A Loophole on Rendition

Barely noted in the joy over Mr. Obama's announcements recently, is a loophole in rendition policy. Rather than ban extraordinary renditions entirely, he chose to leave open the option for renditions to governments we "know" will treat prisoners properly. This begs the question of why we need renditions at all: it can't be for lack of faith in our domestic legal system. Rather, rendition seems to assume that we need someone else to do our dirty work, in extracting information from prisoners. This is not worthy of us: ban extraordinary renditions completely.