Reykjavik Transit

Parliament sees UK logs of takeoffs and landings at Diego Garcia

In April leaked classified CIA documents from a forthcoming US Senate intelligence committee report revealed that the US had held "high value" detainees on Diego Garcia, which has been leased by Britain to the US since 1966, with the "full co-operation" of the British government. The Metropolitan police are currently investigating allegations that an opponent of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was rendered via Diego Garcia.
At least 10 high-value targets were secretly held and interrogated at Guantánamo’s Camp Echo at various times from late 2003 to 2004. They were then flown to Rabat, Morocco, before being officially sent to the U.S. military’s detention facility at Guantánamo in September 2006.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/9/senate-cia-torture.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/12/uk-cia-torture-flights-rendition-programme

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmfaff/377/37704.htm

The prisoner transfer flight, outlined in documents and interviews, visited five CIA prisons in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, Morocco and Guantanamo Bay. The flight plan was so poorly thought out, some in the CIA derisively compared it to a five-card straight revealing the program to outsiders: Five stops, five secret facilities, all documented.
The flight logs were compiled by European authorities investigating the CIA program.

The flight started in Kabul, where the CIA picked up al-Hawsawi at the secret prison known as the Salt Pit. The Boeing 737 then flew to Szymany, Poland, where a CIA team picked up professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and took him to Bucharest, Romania, to the new prison, code-named Britelite.

Next it was on to Rabat, Morocco, where the Moroccans ran an interrogation facility used by the CIA.

At 8:10 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2003, the Boeing 737 took off from a runway in Rabat. On board were al-Hawsawi, al-Nashiri, Zubaydah and Binalshibh. At 1 a.m. the following day, the plane touched down at Guantanamo.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/06/ap-exclusive-program-secret-cia-whisked-figures-gitmo-court-ruling/



[February 21 2998]


CIA Director Michael Hayden has now acknowledged that two rendition flights carrying terror suspects refueled on British territory, despite earlier U.S. assurances that none of the secret flights since the Sept. 11 attacks had used British airspace or soil.

Hayden told agency employees that information previously provided to the British "turned out to be wrong."

The spy agency reviewed rendition records late last year and discovered that in 2002 the CIA had in fact refueled two separate planes, each carrying a terror suspect, on Diego Garcia, a British island territory in the Indian Ocean.

"The refueling, conducted more than five years ago, lasted just a short time. But it happened. That we found this mistake ourselves, and that we brought it to the attention of the British government, in no way changes or excuses the reality that we were in the wrong. An important part of intelligence work, inherently urgent, complex, and uncertain, is to take responsibility for errors and to learn from them," Hayden stated in the message obtained by The Associated Press.

Hayden said neither man was tortured and denied there has ever been a holding facility for CIA prisoners on Diego Garcia.

Hayden delivered the news to the British government last weekend on a previously scheduled trip to London.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced the rendition flights earlier Thursday. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he "shared the disappointment that everybody has" about the stops, and it was important to ensure it would not happen again.

One of the two prisoners is now jailed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and the other was released to his home country, where he has since been freed by that government, according to a U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Neither man was part of the CIA's interrogation and detention program, according to the official. In this case, the CIA only moved them from one country to another. The CIA has held and interrogated fewer than 100 prisoners in its detention program, using "enhanced" or harsh interrogation techniques on about a third of them, Hayden has told Congress.

The rendition program secretly transfers alleged terrorists from one country to another without formal extradition proceedings. It can involve moving prisoners to the custody of governments where harsh interrogation techniques, including torture, are known to be used. The U.S. government insists it does not move prisoners to third countries without assurances that torture will not be used.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in December 2005 that the United States respects the sovereignty of foreign countries when conducting intelligence operations within their borders, suggesting that the CIA conducts rendition flights with the permission of the governments involved.

