Earth: Mostly Harmless

This story’s about the CIA’s policy of clandestine ‘renditions’, that of transferring terrorist suspects to outwith the USA, where constitutional and legal protections don’t apply, and someone else can do the ‘dirty work’, i.e. aggressive interrogation or torture. We already know that a lot of this goes on, with Egypt being a favoured destination for suspects, but this story is unique in that it identifies one of the particular planes used in these forced transportations, even down to the plane’s tail number.

Interrogation under torture is one of those things which is very easy to condemn but equally hard to present alternatives to, especially in situations where ’suspects’ may be prepared to die to hide what they know. Yet while I can see the dilemma facing the CIA and the Bush Administration, it is truly a shame to see a free nation going to these lengths to circumvent the legal protections Americans and others have worked hard to preserve.

Jet Is an Open Secret in Terror War (washingtonpost.com): ”
The airplane is a Gulfstream V turbojet, the sort favored by CEOs and celebrities. But since 2001 it has been seen at military airports from Pakistan to Indonesia to Jordan, sometimes being boarded by hooded and handcuffed passengers.

The plane’s owner of record, Premier Executive Transport Services Inc., lists directors and officers who appear to exist only on paper. And each one of those directors and officers has a recently issued Social Security number and an address consisting only of a post office box, according to an extensive search of state, federal and commercial records.”

(Via The Washington Post. Registration required)