CIA interrogation tactics yield iffy data, says report

Web posted at: 11/20/2005 1:46:58 Source ::: AFP

WASHINGTON: CIA agents have revealed details of six interrogation tactics approved by top brass for use at secret CIA jails in Asia and Eastern Europe, ABC News reported on Friday. The techniques have lead to questionable confessions and the death of one man since March 2002, the network said, after interviewing current and former CIA officials.

Former CIA officer Bob Baer told ABC the techniques amounted to "bad interrogation. I mean, you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture's bad enough."

CIA sources speaking on condition of anonymity described six techniques: "Attention Grab, Attention Slap, Belly Slap, Long Time Standing, Cold Cell, Water Boarding."

The six "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques," as sources called them, were used on a dozen top Al Qaeda targets incarcerated in isolation at secret locations on military bases in regions from Asia to Eastern Europe, ABC said.

In "Belly Slap," interrogators deliver "a hard open-handed slap to the stomach" intended to cause pain but not internal injury.

In "Long Time Standing," prisoners are forced to stand handcuffed and shackled for more than 40 hours.

In "The Cold Cell" a prisoner is made to stand naked in a cell kept near 10 degrees C (50 degrees F) and is continually doused with cold water.

Water Boarding brings results within seconds, the sources said. A prisoner is tied onto a board with his feet higher than his head, and his face is wrapped in cellophane. When water is poured over him, he begins to gag and begs to confess, sources told ABC.

"The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law," John Sifton of Human Rights Watch told ABC.

After investigating the claims, the network asked CIA officials for comment, but they "would neither confirm nor deny the accounts. They simply declined to comment," ABC said.

Earlier this month, CIA inspector general John Helgerson said techniques used by the agency appeared to violate the international Convention Against Torture, according to current and former officials who described the report to The New York Times.

The report listed 10 techniques authorized in early 2002 that went beyond those used by the US military on prisoners of war. - .the peninsula qatar

UK is accused over 'torture flights'

By Marie Woolf and Anthony Barnes Published: 20 November 2005

Ministers have been accused of turning a blind eye to "torture flights" refuelling at UK airports, despite warnings that they may breach international law. A powerful committee of MPs and peers will this week begin an inquiry into hundreds of flights through UK airports which may be carrying terror suspects to destinations where they could face torture.

The United Nations and human rights lawyers have warned that the Government's failure to intercept the flights, some of which have been run by the CIA, could breach Britain's obligations under the UN Convention against Torture.

Tomorrow MPs and peers will begin questioning the use of "extraordinary rendition", where a suspect is snatched and taken to clandestine interrogation camps or to a country where torture may occur. Yesterday the nine released British detainees from Guantanamo Bay were reunited for the first time and detailed the "acts of terror" inflicted on them by US authorities. The group spoke of the beatings, humiliation and isolation which became a way of life.

Among them was Moazzam Begg, who told international delegates: "We have been subjected to acts of terror. It's terrifying to have a gun with a loaded chamber pointed at your head; it's terrifying to think you will never see your family again; it's terrifying to feel a blade ripping your clothes off, all in the name of security. What does this tell us about the rule of law as far as the US is concerned? It tells us that it doesn't apply.''

Feroz Abassi said he was aware of one prisoner who had been beaten so badly he was put into a coma, and when he recovered from that was found to be permanently brain damaged, with a mental age of 12.

Leading human rights lawyers say that the Government's failure to take action makes them "complicit", and breaches the UN Convention against Torture, which Britain has signed. Around 200 flights involved in the special operations are believed to have flown in and out of UK airports since September 2001. They include flights by the CIA's fleet of planes.

The Department of Transport said it had "no evidence" that the flights may be carrying people to destinations where they could be tortured. "These are privately chartered aircraft and they don't need to tell us who is on board," said a spokesman.

Philippe Sands QC, a leading human rights barrister, said: "You can't turn a blind eye under the torture convention. There is a positive obligation to investigate credible information." - independent

UK torture

CIA 'torture trips' using city airport

GARETH EDWARDS - 26 Nov 2005

THE CIA is using Edinburgh Airport as a refuelling stop for "torture" flights carrying terror suspects. The secret flights are suspected of carrying Islamic militants from the US to Eastern European countries where torture can be used legally. Police have now been urged to investigate whether any crimes have been committed in Edinburgh after it emerged 14 of the "rendition" flights stopped in the Capital over the last four years.

Lothians Green MSP Mark Ballard said today: "I am sure that many people in Edinburgh will be revolted that such abuses of human rights could be taking place right in their own backyard."

