Extraordinary Rendition, Extraterritorial Detention and Treatment of Detainees: Restoring Our Moral Credibility and Strengthening Our Diplomatic Standing

S. HRG. 110–257 EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION, EXTRATERRITORIAL DETENTION AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES: RESTORING OUR MORAL CREDIBILITY AND STRENGTHENING OUR DIPLOMATIC STANDING HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 26, 2007 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 40–379 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:46 Jan 25, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 DETAINEES sforel1 PsN: sforel1 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware, Chairman CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota BARBARA BOXER, California BOB CORKER, Tennessee BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire BARACK OBAMA, Illinois GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JIM DEMINT, South Carolina ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia JIM WEBB, Virginia DAVID VITTER, Louisiana ANTONY J. BLINKEN, Staff Director KENNETH A. MYERS, JR., Republican Staff Director (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:46 Jan 25, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 DETAINEES sforel1 PsN: sforel1 CONTENTS Page Biden, Hon. Joseph R., Jr., U.S. Senator from Delaware, opening statement ... 1 Press release dated July 26, 2007 ................................................................... 58 Byman, Dr. Daniel, director, Center for Peace and Security Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC .......................................................................................................................... 30 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 33 Eaton, MG Paul, USA (Ret.), former Commanding General, Office of Security Transition, Baghdad, Iraq ................................................................................... 38 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 Lugar, Hon. Richard G., U.S. Senator from Indiana, opening statement ........... 3 Malinowski, Tom, Washington Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch, Washington, DC ................................................................................................... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 Zelikow, Dr. Philip, White Burkett Miller Professor of History, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA ........................................................................... 15 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Responses to questions submitted by Senator Feingold ................................ 60 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD American Civil Liberties Union, news release dated July 26, 2007 .................... 63 Amnesty International USA, Washington, DC, prepared statement .................. 60 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:46 Jan 25, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 DETAINEES sforel1 PsN: sforel1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:46 Jan 25, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 DETAINEES sforel1 PsN: sforel1 EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION, EXTRATERRI- TORIAL DETENTION, AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES: RESTORING OUR MORAL CREDIBILITY AND STRENGTHENING OUR DIPLOMATIC STANDING THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2007 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:47 a.m., in room SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Biden, Feingold, Cardin, Casey, Lugar, Corker, Sununu, and Isakson. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., U.S. SENATOR FROM DELAWARE The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will come to order. Good morning gentlemen, thank you for being here. I’m glad you all could be here today to discuss one of the—I think—defining challenges of this decade, is how to effectively combat international terrorism while both maintaining our national values and our commitment to the rule of law, and respecting individual rights and civil liberties. Some have suggested that we need make a Faustian bargain that gives up one in order to accomplish the other. That’s what I’d kind of like to discuss with you all today. We meet today against the backdrop of the most recent national intelligence estimate, which concluded that the terrorist threat to the United States of America from al-Qaeda is back in full force. One conclusion, I believe, we can draw from this is that the admin- istration’s policies dealing with terrorism, thus far, are not working. Today’s hearing focuses on two of the less often discussed, but no less controversial counterterrorism policies we’ve employed since September the 11: Extraordinary rendition and extraterritorial detention. Rendition is the practice of detaining a terrorist operative in a foreign country and transferring him or her to the United States or to another foreign country. It has proved to be an effective way to take terrorists off the street and collect, on occasion, some valu- able information. But the U.S. Government’s use of rendition has been extremely controversial. Foreign governments have criticized the practice be- (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:46 Jan 25, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 DETAINEES sforel1 PsN: sforel1 2 cause it operates outside the rule of law and has allegedly been used to transfer suspects to countries that torture or mistreat them or to seek extraterritorial prisons, in countries where we have listed the countries as abusing the human rights of their fellow citizens. As a result, the current rendition program has taken a toll on the relationships with some of our closest foreign partners. Con- sider the following: Italy has indicted 26 Americans for their alleged role in a rendition. Germany has issued arrest warrants for an additional 13 United States intelligence officers. The Canadian Government Commission has censured the United States for ren- dering a Canadian-Syrian dual-citizen to Syria, where he was allegedly tortured. The Counsel of Europe and the European Union have each issued reports critical of the United States Government’s rendition program and the European countries’ involvement in, or complicity with, that program. Sweden and Switzerland have each initiated investigations of us, as well. Just yesterday, the United Kingdom issued a report on the United States rendition program, concluding that it would have, ‘‘serious implications,’’ for future intelligence relationships between the United States and the United Kingdom, one of our most impor- tant partners. Rendition as currently practiced, in my view, is undermining our moral credibility and standing abroad and, more importantly, I guess in the minds of the real politik crowd of which I occasionally consider myself one, weakening, weakening the coalition with foreign governments, the very governments that we need if we’re going to be able to combat international terrorism. We also put our intelligence officers at risk by not providing them with clear guide- lines to govern their conduct. As one of the witnesses today recently wrote, ‘‘Successful counterterrorism depends in part on convincing the world that there is no moral equivalency between the terrorist and the government they oppose. When the United States muddies those waters, this distinction begins to blur.’’ More ominous, the controversial aspects of the U.S. Government use of renditions have been used by propagandists and recruiters to fuel and sustain international terrorist organizations with a con- stant stream of new recruits. That’s not my judgment, that’s the judgment of many in the intelligence community. Allegations of U.S. lawlessness and mistreatment make their job easier—that is the recruiters—adding a refrain to the recruitment pitch, and increasing the receptivity of their target audience. Our counterterrorism authorities have not only—our counterterrorism authorities should not only thwart attacks, take dangerous terrorists off the street, and bring them to justice—these authorities should also strengthen international coalitions, win the hearts and minds of Muslim populations that are—would otherwise be prepared to cooperate with us and help diminish, if not deprive, recruitment, the narrative that they now have. In our long-term effort to stem the tide of international terrorism, our commitments to the rule of law and individual rights and civil liberties are among our most formidable weapons, in my view. They are what unite foreign governments behind us in effec- VerDate 11-MAY-2000 16:46 Jan 25, 2008 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 DETAINEES sforel1 PsN: sforel1 3 tive antiterrorism coalitions. They are what unite public opinion in this country in support of our counterterrorism efforts. They are what prevent the recruitment of the next generation of international terrorists, or at

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