"Extraordinary Rendition"

When I was first heard this term on an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air last week, I thought I was hearing wrong…..extraordinary rendition…doesn’t it sound like a particularly beautiful drawing, a perfect representation of an image? To me it implies something lovely and beneficent…..it even sounds a bit like divine intervention. But, the sad truth is that our post 9/11 government coined this esoteric euphemism to mean this:
Extraordinary rendition is the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, particularly with regard to the alleged transfer of suspected terrorists to countries known to torture prisoners or to employ harsh interrogation techniques that may rise to the level of torture. (Wikipedia)
What?? Yes, it’s true. The interview was with a Canadian man of Syrian origin who had been picked up at JFK after 9/11 - for no good reason other than his name - and deported to Syria (where he had never been) for “questioning” AKA torture. He was imprisoned in a tiny, coffin like cell for nine months while being intermittently tortured for information he did not have. His case is now before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
While I don’t intend for this blog to be political, I haven’t been able to get this out of my mind. What’s been most profound to me (beyond, of course the shock of hearing this man’s story) is the insidious abuse of the power of language. How something that sounds so lovely and harmless can represent something too hideous to comprehend.
Okay, that’s all about that. I promise to find something optimistic to write about next.