It had long been known that both Prestwick and Glasgow had been used as a pit-stop for the flights, but now Edinburgh, as well as RAF Leuchars, Inverness and Wick have been linked to the scandal.

Mr Ballard has written to Lothian and Borders Police outlining his concerns that crimes may have been committed in Scottish airspace or on the ground in Edinburgh, and asking the Chief Constable to investigate. Under UN conventions and the European Convention on Human Rights, torture, including acts which aid or abet torture, is illegal.

Holyrood was told yesterday that the American government did not deny flying prisoners to Eastern Europe where they could employ what were described as aggressive interrogation techniques which are not allowed in the US. The figures provided by the American authorities stated that Prestwick and Glasgow had been used for refuelling rendition flights 149 times since 2001, with RAF Leuchars used six times, Inverness five times and Wick twice. It is not clear whether Lothian and Borders Police will have to investigate the complaint regarding Edinburgh Airport, however, and no-one from the police was available for comment.

Strathclyde Police refused to investigate the flights in Glasgow as they did not believe there was enough evidence of a criminal act being committed in Scotland. However, the Greens argued that police need only have "reasonable suspicion" that a crime has been committed. And they said this was provided by the documents provided by the US government detailing the many rendition flights which have stopped at Scottish airports.

Mr Ballard said: "Such activities are illegal and Lothians and Borders Police have a duty to uphold the law, so we have asked them to investigate the use of Edinburgh Airport by torture flights as a matter of urgency.

"I believe there is a very real risk that individuals' human rights are being violated within our jurisdiction and that we have a duty to act. I'm sure the vast majority of Scots, including Edinburgh residents, expect our police to ensure that Scotland plays no part in torture."

A former British ambassador said today that police had full power to board the flights. Craig Murray, who reigned from the Foreign Office over the Government's role in the war on terror, said officers had a "duty" to intervene.

"If the planes were suspected of carrying narcotics, as opposed to kidnapped human beings facing interrogation under torture, there is no doubt that the police would intercept these flights the minute they touched down in the UK."

Mr Murray said he believed the flights were refuelling in Scotland because the UK was afraid of losing access to US intelligence.

A spokesman for BAA Scotland said: "As an airport we are not allowed to turn away any flight, unless the airport is full."

The issue has already been taken up at Westminster by Sir Menzies Campbell, who has tabled a series of questions about planes using RAF bases, such as Northolt, in north London. He says the UK should have no part in the "illegal and immoral" torture flights.

Ministry of Defence sources have insisted that American flights can land anywhere in the UK if they have obtained diplomatic clearance. Officials have no way of knowing who or what was on those flights. - scotsman

Twist to terror suspects row as logs show 80 CIA planes visited UK

Stephen Grey and Luke Harding in Berlin - Thursday December 1, 2005 - The Guardian

The transatlantic row over the secret transfer of terror suspects by the Bush administration took a new twist yesterday when it emerged that more than 300 flights operated by the CIA had landed at European airports.

According to flight logs seen by the Guardian, Britain was second only to Germany as a transit hub for the CIA, which stands accused of operating a covert network of interrogation centres in eastern Europe. Several European governments have launched urgent investigations into whether clandestine CIA flights were used in the aftermath of September 11 to transfer Islamist prisoners to third countries where they could be interrogated beyond the reach of international law.

The allegations have provoked a furore in Europe. On Tuesday the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, acting on behalf of the EU, asked the US to clarify whether planes containing terror suspects - known as "rendition" flights - had stopped off in Europe. He also raised the allegations made by Human Rights Watch earlier this month about covert interrogation centres.

The US has so far refused to confirm or deny the reports. But on Tuesday the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, told Germany's new foreign minister, Franz-Walter Steinmeier, the administration would respond. Ms Rice is likely to come under further pressure when she visits Europe next week. The Guardian's survey of flight logs taken from 26 CIA planes reveals a far higher level of activity than previously known. The CIA visited Germany 96 times. Britain was second with more than 80 flights by CIA-owned planes, although when charter flights are added the figure rises to more than 200. France was visited just twice and neutral Austria not at all, according to the logs, which also reveal regular trips to eastern Europe, including 15 visits to the Czech capital Prague.

Only one visit is recorded to the Szymany airbase in north-east Poland, which has been identified as the alleged site of a secret CIA jail. Poland and Romania have denied hosting CIA prisons.

