number of reasons.
This is one glaring example of why the Bush administration has refused to be a party to the International Criminal Court. Bush, of course, believes himself to be above the law. And he and his lawyers do all they can to avoid any kind of accountability.
From Reuters via truthout.org:
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After months without a breakthrough, European investigators probing alleged CIA abuses in the war on terrorism are starting to sound more hopeful and will seek new evidence in the next few weeks.
A Washington Post report last November that the US Central Intelligence Agency had run secret prisons in Eastern Europe for al Qaeda suspects unleashed a spate of investigations which have so far failed to produce a "smoking gun."
But after several months when the issue largely faded from view, two developments in the past eight days have generated new headlines.
First Amnesty International detailed the case of three Yemeni men who were held for 13 months until May 2005 at a secret US facility, possibly in Eastern Europe.
Then the Council of Europe, a human rights organization, said on Wednesday at least one European state had admitted to handing over terrorism suspects to foreign agents.
"We have received official acknowledgement of 'handing over' individuals to foreign officials" in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Council head Terry Davis said, declining to name the country involved.
He may have been referring to Sweden, where a parliamentary ombudsman has criticized the security services over the expulsion of two Egyptian terrorism suspects who were handed over to US agents and flown home aboard a US government-leased plane in 2001. Human Rights Watch has said there is credible evidence they were later tortured.
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[Read more.]
On a related note: For a recent Amnesty International article on international justice, click here.
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