The process of getting permission from governments through which rendition flights fly did not begin until after the 2002 flights in question, according to a State Department official.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday that Rice spoke to Miliband about "the administrative error" on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, even with the best intentions, unfortunately, even with the most rigorous searches and, unfortunately, with good technology, sometimes administrative errors occur and this was the case," McCormack said. "We regret that there was an error in initially providing inaccurate information to a good friend and ally."

McCormack said the review last year was "self-generated."

"We, in taking a look in particular at the issue of Diego Garcia, asked ourselves a few questions and as a result generated this search," he said.

Gordon Johndroe, National Security Council spokesman for President Bush, said the incident was "unfortunate" but will not damage U.S.-British cooperation.

"Mistakes were made in the reporting of the information," he said. "But we will continue to have a good counterterrorism cooperation between the United States and United Kingdom."

Labels: black site, CIA Director Michael Hayden, cia prison, detention, Diego Garcia, extraordinary rendition, high-value, logs, rabat, senate intelligence committee, transfer flight

Between 2003 and 2006, the CIA operated a secret prison from the building's basement, bringing in high-value terror suspects for interrogation and detention, minutes from the center of Romania’s capital city of Bucharest. The CIA prison opened for business in the fall of 2003, after the CIA decided to empty the black site in Poland, according to former U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the detention program with reporters.
Shuttling detainees into the facility without being seen was relatively easy. After flying into Bucharest, the detainees were brought to the site in vans. CIA operatives then drove down a side road and entered the compound through a rear gate that led to the actual prison.
The detainees could then be unloaded and whisked into the ground floor of the prison and into the basement.
The basement consisted of six prefabricated cells, each with a clock and arrow pointing to Mecca, the officials said. The cells were on springs, keeping them slightly off balance and causing disorientation among some detainees.
The CIA declined to comment on the prison.
During the first month of their detention, the detainees endured sleep deprivation and were doused with water, slapped or forced to stand in painful positions, several former officials said. Waterboarding, the notorious interrogation technique that simulates drowning, was not performed in Romania, they said.

Labels: black site, bucharest, CIA, cia flights, detainee, extraordinary rendition, Romania

The CIA has tapes of 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh being interrogated in a secret overseas prison. The tapes depict Binalshibh's interrogation sessions at a Moroccan-run facility the CIA used near Rabat in 2002. more


At 8:10 p.m. on Sept. 23, 2003, the Boeing 737 took off from a runway in Rabat. On board were al-Hawsawi, al-Nashiri, Zubaydah and Binalshibh. At 1 a.m. the following day, the plane touched down at Guantánamo.
In early March 2004, as the legal documents piled up at the Supreme Court, the high court announced that oral arguments would be held in April. After that, a ruling could come at any time, and everyone at the island prison — secretly or not — would be covered.

On March 27,2004, a Gulfstream IV jet left Guantánamo Bay . The plane landed in Rabat the next morning. By the time the Supreme Court ruled June 28 that detainees should have access to U.S. courts, the CIA had once again scattered Zubaydah, al-Nashiri and the others throughout the black sites.

Two years later, after The Washington Post revealed the existence of the program, Bush emptied the prison network. Fourteen men, including the four who had been at Guantánamo Bay years earlier, were moved to the island prison. They have remained there ever since.

Labels: black site, CIA, Mauritania, morocco, rabat, Ramzi Binalshibh, tapes

The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison,While Mr. Obama signed an order to eliminate so-called black sites run by the Central Intelligence Agency in January, it did not also close this jail, which is run by military Special Operations forces.

Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse. The facility is referred to by many former prisoners as the Tor Jail, which translates as "black jail".

The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base. Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, said that the site fell into something of a legal limbo.

Labels: Admiral Olsen, Afghanistan, Bagram, black jail, black site, Parwan, Special Operations forces

According to the lunar Muslim calendar, 2004's new year - the beginning of the month of Muharram - fell on February 22. Amanatullah Ali, a rice merchant from the village of Ghabyanwal in Pakistan's Punjab, was coming to the end of a business trip to Iran. He crossed the border in Iraq - a pilgrimage considered especially auspicious during Muharram. While he was on his way there, in or around Baghdad, he was picked up by the SAS, then handed over to the Americans and flown to Bagram which has 650 detainees. On three occasions since he was detained, the Red Cross has helped Amanatullah to speak to his family by telephone,
'He wasn't captured by Americans,' Abdul Razzaq says, 'but by British. It was the British who took him.'