While the logs show unprecedented CIA activity, they do not show which planes were involved in prisoner transfers. In October and December 2003 a CIA Boeing flew from RAF Northolt to Tripoli while the CIA and MI6 were negotiating with Libya over its weapons of mass destruction programme. In January 2004 the same Boeing was allegedly involved in shipping suspects to a US prison in Afghanistan.

The European Council has appointed a special investigator and is examining possible human rights violations by member countries. The European Union has launched an inquiry and the Austrian government has asked the US to explain a US C-130 Hercules that flew into its airspace. The flight logs were obtained from Federal Aviation Administration data and sources in the aviation industry. - guardian.co.uk

Rice admits CIA transfers but denies torture

By Sam Knight and agencies - December 05, 2005

Condoleezza Rice today defended America's practice of secretly abducting terrorist suspects to interrogate them in bases belonging to the US government and its allies. The US Secretary of State's robust statement - issued shortly before she left on a four day tour of European capitals - is the Bush Administration's first detailed response to reports that the CIA operates secret prisons in Eastern Europe, and covertly detains and transports alleged terrorists through Europe.

"The United States will use every lawful weapon to defeat these terrorists," said Dr Rice.

Seeking to head off criticism from European governments, Dr Rice said that the US did not torture detainees, and insisted that co-operating with local officials to remove terrorist suspects so that they can be questioned and prosecuted abroad, a practice known as "rendition", was a crucial tool in the campaign against terrorism.

"Rendition takes terrorists out of action and saves lives," said Dr Rice, who referred to the successful prosecution of "Carlos the Jackal", real name Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who was taken from Sudan to face trial in France in 1994.

Although she described the process of "rendition" and credited it with saving lives in Europe, Dr Rice refused to address the underlying question of whether the CIA runs secret prisons on airbases in Eastern Europe, an allegation made by human rights campaigners.

"We cannot discuss information that would compromise the success of intelligence, law enforcement, and military operations. We expect other nations share this view," said Dr Rice said in her statement at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

Dr Rice strenously denied reports that the US uses the practice of rendition to torture terrorist suspects or deliver them to countries where torture is routine.

"The United States does not use the air space or airport of any country for the purpose of transporting a detainee when we believe he or she will be tortured," she said. "The United States does not transport, and has not transported detainees from one country to another for the purpose of interrogation using torture. "The United States has fully respected the sovereignty of other countries that have co-operated in these matters. The United States is a country of laws. My colleagues and I have been sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Dr Rice's mention of sovereignty implied that any American counter-terrorism operations conducted in Europe and elsewhere have enjoyed the co-operation of local governments. This is likely to form the foundation of her response to an official request made by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, on behalf of EU governments, that the US answer the allegations, which have multiplied daily in recent weeks.

On her tour of Europe, Dr Rice will visit Germany, Belgium, Romania and the Ukraine. Der Spiegel, a German magazine, reports that the CIA has made 437 flights through German airspace - some using German airports - in the past two years. In Romania, Dr Rice will discuss the US acquisition of a former Soviet airbase where CIA interrogations are alleged to have taken place.

About a dozen European governments have launched internal investigations into allegations that the CIA used their airports covertly to move terrorist suspects around the world, including to and from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The CIA is alleged to have made secret flights through Britain, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Denmark, the Irish Republic and other EU countries. Eight European governments have demanded a response from the US. The Council of Europe, an intergovernmental human rights group, has begun an investigation.

The British Government has insisted that there is nothing wrong with the CIA flying planes through British airspace, and admits that it does not know or ask whether there are any prisoners on the flights - timesonline

List of Detainees Published by Human Rights Watch

[Caution: Human Rights Watch, is an NGO that often obscures and obfuscates important facts, as it did with the causality of the Rwandan genocide and as it is currently doing with regard to offering an incomplete list of CIA prisoner aircraft in Europe.]

EU concealed deal with US to allow 'rendition' flights

By Justin Stares in Brussels and Philip Sherwell in Washington 11/12/'05

The European Union secretly allowed the United States to use transit facilities on European soil to transport "criminals" in 2003, according to a previously unpublished document. The revelation contradicts repeated EU denials that it knew of "rendition" flights by the CIA.

The EU agreed to give America access to facilities - presumably airports - in confidential talks in Athens during which the war on terror was discussed, the original minutes show. But all references to the agreement were deleted from the record before it was published.

The issue of "rendition" flights - in which terror suspects are flown to secret bases and third countries for interrogation - overshadowed last week's fence-mending visit to Europe by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.

Asked in Parliament last week about reports of 400 suspect flights passing through British airports, Tony Blair said: "In respect of airports, I don't know what you are referring to."

