“The Outsourcing of Evil”

No doubts that the most unfortunate expression that has become part of the English vocabulary is “extraordinary rendition”, since “extraordinary” does not necessarily mean “extraordinary” but “secret”, “ruthless” and “extralegal”. And so does “rendition” – a polysemous term that may mean “performance”, “exchange” or even “capitulation”, but which here means “secret abduction of individuals to be interrogated at secret places in countries where torture is permitted”. This phrase has noisily penetrated the new political language replacing the construction “exportation of torture”.
Now that John McCain finally got them to pass the torture act, one may think that the Bush administration will increase the transfer of prisoners. There are more and more trials everyday concerning such transfers; and everything leads one to believe that this is imperceptible in relation to what has been done. During her trip to Europe, Condoleezza Rice, advised European leaders not to get involved in the issue and they agreed.
In late December, the German police closed an Islamic centre in Munich for having found slogans calling for suicidal attacks. We were told that a plaintiff at one of such prisoner transfer trials regularly attended that centre. So, this should make us think that such actions are justified. But we would be stripping law of its essence if we thought the end justifies the means. Words are now modified to change logic, and then practice. Though such practices might dodge legal condemnation, they should not, however, escape moral judgment.