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EU investigator seeks data on CIA planes (Who Leaked to Human Rights Watch?)
AP via Miami Herald ^ | 22 November 2005 | JAN SLIVA

Posted on 11/23/2005 7:59:33 AM PST by Stultis

EU investigator seeks data on CIA planes




Associated Press

The head of an investigation into alleged secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe said Tuesday he was checking 31 suspect planes that landed in Europe in recent years and was trying to acquire past satellite images of sites in Romania and Poland.

If the European probe uncovers evidence of covert facilities, the potential impact ranges from major embarrassment for the United States to political turmoil in countries that might have participated, even unwittingly. Countries found housing secret detention centers also could be suspended or expelled from the 46-member Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog organization.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Swiss senator Dick Marty said the Council of Europe, on whose behalf he was investigating, had a "moral obligation" to look into claims the CIA set up secret prisons on the continent to interrogate al-Qaida suspects.

He said that despite lack of proof, there were "many hints, such as suspicious moving patterns of aircraft, that have to be investigated."

But given the limited powers of the Strasbourg-based council, Marty's chances of uncovering explosive state secrets seemed unclear. The U.S. government has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such facilities.

Allegations the CIA hid and interrogated key al-Qaida suspects at Soviet-era compounds in Eastern Europe were first reported in The Washington Post on Nov. 2. The paper did not name the countries involved.

A day later, Human Rights Watch said it had evidence indicating the CIA transported suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan to Poland and Romania. The New York-based group identified the Kogalniceanu military airfield in Romania and Poland's Szczytno-Szymany airport as possible sites for secret detention centers, saying it based its conclusion on flight logs of CIA aircraft from 2001 to 2004 that it had obtained.

In a report presented in Paris on Tuesday to the legal affairs committee of the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly, Marty said other airports that might have been used by CIA aircraft in some capacity are Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Larnaca in Cyprus and Shannon in Ireland.

Marty's report - a copy of which was obtained by the AP - contends the aircraft are "alleged to belong to entities with direct or indirect links to the CIA. It is claimed these were used by the CIA to transport prisoners."

He said he asked the Brussels, Belgium-based Eurocontrol air safety organization to provide details of 31 suspect planes that flew through Europe, in accordance with a list given to him by Human Rights Watch.

Member states send Eurocontrol - also known as the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation - flight logs of both civilian and military flights, but these are not published.

Marty also said he asked the European Union's Satellite Center in Spain to look up and hand over satellite images of suspect sites in Romania and Poland.

"When we talk about 'prisons,' they don't necessarily have to be for many people, they could be cells for a very small group of people, one or two," he said.

Marty said he was planning to ask authorities in the Council of Europe's member states whether they have been contacted in order to "authorize secret detention in one form or another."

He also said he intended to ask Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to share any information the Senate may get from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on the possible existence of secret detention facilities outside the United States.

Earlier this month, the Senate approved a proposal by Kerry to require National Intelligence Director John Negroponte to provide congressional intelligence committees with details of any clandestine facilities where the United States holds or has held terrorism suspects.

A Kerry spokeswoman, April Boyd, said the senator was not inclined to honor Marty's request because it would require him to disclose classified information.

"Senator Kerry stood up to hold this administration accountable and re-establish congressional oversight because he was deeply concerned about what he'd read in the newspapers about alleged secret prisons," Boyd said. "But classified information cannot be shared with outside groups or the news media."

On Tuesday, several EU countries - including Britain, the Netherlands and Finland - agreed to write the United States on behalf of the European Union requesting clarification of the reports of secret prisons.

Marty said the probe was not meant to spark anti-American feelings or question the U.S. fight against terrorism.

"This is absolutely not a crusade against America. I think all Europeans agree with Americans that we must fight terrorism," he said. "We do not want to weaken the fight against terrorism ... but this fight has to be fought by legal means. Wrongdoing only gives ammunition to both the terrorists and their sympathizers."

The Council of Europe is the guardian of the European Convention on Human Rights, a legally binding human rights treaty signed by all 46 council members. The council itself has no direct jurisdiction over any country but can exercise political pressure.

