The confusion over renditions

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S order to close the Guantanamo prison provoked comments from the right about the risks of bringing terrorist prisoners to the United States. His order banning torture, but not outlawing "extraordinary renditions," caused some on the left to complain. Both groups of critics, though, either overlook relevant parts of recent history or simply get that history wrong.

Before George W. Bush, there was no real question about what the United States should do with people who broke American anti-terror laws. It did not matter whether they were arrested in the United States or overseas. In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, for example, one suspect, Muhammad Salameh, was caught in New Jersey. Another, Ramzi Yousef, was caught in Pakistan. Upon arrest, both were given their Miranda rights, arraigned before a US magistrate, given a free lawyer appointed by the court, tried and convicted before a jury, and sentenced to the "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colo.

Nor did it matter whether terror suspects broke American law in the United States or abroad. The laws that make terrorist violence directed at Americans a crime also provide "extraterritorial jurisdiction," meaning the United States can try someone for such acts even if the crimes did not occur domestically. Mohammed Sadeek Odeh, who bombed the US embassy in Kenya, was arrested in Pakistan, returned to the United States, placed into the US justice system, afforded all the rights as an accused criminal, convicted, and is also now in Supermax.

Even in cases where the terrorist act was planned but not perpetrated, criminals were arrested and processed in federal courts. The so-called "Blind Sheik," Omar Abdul Rahman, was accused of plotting to bomb the United Nations, tunnels from Manhattan to New Jersey, and other iconic facilities. He too was convicted and placed in that same Colorado prison.

These examples demonstrate three things. First, the US criminal justice system has a history of successfully prosecuting terrorism cases and can continue doing so. There simply was no need for the special "kangaroo courts" created by the Bush administration.

Second, convicted terrorists have for some time resided at Supermax in Florence, Colo. Yet, as its mayor says, the town is "a great place to shop, stay, and visit," and has a low crime rate. Residents of Colorado are not bothered by the detention of these criminals. There has never been an escape by any of the terrorist prisoners.

Third, the return to the United States of Yousef and Odeh were "renditions" as defined by a directive from the first President Bush. Although all renditions have become controversial, these examples did not involve dragging criminals to a third country for torture or interrogation, nor did they violate US law or human rights. In these cases, the country in which the criminals were arrested waived their own extradition process and handed them over to US officials on the guarantee that they would be brought to the United States and afforded the same rights of the accused in the US justice system. The Supreme Court has even ruled that renditions occurring without the cooperation of the nation of arrest are legal if the accused is expeditiously brought into the US justice system.

It may happen again that the United States can only successfully arrest a suspect abroad if it fails to inform authorities in the country where the criminal is hiding. The United States once told the government of Qatar about an indicted criminal whom it sought and who was hiding in Doha. Almost immediately, the criminal fled, no doubt tipped off by someone in the Qatari government. That criminal was Khalid Shiekh Mohammad. Had he been arrested and brought back to stand trial, he may not have become the ringleader of the 2001 attacks, and 9/11 may have never happened. Thus, while wisely banning US involvement in torture, Obama was also prudent not to ban all renditions.

The prosecution in the US justice system of terrorism suspects and placing those convicted into prisons in the United States proved workable before the Bush administration. And it need not be something to fear in the future.

Richard Clarke, a counterterrorism adviser to former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, is author of "Against All Enemies" and "Your Government Failed You."