See It/Shoot It by Christopher J. Fuller

Author:Christopher J. Fuller
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300227673
Publisher: Yale University Press

Why the Obama Administration Abandoned Extraordinary Rendition as a Primary Counterterrorism Tool

Within the first week of his presidency Obama signed Executive Order 13491, revoking Bush’s previous order and effectively ceasing the CIA’s use of black sites as prisons. The order did not ban the actual practice of rendition, nor did it prohibit the short-term detention of terrorist suspects for interrogation before handing them over for prosecution.30 As a result, renditions continued under the Obama administration.31 For example, on October 5, 2013, in a predawn raid in Libya, Delta Force operatives assisted by FBI agents and CIA officers captured Abu Anas al-Libi, a terrorist under indictment in the United States for his role in the 1998 African embassy bombings. Libi was held in custody and interrogated on board the USS San Antonio in the Mediterranean Sea before being transported back to the United States for trial in a federal court in New York.32 Libi’s rendition, however, is far from the norm for the Obama administration’s counterterrorism practice. Despite the secrecy surrounding the practice of rendition, it is clear that the numbers seized and detained under Obama represent a fraction of those taken by the previous administration. So why did the Obama administration move away from the GREYSTONE policy that had been embraced so fervently by the Bush administration and instead adopt drone strikes as its primary tool for neutralizing al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies?

One of the primary motivations behind the Bush administration’s desire to capture al-Qaeda members was the desire to gather intelligence on the organization and its future plans. This information was to be gained through the controversial enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs). Unsurprisingly, those most closely associated with authorizing the techniques have strongly defended the benefits of their use. In his memoirs, President Bush claimed that the techniques proved highly effective, and that those interrogated revealed large amounts of information on al-Qaeda’s structure and operations. Ultimately, Bush declared, “the CIA interrogation program saved lives.”33 Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, perhaps the most vocal proponent of the use of EITs, rejected criticism of the practice as “recklessness cloaked in righteousness” in a high-profile speech he delivered at the American Enterprise Institute on May 21, 2009.34 Cheney used his memoirs to further defend the ethics of the EITs, arguing that they provided invaluable intelligence that enabled the government to prevent attacks and save American lives.35 The most senior account from the CIA on the issue of the EITs comes from Jose Rodriguez Jr., who was appointed head of the CTC following 9/11. As the center’s first post-9/11 director, Rodriguez was responsible for gathering intelligence on al-Qaeda’s network, and ultimately for advocating the use of enhanced interrogation. In his memoirs, Rodriquez stated categorically that he was certain, beyond any doubt, that these techniques, which had been approved by the highest levels of the U.S. government, certified as legal by the Department of Justice, and briefed to and supported by bipartisan leadership of congressional oversight committees, “shielded the people of the United States from harm and led to the capture and killing of Usama bin Laden.

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