(Cross Posted from The Blog Roundup).
It appears the CIA are using several Gulfstream jets to secretly transport terror suspects to unknown locations, out of the reach of (and away from the prying eyes of) reporters, the courts, and even the Red Cross. According to the Washington Post, such detainees, often hooded and shackled, are being smuggled to friendly countries with poor records of human rights so that their interrogations can be carried out without niggly little interruptions, such as trials, humane treatment or (heaven forbid) the Geneva Convention. The CIA has set up a shell company with fake directors which "owns" the jets in order to facilitate this process, which is called "rendition":
Jet Is an Open Secret in Terror War by Dana Priest, Washington Post (subscription)
Since Sept. 11, 2001, secret renditions have become a principal weapon in the CIA's arsenal against suspected al Qaeda terrorists, according to congressional testimony by CIA officials. But as the practice has grown, the agency has had significantly more difficulty keeping it secret.
(more below...)
According to airport officials, public documents and hobbyist plane spotters, the Gulfstream V, with tail number N379P, has been used to whisk detainees into or out of Jakarta, Indonesia; Pakistan; Egypt; and Sweden, usually at night, and has landed at well-known U.S. government refueling stops.
As the outlines of the rendition system have been revealed, criticism of the practice has grown. Human rights groups are working on legal challenges to renditions, said Morton Sklar, executive director of the World Organization for Human Rights USA, because one of their purposes is to transfer captives to countries that use harsh interrogation methods outlawed in the United States. That, he said, is prohibited by the U.N. Convention on Torture.
Let's not forget in all this that Donald Rumsfeld has reportedly already ordered prisoners to be held "off the books" in a clear violation of international law. And lest there be any doubt as to the true purpose of such concealment, let's also not forget that the Red Cross has clearly shown that the now infamous acts of torture in Abu Ghraib (and elsewhere) were not isolated incidents by a few rogue soldiers, but were part of a widespread policy of abuse tantamount to torture. Clearly, the United States is "disappearing" people without trial (or even evidence) for the sole purpose of torturing them, all in the name of the war on terrorism. In any other country in the world this practice would be called illegal and condemned by the US as the barbaric actions of a repressive government. The White House would do well to remember that even at 88 years of age, apparently General Pinochet will now finally be tried for his cruel, repressive, and inhuman regime in Chile in the 70s and 80s.
Rumsfeld's response to all this? His main concern seems to be with the serious danger to national security from... the people who have the nerve to report such incidents of torture. Unbelievable.
This vile stain on America's moral character will be harshly judged both by history in the future, but more importantly by the rest of the world today. US citizens who care about what is being done in their name must find their outrage, and call their government to account, and stop these kind of activities immediately, or be judged by history as condoning it.
- Trendar