Labels: Amanatullah Ali, Bagram, black site, extraordinary rendition, flights, Obama Administration, SAS

In July 2005, a CIA-chartered Gulfstream IV, tail number N63MU, flew direct from Kabul to Vilnius. Several former intelligence officials involved in the CIA's prison program confirmed the flight as a prisoner transfer to Lithuania. The Vilnius prison was closed.

Labels: black site, CIA, extraordinary rendition, Gulfstream IV, Kabul, N63MU, Vilnius

The Bush administration declined to endorse a treaty meant to bar and punish "enforced disappearances" so that those overseeing the CIA's secret prison system would not be criminally prosecuted under its provisions. At least 81 countries have now signed, including all members of the European Union and many nations with checkered human rights records, such as Algeria, Argentina, Cuba and Guatemala.

A White House official said the Obama administration is reviewing the previous U.S. stance on the treaty as part of a wider look at international human rights accords that Washington has not signed. The official did not say when a decision might be made.

Labels: "enforced disappearances", black site, cia flights, detainee, extraordinary rendition, flight, John le Carré, rendition

Huffington
ACLU

Labels: black site, cia flights, extraordinary rendition, John le Carré, rendition sop manual

Kyle D. Foggo, Dusty: In November 2004, he was named the C.I.A.’s executive director, in effect its day-to-day administrative chief. He was eventually convicted in a bribery scandal involving former Representative Randall Cunningham of California. Mr. Foggo pleaded guilty and is serving a sentence on the fraud count. here

Labels: black site, CIA, detainees, Foggo, John Rizzo, prison

Working with friendly foreign intelligence services, the C.I.A. built or renovated buildings in several countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand and Poland. After the location of the prisons in Eastern Europe was revealed in late 2005, C.I.A. officials scrambled to move the prisoners to other, still-secret places. here and see and this

Labels: black site, CIA, cia flights detainees, detainee, detention

I have long fought to ban the use of contractors in interrogations and detention operations. So, I am very pleased that Mr. Panetta has announced that contractors will no longer conduct interrogations. I have introduced legislation this year and in the last Congress that would have banned such interrogations, and the CIA is now following this policy.

“The Director has also made a decision to terminate a contract to conduct security at the remaining CIA sites until they are decommissioned. I have been pushing to have the contract terminated and am very pleased with the Director’s decision. In addition to placing responsibility for detention and interrogation in the hands of government employees, where it belongs, Mr. Panetta has indicated that having the CIA carry out site security will save up to $4 million.


Statement of Senator Feinstein on Decision by CIA Director Panetta To Ban Contractor Interrogations, Terminate Site Contract. The sites were in Thailand, Romania and Poland, among other places.

Labels: black site, CIA Director, detainee, Feinstein, Panetta, Poland, Romania, Thailand

U.S. Navy on March 5 handed over seven suspected Somali pirates who were arrested in the Indian Ocean to the Kenyan police. Dressed in orange overalls and bare feet, the suspects who looked frail and tired were led into the cells of the port police station under tight guard. In January, the U.S entered into an agreement with Kenya to hand over suspected pirates to be tried in the country. Britain has already reached a similar agreement to hand over pirates to the Kenyan authorities. U.S. Embassy in Kenya released nine others in Bomasso Puntland, implying Kenya wouldn't accept them.

Labels: black site, detainee, Kenya, lewis clark, NCIS, pirates, prison, usns

Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Middle East Field Office-Bahrain is aboard the USNS Lewis and Clark "conducting witness and suspect interviews."