Membership in the organization is considered prestigious for European countries as it attests to their attachment to Europe's human rights principles.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; cia; cialeaks; detainees; gwot; hrw; humanrightswatch; leaks
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...emphasis added.
1 posted on 11/23/2005 7:59:33 AM PST by Stultis
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To: Stultis
See Also:

US has secret prisons in Poland and Romania - Human Rights Watch ^
  Posted by Panerai
On News/Activism ^ 11/03/2005 9:08:16 PM CST · 85 replies · 995+ views


Forbes.com ^ | 11/03/2005
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has secret prisons in eastern Europe, notably in Poland and Romania, where Al-Qaeda suspects may be held, Human Rights Watch said. 'Human Rights Watch (HRW) has carried out independent investigations which suggest that the secret installations in eastern Europe...are in Poland and Romania,' said Jean-Paul Marthoz, a spokesman for the group's Belgian branch. 'Our inquiries up until now seem to indicate that Poland and Romania are the countries that received prisoners held by the CIA,' he said. He refused to rule out that the CIA could be holding 'ghost prisoners' elsewhere in eastern Europe. The...

2 posted on 11/23/2005 8:00:22 AM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: Stultis

Joe Wilson blabbing some more.


3 posted on 11/23/2005 8:00:49 AM PST by rod1
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To: Stultis

If this is &^*%!@^ treason what is?? And if it WAS a Republican who leaked - OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!


4 posted on 11/23/2005 8:02:36 AM PST by mosquitobite (As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.)
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To: Stultis
http://www.humanrightswatch.org/english/docs/2005/11/07/usint11995.htm

Human Rights Watch Statement on U.S. Secret Detention Facilities in Europe

The Washington Post reported on November 3, 2005 that the United States has used secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere to illegally hold terrorist suspects without rights or access to counsel. Citing U.S. government concerns, the article did not identify the locations in Eastern Europe.Human Rights Watch has conducted independent research on the existence of secret detention locations that corroborates the Washington Post’s allegations that there were detention facilities in Eastern Europe.  
 
Specifically, we have collected information that CIA airplanes traveling from Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 made direct flights to remote airfields in Poland and Romania. Human Rights Watch has viewed flight records showing that a Boeing 737, registration number N313P – a plane that the CIA used to move several prisoners to and from Europe, Afghanistan, and the Middle East in 2003 and 2004 – landed in Poland and Romania on direct flights from Afghanistan on two occasions in 2003 and 2004. Human Rights Watch has independently confirmed several parts of the flight records, and supplemented the records with independent research.  
 
According to the records, the N313P plane flew from Kabul to northeastern Poland on September 22, 2003, specifically, to Szymany airport, near the Polish town of Szczytno, in Warmia-Mazuria province. Human Rights Watch has obtained information that several detainees who had been held secretly in Afghanistan in 2003 were transferred out of the country in September and October 2003. The Polish intelligence service maintains a large training facility and grounds near the Szymany airport.  
 
The records show that the N313P plane landed the next day, September 23, 2003, at the Mihail Kogalniceanu military airfield in Romania. The flight records indicate that the plane flew on to Morocco the same day, and then to Guantanamo Bay. The Department of Defense, which releases information about all detainee transfers to Guantanamo, released no statement about a transfer to Guantanamo around this date.  
 
According to our research, the United States has been using the Mihail Kogalniceanu airfield in Romania for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002, and the base has been closed to the public and journalists since early 2004. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Romania and the Mihail Kogalniceanu base in October 2004. The N313P plane also flew from Kabul to Timisoara airport in Romania on January 25, 2004.  
 
On Friday, the Associated Press quoted Szymany airport officials in Poland confirming that a Boeing passenger plane landed at the airport at around midnight on the night of September 22, 2003. The officials stated that the plane spent an hour on the ground and took aboard five passengers with U.S. passports.  
 
The N313P airplane, and other planes allegedly used by the CIA to transport prisoners, have also repeatedly landed at airports in Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, and Libya, as well as in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Macedonia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Greece. Most of these landings have taken place at major civilian airports or joint civilian-military airports, both unlikely locales for clandestine operations. The Szymany and Mihail Kogalniceanu airfields are more remote.  
 
