Secret CIA Flights Stopped, Purpose Unknown
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James Joyner | Wednesday, June 7, 2006 |
A Council of Europe investigation has concluded that the CIA has ceased stopping planes into Romania and Poland that may or may not have been part of a clandestine rendition program that may or may not have existed.
The head of an investigation into alleged CIA secret prisons in Europe said Wednesday that evidence suggests planes carrying terror suspects stopped in Romania and Poland and likely dropped off detainees there. Swiss Sen. Dick Marty’s final report, however, offered no clear, direct proof that CIA detention centers were set up in Europe — an allegation made by a human rights group last year.
Marty said Romania was part of what he called a “renditions circuit” and was used as a stopover by CIA-linked planes carrying terror suspects. He also said an airport in Poland was likely used as a detainee drop-off point, and accused a total of 14 European countries, including Britain, Italy and Germany, of violating human rights in connection with CIA activities. “We believe we are in a position to state that successive CIA rendition operations have taken place in the course of the same, single flight circuit,” Marty said in a report commissioned by the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights watchdog.
In the accompanying photo, Marty illustrates how many “two” is.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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To "cease stopping planes," as the story text has it, would appear to be an unintended double negative. Unless the CIA is just that sly.
The hand position in the photo is also an Australian gesture analogous to "the finger" here in America.
Which, IMO, is much funnier.
Hrm... probably a long shot around these parts, but I guess we do already have a few conservatives and a milblogger supporting us, so here goes:
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a few other NGOs, have designated June Torture Awareness Month. We've created a blogroll you can join if you're interested. You can find it here. The idea is that everyone is linked to from the blogroll, and in exchange, you discuss torture, and link to the Torture Awareness site to help support the NGOs.
There's a lot of bloggers concerned about human rights abuse in the War on Terror. If we coordinate, we can show our support and help Amnesty and HRW make Torture Awareness Month a success.
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