Nevermind: Obama ok's CIA torture and rendition.

Epic fail. What happened to not sacrificing our country's ideals for safety? And shame on our media - I only saw this in British press.

Barack Obama has granted the CIA permission to continue carrying out the controversial Bush-era practice of extraordinary rendition, it has emerged.

And he did so just two days after becoming president and vowing to dismantle his predecessor's war on terror.

As the new U.S. President issued orders shutting down the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay and fought to show the Muslim world that 'America is not your enemy', it was revealed that the renditions programme may even be expanded.

Under executive orders signed by Mr Obama on January 22, two days after his inauguration, the CIA still has the authority to carry out renditions - secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the programme may even play an expanded role going forward as it is the main remaining mechanism - apart from Predator missile strikes - for taking suspected terrorists off the streets.

The U.S. has been stepping up its usage of Predator missile strikes in states such as Pakistan - but the horrifying rate of civilian casualties that go along with such strikes make the practice almost as controversial as rendition.

[...] But despite the controversy surrounding the secretive practice, Mr Obama appears to have decided it was the one component of Mr Bush's war on terror that it must keep.

'Obviously you need to preserve some tools - you still have to go after the bad guys,' an Obama administration official told the LA Times.

'The legal advisors working on this looked at rendition. It is controversial in some circles and kicked up a big storm in Europe. But if done within certain parameters, it is an acceptable practice.'