Further investigation is needed to determine the possible involvement of Poland and Romania in the extremely serious activities described in the Washington Post article. Arbitrary incommunicado detention is illegal under international law. It often acts as a foundation for torture and mistreatment of detainees. U.S. government officials, speaking anonymously to journalists in the past, have admitted that some secretly held detainees have been subjected to torture and other mistreatment, including waterboarding (immersing or smothering a detainee with water until he believes he is about to drown). Countries that allow secret detention programs to operate on their territory are complicit in the human rights abuses committed against detainees.  
 
Human Rights Watch knows the names of 23 high-level suspects being held secretly by U.S. personnel at undisclosed locations. An unknown number of other detainees may be held at the request of the U.S. government in locations in the Middle East and Asia. U.S. intelligence officials, speaking anonymously to journalists, have stated that approximately 100 persons are being held in secret detention abroad by the United States.  
 
Human Rights Watch emphasizes that there is no doubt that secret detention facilities operated by the United States exist. The Bush Administration has cited, in speeches and in public documents, arrests of several terrorist suspects now held in unknown locations. Some of the detainees cited by the administration include: Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian arrested in Pakistan in March 2002; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, arrested in September 2002; Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (also known as Abu Bilal al-Makki), arrested in United Arab Emirates in November 2002; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, arrested in Pakistan in March 2003 along with Mustafa al-Hawsawi; and Hambali (aka Riduan Isamuddin) arrested in Thailand in August 2003.  
 
Human Rights Watch urges the United Nations and relevant European Union bodies to launch investigations to determine which countries have been or are being used by the United States for transiting and detaining incommunicado prisoners. The U.S. Congress should also convene hearings on the allegations and demand that the Bush administration account for secret detainees, explain the legal basis for their continued detention, and make arrangements to screen detainees to determine their legal status under domestic and international law. We welcome the decision by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to examine the existence of U.S.-run detention centers in Council of Europe member states. We also urge the European Union, including the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, to further investigate allegations and publish its findings.  


5 posted on 11/23/2005 8:03:59 AM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: Dog

Do you know who to ping to this?


6 posted on 11/23/2005 8:04:41 AM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: mosquitobite

Most likely the 'logs' are as phony as three-dollar bills, generated ala the Bill Burkett method.


7 posted on 11/23/2005 8:05:37 AM PST by AmericaUnited
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To: Stultis
I'm so PIXXXXXED right now! Not only did some @$$wipe leak this information out of the CIA, but Lott says it might have been a republican who leaked the info to the press.

If so, this is treason. No doubt about it.

8 posted on 11/23/2005 8:06:18 AM PST by mosquitobite (As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.)
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To: Stultis

We need to have these camps in places like China - were they'd sooner kill a reporter than divulge information such as this!


9 posted on 11/23/2005 8:08:10 AM PST by mosquitobite (As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.)
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To: mosquitobite
If so, this is treason.

The standard for treason is: if it damages the U.S., it is acceptable.

10 posted on 11/23/2005 8:08:19 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (Peace Begins in the Womb)
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To: rod1

Why don't we just give Osama top secret security clearance. It would put Wa-Po. NYT and Latte Times out of business. And save us all a lot of aggravation.


11 posted on 11/23/2005 8:08:33 AM PST by Calusa (Say Nick, was ya ever stung by a dead bee?)
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To: Stultis
He also said he intended to ask Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to share any information the Senate may get from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on the possible existence of secret detention facilities outside the United States.

Kerry should be ashamed to be the go to traitor.

12 posted on 11/23/2005 8:08:35 AM PST by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: Stultis
The morning after this story broke CNN had a report all ready with this info about Human Rights Watch tracking CIA plane tail numbers. They even had an interview with one of those commies. It was almost like they had this report all ready just waiting for the right time to broadcast it.
13 posted on 11/23/2005 8:11:01 AM PST by McGruff (Happy Thanskgiving to all! (except the MSM and DU lurkers))
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To: ncountylee
Notice Kerry was "not inclined" as opposed to absolutely refusing in the strongest of terms.
14 posted on 11/23/2005 8:13:32 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (It is easy to call for a pi$$ing contest when you aren't going to be in the line of fire.)
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To: Stultis

They can't touch us. What are they gonna do, say BOO. Hell, they couldn't do crap about three weeks of rioting in france, and they think they got the muscle to mess with us...to hell with them.


