Extra-territorial rendition is a proportional act.

According to the Geneva convention the principle of proportionality states that harm caused to civilians or civilian property must be proportional and not excessive in relation to the direct military advantage anticipated in an attack on a military objective. Military objective is defined are defined to be those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage [[Article 52 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions ]]. When a state is in conflict with a non-state actor we think that a legitimate military objective is the capture (extraterriotorial if neccessary) of combatants of that non-state actor. In the case of terrorist networks individuals can bare a lot of power. There are terrorist ''king-pins'', who control and moralize other terrorists and are in possession of important information about the network. The capture of these individuals can be a blow to the terrorist organization, because it loses an experienced member who can train others and demoralizes the organization. Of course it also disarms this individual and limits his capacity to threaten the state further. With this we establish that there is a definite military advantage in the capture of such individuals. But is it proportional to the damage done to civilians? To justify the proportionality of extra-territorial rendition we have to look at what kind of damage it can bring to the civilian population of other states. The proposition has brought out that sometimes innocent individuals will be captured. Against this we argue that during the course of the trial the innocence or guilt of the captured individuals has to emerge. When it is established that the individual was indeed innocent the damage done to that person can be reversed by returning him to his home state. If however the individual is guilty, his capture would have potentially lead to the saving of lives of many civilians and thus is a proportional act. For proportional response to ever be applied, it is required that a country should have access to the entire spectrum of possible responses. Otherwise, it is impossible to select the response which matches the cause with the required severity. When options are taken from the table, what happens? Inevitably, a country will be left between two options, one which is less severe than that required, and one which is more severe. Even if we assume the country has mercy in its soul, and opts for the less response, the lack of proportionality will mean that it will not have fully served its purpose in cutting off the threat which provoked it, thereby making it less effective than the response that direct proportionality requires. Unfortunately, even this best case scenario is unlikely to happen. Countries are less sensitive to foreign deaths than those of their own citizens. Therefore, the path most chosen is likely to be that of greater than proportional vengeance, and therefore greater than proportional bloodshed. The importance of allowing small scale solutions to small scale problems is one widely recognised, at least implicitly, by modern nation states. Most nation states operate intelligence agencies, and many of these conduct operations overseas, often without the knowledge of local governments. And yet, the operations of these agents, who are the agents of a foreign state, and often involve the collection of sensitive information, or materials, is not, and is unlikely to ever be, considered a warcrime. The reason, is because without these small scale, surgical instruments at hand, states would have only far heavier tools for dismantling threats to their existence. In the case of extroardinary rendition. Certainly, there are some scenarios when a suspect would simply be left alone. But is it to be expected that any government would simply allow an individual who is plotting the murder of its citizens to continue unobstructed? Far more likely for goverrnments to take more drastic measures, from openly declared strikes and incursions, to placing economic, military, or political pressure on state leaders to permit the extradition and interrogation of their suspect. Both alternatives are far more damaging to long term political relations between the countries, and far less likely to be effective in stemming the short term problem. War crimes law should be designed to defuse conflict, not incite it.