http://mediamatters.org/static/video/rendition-200503090003.wmv60 Minutes, O'Reilly suggested Clinton approved of Bush administration "renditions"
CBS' 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley and Fox News host Bill O'Reilly both misleadingly suggested that the Bush administration's use of "rendition" -- the practice of transferring suspected terrorists from where they are captured to other countries, including nations known for torturing prisoners, while bypassing formal extradition procedures -- is merely a continuation of Clinton administration policy. The Bush administration has recently endured criticism from human rights advocates and at least one congressman over the practice. While the Clinton administration practiced rendition in rare circumstances, usually to send a suspect to a country to face criminal charges, the Bush administration has vastly increased the practice of transferring suspects solely in order to subject them to interrogation in other countries.
On the March 6 broadcast of 60 Minutes, Pelley quoted Michael Scheuer, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency's special unit on Osama bin Laden, saying that "renditions were authorized by Clinton's National Security Council." Citing 60 Minutes, O'Reilly made passing references to "the rendition policy instituted by President Clinton" on the March 7 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and on his radio show.
By contrast, The New York Times reported on March 6 that the Clinton administration enforced much greater oversight and tighter restrictions on renditions and generally used the practice to allow suspects to face criminal prosecutions, rather than solely to undergo interrogation:
Before Sept. 11, the C.I.A. had been authorized by presidential directives to carry out renditions, but under much more restrictive rules. In most instances in the past, the transfers of individual prisoners required review and approval by interagency groups led by the White House, and were usually authorized to bring prisoners to the United States or to other countries to face criminal charges.
As part of its broad new latitude, current and former government officials say, the C.I.A. has been authorized to transfer prisoners to other countries solely for the purpose of detention and interrogation.
Similarly, Jane Mayer reported in the February 14 edition of The New Yorker that the limited rendition program under President Clinton expanded after 9-11 "beyond recognition":
Rendition was originally carried out on a limited basis, but after September 11th, when President Bush declared a global war on terrorism, the program expanded beyond recognition -- becoming, according to a former C.I.A. official, "an abomination." What began as a program aimed at a small, discrete set of suspects -- people against whom there were outstanding foreign arrest warrants -- came to include a wide and ill-defined population that the Administration terms "illegal enemy combatants."
On the March 6 broadcast of CBS' 60 Minutes, Pelley failed to note the distinction between the rendition policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations:
SCHEUER