Hints About the Future of Rendition Policy from Obama

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There could be situations — and I emphasize could be, because we haven’t made a determination yet — where, let’s say that we have a well-known al-Qaeda operative, doesn’t surface very often, [and who] appears in a third country with whom we don’t have an extradition relationship or isn’t willing to prosecute. And we think [this operative] is a very dangerous person. I think we still have to think about how we deal with that scenario, in a way that comports with international law, that abides by my very clear edict that we don’t torture and that we ultimately provide anybody that we’re detaining, through habeas corpus, an opportunity to answer to charges. How all that sorts itself out is extremely complicated, because it’s not just domestic law, it’s also international law. Our relationship with various other entities. So, again, it will take this year to be able to get all these procedures in place and on the right footing.

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Spreading his arms in a crucifixion position, he demonstrates how he was tied to a metal door as shocks were administered to his nipples and genitals. His legs tremble as he describes how he was twice raped. He mentions, almost casually, the hearing loss in his left ear from the beatings, and how he still wakes up at night screaming, takes tranquilizers, finds it hard to concentrate, and has unspecified “problems with my wife at home.”