the usa turned up late for WW1
the usa turned up late for WW2
the usa turned up late for the war on Islamo-fascissm. It had been going on for years before 9/11. I had to get out of Algeria on account of it.
the usa never notices wars until they get a smack in the mouth themselves. Pure self interest- One of Bush's first moves in office was to scrap an OECD suggestion on controlling terrorist cash flow in offshore banking centers. Not so smart in the long run.

The cia's main reason for extraordinary rendition is that they are a crap spy agency who are in major panic mode trying to catch up on the terrs. Look at the first WTC bombing - how many intercepts did they have but were too uneducated to translate? go check it out.
The whole Abu ghraib nonsense was down to believing advice from Israel on prisoner disorientation. Having a naked girl interrogate a hyper-religous nut in guantanamo might work. Trying it with a secular ex-saddam army officer just might be a bit daft.

Dubya is fanatical about "loyalty" in his subordinates. So he is surrounded by third rate sycophants. They wouldn't even let him watch TV reports from New Orleans.
BTW where the heck is stormin' norman. Has he got Alzheimers or have they renditioned him too?

There is a very obvious reason for rendition. It is less to do with keeping the prisoners out of the US than giving "other" security forces a crack at them.
Long term the thing that noone will ever forgive the shrub and his cronies for is that they proved that the French WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG.
Long after this is over and Turkey has moved into Iraq and america are desperately trying to pay off the deficit the sodding french will be rubbing our noses in how much smarter than the rest of us they were. We will never here the end of it.