A Small Irony: Boumediene Is Rendered To France

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May 15 2009, 1:44 pm by Marc Ambinder

The terrorism suspect whose case prodded the U.S. Supreme Court to declare that the Great Writ applies to Guantanamo detainees, Lakhdar Boumediene, is on his way to France today, where he'll face terrorism charges. Boumediene stood accused of planning to attack the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo; a U.S. judge ordered him released last year due to a lack of evidence. In Boumediene, the Court invalidated the 2006 Military Commissions Act -- the very bill that Obama's new proposals today are meant to replace. Boumediene will be free once he lands in France. He's the 2nd detainee to be rendered -- that is, transferred to a country that is not his own -- since Obama took office. Rendered, actually, isn't the right word for it: he's being flown there, on an airplane.