The minutes of the Athens meeting on January 22, 2003, were written by the then Greek presidency of the EU after the talks with a US delegation headed by a justice department official. EU officials confirmed that a full account was circulated to all member governments, and would have been sent to the Home Office.

The document, entitled New Transatlantic Agenda, EU-US meeting on Justice and Home Affairs, details the subjects discussed by the 31 people present. The agenda included the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and extradition agreements.

According to the full version, "Both sides agreed on areas where co-operation could be improved [inter alia] the exchange of data between border management services, increased use of European transit facilities to support the return of criminal/ inadmissible aliens, co-ordination with regard to false documents training and improving the co-operation in removals."

But this section, and others referring to US policy, were deleted - as a "courtesy" to Washington, according to a spokesman for the EU Council of Ministers.

Tony Bunyan, of the Statewatch civil liberties group which obtained the original document, said: "What kind of facilities are these and how many people work there? That phrase suggests the US is being allowed to use airports in Europe to transport criminals from third countries."

Washington has been angered by EU protests about the movement and alleged abuse of terror suspects. Yesterday, John Bellinger, senior legal adviser to the US State Department, said the convention against torture, which the US has signed, "would generally apply" to prisoners held by the US.

He said on BBC radio: "Some of the allegations more broadly about all sorts of things are ludicrous. These allegations that we have these activities going on in the hundreds over Europe, and that we are going to take people off to be mistreated, are simply untrue." Telegraph

Two countries the media declined to name...a complete list of CIA shell companies and aircraft.... News media reported Thursday that the group Human Rights Watch "claims records and other evidence point to POLAND and ROMANIA as countries that allowed their territory to be used by the CIA to hold top suspected al-Qaeda captives." We report that HRW knows that from tracing the movements of CIA planes and we provide a list of the planes.

How does Human Rights Watch know?

Planespotters, that's how. The aviation enthusiasts follow the travels of planes, take photos, and post the photos and locations to websites like http://www.Airliners.net , http://www.Planespotters.net , http://www.JetPhotos.Net and http://www.Jetspotter.com .

A Boeing 737 "leased" by the CIA to transport prisoners departed from Kabul, Afghanistan, and made stops at remote airfields in POLAND and ROMANIA before continuing on to Morocco and then to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to HRW. So POLAND and ROMANIA are two of the several Eastern European countries earlier reports only alluded to. We can be sure that planespotters soon will identify the rest.

The accompanying table shows the CIA shell companies and the planes they own, including the 737, which has the FAA-assigned tail number (N-number for US planes) N4476S. At least three of the planes, marked with asterisks, are used for "rendition" (kidnap-torture) flights.

HOW THE CIA'S AIRLINE WORKS

The plane is not really leased by the CIA. It is owned by a CIA shell company, Keeler and Tate Management, LLC. Like other CIA shell companies, it has no employees, no business premises, and no website. In lieu of these, it has a CIA-contracted lawyer who provides a mail drop, registers the company with the state and the planes with the FAA, and interfaces in other necessary ways with government agencies and the public. The lawyer provides many of the legal services needed by a normal company, including a place to serve legal papers and court documents on the company.

The address of Keeler and Tate is 245 E. Liberty St., Suite 510, Reno, Nevada 89501 (Washoe county). The corporation information provided to the Nevada secretary of state lists the resident agent as Steven F. Petersen, an attorney whose address is the same as Keeler and Tate's.

The only company officer listed is Tyler Edward Tate of the same address. Some newspapers have tried to track down CIA shell company directors and have found that they almost always are fictitious persons, and once in a while figureheads -- patriotic persons who lend their name in the name of patriotism. Tracing the officers of the shell companies is a futile exercise. Basically, the only real people working for the shell companies are the private attorneys.

The address of Keeler and Tate and of the lawyer Petersen is shared by Lexalt Group West, the law firm of Paul D. Laxalt and Peter D. Laxalt. Paul D. Lexalt is a former Republican senator from Nevada. His law firm specializes in "political public relations services." So does Petersen's.

Laxalt, the former US senator whose address and phone number are used by the owners of the CIA's 737 prison plane, was a close friend of Republican icon Ronald Reagan. When Reagan was president, Laxalt was referred to as the "First Friend."