Labels: black site, lewis clark, NCIS, pirates, rendition, usns

The U.S. Embassy in Kenya has contacted authorities in Somalia's self-governing State of Puntland to 'transfer' over a group of suspected pirates, The U.S. Navy apprehended the pirate suspects in the Gulf of Aden and has been holding them aboard USNS Lewis and Clark. The implication is that Kenya doesn't want them.

Labels: black site, extraordinary rendition, Kenya, lewis clark, pirates, prison, Puntland, rendition, usns

Pirates captured in the Gulf of Aden were transferred to the USNS Lewis and Clark by helicopter, winched onto the ship's deck by crew members and led below deck to a holding area by US Marines.
"They will remain onboard (the Lewis and Clark) until information and evidence is assembled and evaluated so a decision can be made regarding their further transfer"
The nine-man crew that attempted a boarding of the MT Prem Divya were taken into custody joined seven other pirates captured February 11 from a small skiff containing that had attempted a forcible boarding of the MV Polaris using a ladder. Forcible boarding

Labels: black site, detainee, detention, extraordinary rendition, John le Carré, lewis clark, Prem Diva, usns

On February 11, the navy said, the MV Polaris, sailing under a Marshall Island flag, sent a distress call saying that seven men on a skiff had tried to force their way on board using a ladder. The Vella Gulf intercepted the skiff, found weapons and seized the suspects. For now the group is being held aboard the Lewis and Clark, a U.S. Navy ship equipped with bare-bones holding cells. Pentagon video footage showed thin black pallets and pillows spread on the floor and surrounded by coils of barbed wire.

USNS Lewis and Clark
Crew124 civilian, 11 naval, helicopter detachment when required
Overall Length210m
Length Between Perpendiculars199.55m
Beam32.2m
Design Draught9.12m
Scantling Draught (Maximum to Which Vessel is Loaded)9.50m
Displacement at Design Draught

The ships, which are not armed and are classified as non-combatant ships, are capable of operating independently for extended periods at sea while providing underway replenishment services and contribute to the US Navy's ability to maintain a forward presence.

Labels: black site, detainee, John le Carré, lewis clark, prison, rendition, T-AKE+1, usns

Justice lawyer, Douglas N. Letter, made the state-secrets argument on February 9, startling several judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit hearing the Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. case.

“Is there anything material that has happened” that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.
“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.
Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”
Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor.” The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

Labels: black site, cia flights, detainees, Jeppesen, John le Carré, prison, rendition

Mr. Panetta also said the agency would continue the Bush administration practice of “rendition” — picking terrorism suspects off the street and sending them to a third country. But he said the agency would refuse to deliver a suspect into the hands of a country known for torture or other actions “that violate our human values.”

Labels: black site, cia flights detainees, extraordinary rendition, John le Carré, rendition

President Obama is expected to sign executive orders that would allow its officers abroad to temporarily detain terrorism suspects and transfer them to other agencies, but would no longer allow the agency to carry out long-term detentions. They could also allow Mr. Obama to reinstate the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation operations in the future, by presidential order, as some have argued would be appropriate if Osama bin Laden or another top-level leader of Al Qaeda were captured. The White House might be open to allowing the use of methods other the 19 techniques allowed for the military.

Labels: black site, CIA, cia flights, craig obama, extraordinary rendition, John le Carré, prison

What Bush and Cheney did was different less in kind than in degree—creating a vast program of renditions and secret prisons, as well as aggressively pursuing "targeted killings" of "high-value targets." Congressional leaders were informed, but some said that the briefings were cryptic. National security is an unavoidably murky world. But it doesn't have to be quite so dark as Cheney et al. made it, loosing the dogs of war from some "undisclosed location." So much of the anger against the Bush administration could have been avoided if Bush had gone to Congress in the first place. Obama’s Cheney Dilemma By Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas

Evan Thomas claimed that when Americans are "under threat, we sort of make this pact" with the government allowing it to "[g]o off and be secret and do dirty things" without "tell[ing] us about it." wmv

Labels: black site, CIA, detainees, Evan Thomas, flight, Obama, Panetta, prison, rendition