Remember "Bush is a war criminal, Bush allows rendition of terrorists "

[tombogan03884]

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_16-2009_08_22.shtml#1250973603

 The LA Times [1]reports on a recent rendition to the United States:

     A Lebanese citizen being held in a detention center [in Alexandria,
     VA] was hooded, stripped naked for photographs and bundled onto an
     executive jet by FBI agents in Afghanistan in April, making him the
     first known target of a rendition during the Obama administration.

     Unlike terrorism suspects who were secretly snatched by the CIA and
     harshly interrogated and imprisoned overseas during the George W.
     Bush administration, Raymond Azar was flown to this Washington
     suburb for a case involving inflated invoices.

     Azar, 45, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit bribery,
     the only charge against him. He faces a maximum of five years in
     prison, but a sentence of 2 1/2 years or less is likely under
     federal guidelines.

   According to the article, Azar and others were caught in a sting for
   paying kickpacks to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official in order
   to obtain payments to a foreign contractor.

   A Justice Department spokesperson says the FBI was just following
   "standard operating procedures" in how it handled Azar, adding "we
   take very seriously criminal fraud against the United States
   government." A representative of Human Rights Watch calls the case
   "bizarre." Unless there's more to this story, I'm with HRW on this
   one.

References

   1. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-rendition22-2009aug22,0,569241.story