It’s time for the Bush administration, and those European governments that have aided its “renditions” of suspected terrorists, to come clean and return to international, legal procedures that govern the treatment of detainees.

Renditions refer to the Central Intelligence Agency’s process of secretly nabbing suspects in one country and transferring them to another for interrogations. The suspects are often “rendered” to secret prisons in countries like Egypt, Syria, or Afghanistan. They may be denied legal process, and in some cases, allegedly tortured.

Until recently, European governments have been critical of the US rendition process and have mostly denied hosting secret prisons and transit points in their countries. But this past weekend, the government of Italy arrested two of its intelligence officials for their alleged involvement with the CIA in the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian imam, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. Nasr was picked up near his home in Milan and flown to Egypt, where, he claims, he was tortured. In addition, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for four more Americans — three of them CIA employees and one from the military air base at Aviano, Italy.

Last month, German officials admitted they were told about the CIA’s December 2003 abduction of Khaled al-Masri. The German citizen was allegedly nabbed by CIA agents while traveling through Macedonia, then transferred to Afghanistan, where he claims he was tortured during interrogations.

Several suspected terrorists are suing the US for damages. Renditions aren’t exactly new. They’ve been around since 1986, when President Reagan authorised the practice to deal with the terrorist suspects who might have been responsible for the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut. The practice was again put into use by the Clinton administration to transport terrorists and drug lords to the US or other countries. But it first made big news in February 1995, when US agents flew a manacled and blindfolded Ramzi Youssef from Islamabad to the US, where he was later jailed for life because of his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Then in 2002, President Bush decided that “enemy fighters” would not be considered “prisoners of war,” although they would be afforded protections. Experts argue that interpretation makes possible the practice of rendition and other alleged abuses.

International rights groups and several governments are calling for an end to the practice. Amnesty International requested complicit European governments to end what Amnesty calls a “see no evil” policy on CIA renditions. The EU parliamentarians from Athens to London are voicing disgust. It voted last week to condemn the CIA for its anti-terror operations in Europe.

Continuing US renditions, European condoning of these practices, and covering them up, weakens the war on terror. It dishonours all concerned. Results of official investigations should be published and full process of law restored by all concerned. — The Christian Science Monitor