[riversflow]

Bullets don’t kill people, the guy pulling the trigger on the gun does. Spies don’t pull the trigger.

I believe literally all those things you don’t believe about having something being completely separate from using it. A car can kill people just as easily as a gun. So what? It’s who used the object who is responsible for what it does and owning something doesn’t necessarily imply using it or even imply it at all.

How do you justify that point of view? I really don’t get that perspective.

I can’t say for certain, but I doubt extraordinary rendition is only using "terrorist-detector model” and not relying on analysts/tips. Also worth noting is that it seems like it hasn’t happened in ~20 years, and was a product of 9/11 fervor.

Let me put it another way. Why should the powerful countries take weaker ones at their word and not employ fact checkers? Nations are only really beholden to their constituents and greater powers. Why would any country tell a major power who wasn’t spying the truth?

[feoren]

> A car can kill people just as easily as a gun ... How do you justify that point of view?

Right, and we have some oversight and regulation about who can operate a car, what kind of (admittedly low) bars they need to pass, and when their license can be revoked. What oversight and regulation do we have on what the CIA and NSA are doing? Congressional, obviously, yet it hasn't prevented the many abuses of the past.