15 posted on 11/23/2005 8:15:06 AM PST by processing please hold (Islam and Christianity do not mix ----9-11 taught us that)
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To: McGruff

Of course to track CIA planes one would have to know the names of the front companies. How easy is that for someone in the spy world to get?


16 posted on 11/23/2005 8:15:25 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (It is easy to call for a pi$$ing contest when you aren't going to be in the line of fire.)
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To: McGruff
This is a big story in Canada also as "CIA planes" have alledgedly landed there.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=cia+planes+canada

CIA Planes in Canada -- COMPLETE Details, List (Table 1)
CMAQ, Canada - 19 hours ago
... their territory to be used by the CIA to jail top suspected al-Qaeda captives." We report that HRW knows that from tracing the movements of CIA planes and WE ...

Metro Toronto
CIA Planes Landing in Canada? MP Wants to Know
580 CFRA Radio, Canada - Nov 22, 2005
Records show at least six planes with alleged links to CIA front companies have landed at Canadian airports in the last six months. ...
Canada probing CIA plane reports China Post
Planes linked to alleged CIA fronts landed at several Canadian ... Brandon Sun
Planes linked to alleged CIA fronts landed at Canadian airports@ Boston Globe
all 37 related »
Investigator seeks details on planes allegedly used to transfer ...
Canada East, Canada - Nov 22, 2005
PARIS (AP) - The head of a European probe into alleged secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe is investigating 31 suspected flights that landed in Europe in ...

CTV.ca
CIA-linked plane flew through NL, records show
CTV.ca, Canada - Nov 20, 2005
... Those planes also landed in Canada in 2001, according to aircraft registries consulted by the newspaper. "The fact that an airplane linked to the CIA landed on ...
CIA aircraft linked to Newfoundland
London Free Press, Canada - Nov 19, 2005
... A spokesperson for Nav Canada, which operates Canada's civil air ... Iceland and Sweden are probing allegations that planes flown by the CIA used their air ...
Terror questions fly
Ottawa Sun, Canada - Nov 20, 2005
... that an airplane linked to the CIA landed on ... against jumping to conclusions that the planes were transporting ... "The geographic proximity between Canada and the ...

CBS News
Romania Denies Air Base Used As CIA Prison
CBS News - Nov 4, 2005
... the United States, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and ... the flight patterns of the CIA aircraft with ... Mihail Kogalniceanu airport, where planes carrying detainees ...
Kadafi's Son Calls for Closer Ties With US
Los Angeles Times, CA - Nov 4, 2005
... In Canada in September to open an exhibit of Libyan art that ... collaboration is found in flight records for two private planes leased by the CIA, which Human ...
On this day
News24, South Africa - Nov 8, 2005
... 1950 - First battle between jet planes breaks out as ... 1991 - The European Community and Canada impose economic ... Ahmed Hijazihas, is killed by a CIA airstrike in ...
Mexico – caught in the middle of the Americas
Mexidata.info, CA - Oct 23, 2005
... Too, Canada stresses attention to fighting terrorism and the ... sale of technology to Venezuela to upgrade fighter planes. ... under the watchful eye of the US CIA. ...

17 posted on 11/23/2005 8:17:32 AM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: gov_bean_ counter
Of course to track CIA planes one would have to know the names of the front companies. How easy is that for someone in the spy world to get?

Three or four dates with Valerie Plame (or one casaual conversation with her blowhard hubbie).

18 posted on 11/23/2005 8:19:42 AM PST by Stultis (I don't worry about the war turning into "Vietnam" in Iraq; I worry about it doing so in Congress.)
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To: Fedora

bump


19 posted on 11/23/2005 8:26:19 AM PST by mosquitobite (As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.)
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To: Stultis

The reporter who published the supposed secret camps should be tried for Treason!


20 posted on 11/23/2005 8:41:31 AM PST by jw777
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