"The agency just wants these people to disappear forever"

Mamdouh Habib, an Australian citizen who grew up in Egypt, was captured in Pakistan in October 2001 by American forces who suspected him of being a terrorist, then sent to an Egyptian prison cell where (he says) he was tortured into false confessions, before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in May 2002. He's now being sent back to Australia, a free man. In the L.A. Times roundup of Habib's case, there is this chilling passage about the CIA's practice of outsourcing torture, known euphemistically as "extraordinary rendition":

News accounts, congressional testimony and independent investigations suggest the spy agency has covertly delivered at least 18 terrorism suspects since 1998 to Egypt, Syria, Jordan and other Middle Eastern nations where, according to State Department reports, torture has been widely used on prisoners.

The actual number of CIA-run renditions, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, is believed to be far higher. Officials say the CIA's role has varied widely, from providing electronic and other covert surveillance before raids to flying blindfolded terrorism suspects from one country to another on a Gulfstream jet the agency uses.

"It's a growth industry," said a recently retired CIA clandestine officer who worked on several "renditions" in the Arab world. "We rendered a lot of people to Egypt, Jordan and the Saudis in particular…. Ultimately, the agency just wants these people to disappear forever."