Oops! US court case reveals CIA rendition details

[malaise]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14745941
<snip>
US court case has brought to light details of alleged CIA "rendition flights" that transported terror suspects around the world for interrogation after 9/11.

Charter company Richmor Aviation and aviation broker SportsFlight have been engaged in a four-year legal dispute over the costs of the flights.

The suspects were taken to CIA-run secret prisons around the world and the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Many are alleged to have been tortured.

Details including the costs and itineraries of flights organised by US private aviation firms have been revealed as part of court proceedings.

Human rights group Reprieve, which drew attention to the court case in New York, has said the material provides "an unprecedented insight into how the government outsourced rendition".

A state judge ruled for Richmor last year, awarding the company $1.6m (£980,000). In May, an appeals court confirmed the decision, cutting the costs awarded to $874,000. But Richmor argues it still has not been paid in full.

[gratuitous]

1. "Many are alleged to have been tortured"

I remember, once upon a time, when such an allegation would have been treated with the utmost seriousness and fully investigated. Nowadays? Not so much. Because that would just be lookin' backwards to the past, and the change we can believe in is to be found only in lookin' forward to the future.

[malaise]

2. Unbelievable isn't it

Same with the corrupt banks and corporations

[gratuitous]

3. Heck, torture even used to be a hot topic at DU

We're a little more preoccupied with calendars and meaningless speech scheduling nowadays.

Someday, maybe . . . {wistful sigh}

[Solly Mack]

4. On looking backwards...If America needs to look forward (from

the Bush years of war crimes and abuses of office) then shouldn't we also look forward from September 11, 2001? It is also the past.

And yet...America will wave the flag days ahead, the day of, and days after.....speeches will be given on how America overcame adversity and triumphed over our "enemies"....but not one word will be given to the lies and trumped up evidence to invade Iraq...or the torture...or the extraordinary renditions...or the illegal detentions...or all the deaths...in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

So, we're to move forward from the crimes...but we're to remember the event used to cloak those war crimes and abuses in the self-righteousness of nationalism (er...remembrance) and our own moral goodness. (hypocrisy)

What you said just got me to thinking... :)

[noise]

5. What better way to honor the victims than

a photo-op and some media propaganda? Who needs investigative journalism? Asking challenging questions of authority is so unfair and distracting.

Former FBI agent Ali Soufan is challenging two key aspects of 9/11.

1)He accuses the CIA of withholding information about al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar before 9/11.

2)He states that the torture program was not effective.

One would think journalists would want to understand why the CIA obstructed al Qaeda investigations before 9/11 and why they insisted on implementing an illegal torture program that did not work as advertised. Would it be unfair to note that the same officials involved in the obstructed investigations were advocates of the torture program?

[Solly Mack]

6. Just reeks of hypocrisy, doesn't it?

[noise]

7. Perception management

One of the infuriating aspects of post 9/11 was the way the Bush administration exploited the attacks without end while they refused to account for their pre-9/11 conduct. One popular argument is that 9/11 is in the past so people should let it go. This argument fails to account for the manner in which 9/11 has been exploited for all sorts of foreign and domestic policies which have permanently affected the country. The secrecy and poor media coverage (i.e. failure to ask tough questions) have ensured that the public does not understand the context of 9/11. Instead we are subjected to an establishment context that suggests the Bush administration was caught by surprise and sought to redeem themselves by overreacting after 9/11. Thus torture, warrantless surveillance and the war in Iraq were all good faith efforts to prevent future attacks.

What is the real context of 9/11? I don't know. Ten years after 9/11 the CIA is still succeeding in their effort to ensure the public remains ignorant about pre and post 9/11 government conduct.