Abduction, Torture, Interrogation – Oh My! An Argument Against Extraodinary Rendition

Abstract

An American citizen waits patiently in an airport terminal in Jordan for a flight back to the United States. Several men – Jordanian officials – are watching the American and waiting for the right moment to approach him. The American gets up and starts to walk away, perhaps to get a cup of coffee. The Jordanian officials stop the American quickly and take him to a secluded part of the airport. For the next several days, the Jordanians question the American relentlessly, trying to discover his connection to the torture of hundreds of Muslim and Middle Eastern individuals. They do not let him call the American consulate, an attorney, or any of his family members. After several days of non-stop interrogation, the Jordanians tell the American he is going home. They turn the American over to a group of Pakistani men who blindfold him, take him to a secluded airstrip, beat him, sodomize him, and sedate him before they put him on the plane. When the American regains full consciousness, he realizes that he is not in America. Instead, he is somewhere in Eastern Europe, forced to spend the majority of his time locked in a very small underground cell.