And now for another rendition …

The word “rendition” on today’s front page in a story about pilots linked to a CIA operation sent me to a dictionary. I knew that “rendition” is related to “render,” but I wasn’t sure about the word in the context it was used in the story. The first thing I think of when I read or hear “rendition” is a performance, as of a song.

Here is one sentence from the story that gives a clue to the meaning:

Elsewhere in Europe, legal and parliamentary investigations have focused a harsh spotlight on the CIA’s program to abduct suspected terrorists and ferry them to secret sites for interrogation, operations known variously as “black renditions” or “extraordinary renditions.”

A “rendition” in law is a surrender, as when one authority turns over a person to another authority. Here is a short explanation from SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy.

World Wide Words also explains the term.

This article was originally posted by the Raleigh News & Observer, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Co.; is posted here to provide continuity; and is copyright © 2011 The News & Observer Publishing Company, which reserves the right to remove this post.