A reminder from Italy

Last week an Italian court found 23 Americans guilty of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003.

The case was significant given Italy’s close relationship with the United States – generally charges of extraordinary rendition are not brought up amongst allies.
The foundations and the limits of international law were challenged this week, but the result will yield little practical effect.

The prohibition of extraordinary rendition, something America has practiced by kidnapping suspected terrorists in one country and then transporting them to countries with more lenient interrogation techniques for questioning, is one of several international laws that have been routinely thrown to the wayside by the United States and others in the last decade’s war on terrorism.

It’s commendable that Italy took the unexpected step of following through with the entire criminal proceedings, even as the CIA mostly dismissed the ordeal and refused to comment.

This tight-lipped attitude toward matters of international law is a disturbing example of the intelligence community’s self-perceived immunity from the very laws that they should be seeking to uphold.

Terrorism obviously represents an unmatched thwarting of the foundations of world order, but in fighting it, we must find ways to preserve national sovereignty and adhere to legal standards.

This trial was the first of its kind. It is a reminder, although a late one, that the international community might not always stand by in the face of blatant disregard of the law. However, the fact that the trial was the first and only of its kind – and the fact that it will remain a rarity for the near future – is a wake up call.

Rendition of suspected criminals is often only a method by which to carry out interrogation techniques that are prohibited by any legal or moral standard. The practice itself has been repudiated by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, but even if one believes, like President Obama, that rendition is currently a necessary tool in the fight against terror, the Italian case is a call to action.

If the CIA and the United States are truly able to justify the use of rendition, and feel they must do so in order to protect national security, then it’s time to have a serious conversation with other world leaders about the practice.

The international community should recognize the importance of following the laws that exist, or revising them to work in a changed global environment.

Otherwise, the foundation of national sovereignty and international law will continue to be undermined by the embarrassingly hypocritical behavior of those who do not recognize their supremacy.