>I'd say the only reason such abuse seem "historical" is that we're unaware of the abuses going on right now.

That's my point. The US government may or may not be mildly abusing it's citizens by spying on them illegally, it's hard to know. Compare to Russia or China where it most certainly is vehemently abusing people it disagrees with.

Also, I think the rendition was only for non-citizens. The US doesn't really give much of a shit about you if you're not a US citizen.