Rendering Opposition Useless

The Left is howling over rendering, the shipping of detainees to other nations for questioning. They suspect these fine, upstanding al Qaedans are being shipped to Egypt and Pakistan so things can be done to them that can't be done here in the good ol' US.

They may be right. Because if they're shipped to Egypt or Pakistan, chances are they will be held behind bars and interrogated, and that the interrogation will lead to the capture of other terrorists, the siezure of computers, the foiling of murderous plots. Whereas, if they were shipped here, they would get lawyers, file motions, protest mightly, and hold onto their information.

The New York Times provided its readers with the insight they need into rendering -- as opposed to the hysterics they've been opposed to -- in an op/ed by Michael Schuer, the man who started the entire process. For the Clinton Administration. Under direction of Sandy Berger and Richard Clarke. Some exerpts:

... the beginning of wisdom is to acknowledge that the non-C.I.A. staff members mentioned above knew that taking detainees to Egypt or elsewhere might yield treatment not consonant with United States legal practice. How did they know? Well, several senior C.I.A. officers, myself included, were confident that common sense would elude that bunch, and so we told them - again and again and again. Each time a decision to do a rendition was made, we reminded the lawyers and policy makers that Egypt was Egypt, and that Jimmy Stewart never starred in a movie called "Mr. Smith Goes to Cairo." They usually listened, nodded, and then inserted a legal nicety by insisting that each country to which the agency delivered a detainee would have to pledge it would treat him according to the rules of its own legal system.

So as the hounding of C.I.A. and the calls for its officers' blood continue, a few things must be made clear - all the more so if the government is really considering the renditions of many detainees now held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. First, the agency is peculiarly an instrument of the executive branch. Renditions were called for, authorized and legally vetted not just by the N.S.C. and the Justice Department, but also by the presidents - both Mr. Clinton and George W. Bush. In my mind, these men and women made the right decision - America is better protected because of renditions - but it would have been better if they had not lacked the bureaucratic and moral courage to work with Congress to find ways to bring all detainees to America.

Second, the rendition program has been a tremendous success. Dozens of senior Qaeda fighters are today behind bars, no longer able to plot or participate in attacks. Detainee operations also netted an untold number of computers and documents that increased our knowledge of Al Qaeda's makeup and plans.

The Left never considers the care that's taken in sensitive situations. They don't think about the vetting, the approvals, the oversight. They also don't think about the blood that's left in the veins instead of flowing into the street. It's why the hard left has never elected a President, and, if God continues to bless America, never will.

Note: The WSJ has an editorial on the subject here. Hat tip for both to Real Clear Politics.