On The Front Lines
Bipartisan Group Calls for Congressional Hearings on Extraordinary Rendition, Transfer of Terrorist Suspects to Other Countries
WASHINGTON, DC -- A bipartisan group of prominent Americans that includes John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, called today for Congress to conduct hearings on the United States' use of "extraordinary rendition" to transfer terrorist suspects to other countries. Members of the Constitution Project's bipartisan blue-ribbon Liberty and Security Initiative released a letter calling on Congress to examine the United States' practice of transferring terrorist suspects into the custody of other nations and the methods for ensuring that the people transferred will be treated humanely. The letter is being delivered to congressional committees whose jurisdiction includes matters related to the treatment of terrorist suspects in advance of tomorrow's hearing on detainees to be conducted by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. A full list of signatories, along with the committee's full letter, is available here.The letter states that "extraordinary rendition--the transfer of people to foreign countries without formal legal proceedings"--demands congressional oversight to review "the procedures required for such transfers, to examine the nature of assurances provided by the foreign countries that people transferred to their custody will be treated humanely, and to analyze the efficacy of attempts to ensure that recipient nations comply with any such assurances." Liberty and Security Initiative members signing this letter include the Initiative's co-chairs, David Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union, and David Cole, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; and members John Whitehead, President, Rutherford Institute; Bob Barr, former Member of Congress (R-GA); Walter Cronkite, former Managing Editor, CBS Evening News; Mickey Edwards, former Member of Congress (R-OK); Morton H. Halperin, Director of U.S. Advocacy, Open Society Institute; Thomas R. Pickering, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs; John Podesta, White House Chief of Staff, Clinton administration; and William S. Sessions, former Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Constitution Project seeks to formulate bipartisan solutions to contemporary constitutional and legal issues by combining high-level scholarship and public education. It is based at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. The Institute has emerged as one of the nation's leading advocates of civil liberties and human rights, litigating in the courts and educating the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States and around the world.
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