Clayton Hallmark

HOW THE CIA'S AIRLINE WORKS

The 737, which is the flagship of The CIA Airline, is not really leased by the CIA. It is owned by a CIA shell company, Keeler and Tate Management, LLC. Like other CIA shell companies, it has no employees, no business premises, and no website. In lieu of these, it has a CIA-contracted lawyer who provides a mail drop, registers the company with the state and the planes with the FAA, and interfaces in other necessary ways with government agencies and the public. The lawyer provides many of the legal services needed by a normal company, including a place to serve legal papers and court documents on the company.

The address of Keeler and Tate is 245 E. Liberty St., Suite 510, Reno, Nevada 89501 (Washoe county). The corporation information provided to the Nevada secretary of state lists the resident agent as Steven F. Petersen, an attorney whose address and phone number are the same as Keeler and Tate's.

The only company officer listed is Tyler Edward Tate of the same address. Some newspapers have tried to track down CIA shell company directors like and have found that they almost always are fictitious persons, like "Tate," and once in a while figureheads -- misguided, or misled, persons who lend their name in the name of patriotism. Tracing the officers of the shell companies is a futile exercise. Basically, the only real people working for the shell companies are the private attorneys. (The CIA "proprietaries" are a different matter.)

The address of Keeler and Tate and of the lawyer Petersen is shared by Lexalt Group West, the law firm of Paul D. Laxalt and Peter D. Laxalt. Paul D. Lexalt is a former Republican senator from Nevada. His law firm specializes in "political public relations services." So does Petersen's, which has the same address and phone number.

Laxalt, the former US senator whose address and phone number are used by the owners of the CIA's 737 prison plane, was a close friend of Republican icon Ronald Reagan. When Reagan was president, Laxalt was referred to as the "First Friend." The Ghost of the Gipper is with us.

Besides the shell companies, there are at least four CIA "proprietary" companies that actually have operations, employees, and premises. These companies provide things like flight crews, full-service operation of planes, avionics, or an owner-operator function. - Clayton Hallmark

Persons who signed this agreement could be liable to civil and criminal prosecution, if it can be proved that they intended to cause illegal actions.

US SIDE

MARK RICHARD - Department of Justice - Senior Counsel - US/EU Rep. - Brussels
FRANK KERBER - JHA Counselor, USEUR Brussels
MARC MEZNAR - First Secretary, USEU Brussels
BRUCE SWARTZ - Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Matters at DOJ
MAREN BROOKS - Policy Analyst - Department of State (INL)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
JAN DE CEUSTER
J.L. DE BROUWER
LOTTE KNUDSEN
DIEDERIK PAALMAN

SGC

GILLES DE KERCHOVE

ITALIAN SIDE

Emanuele MAROTTA, Ministry of Interior, Office for the Coordination and Planning of Police Forces, Service for International Relations
Carmelo VELLA, Ministry of Interior, Office for the Coordination and Planning of Police Forces, Service for International Relations
Andree PORTUEGI, Ministry of Interior, Office for the Coordination and Planning of Police Forces, Service for International Relations
Enrico GORNARI, Ministry of Interior, Border police Sebastiano NERI, Ministry of Justice, Department Justice Affairs

MORE LISTS AND BACKGROUND

CIA DDO (Jose Rodriguez), the chief spy? CIA planes, front companies, lawyers? The 22 American CIA agents allegedly led by Robert Seldon Lady in the 2003 Milan kidnapping of Muslim cleric Abu Omar? All are listed below. The Italian secret service SISMI knew in advance of their operation, just as Mr. Lady claims. There is a document that proves, in writing, such operations involve the cooperation of EU governments. The Milan prosecutor Spataro knows this. Prime Minister Berlusconi knows this. Still, these two men are on a collision course as Spataro prepares for a show trail of the 22 "in absentia" while Berlusconi attempts to get away with denying everything.

Also, Italy is one of 25-plus countries (listed) in which the CIA and foreign spy agencies work out of the same office (CTIC, see list)! Any illegal operations can be stopped by lawsuits and liens on planes and companies (another list).

A few days after the Athens agreement on renditions, Robert Lady and a CIA/US military team allegedly kidnapped in Milan and transported to torture in Egypt one Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, or Abu Omar. Now, while poor Bob Lady sits out an exile (possibly in Punta Gorda, Florida, instead of his retirement villa in Penango, Italy), lying hypocrites in European governments deny knowledge of kidnappings like the one he is charged with in Italy.

Colin Powell is right: the European governments are being hypocrites by denying they knew about renditions and torture flights , or "removals" and "use of European transit facilities," as the document calls them -- or lynchings of Muslims.

ROBERT (BOB) LADY and WILLIAM (BILL OR BILLY) LADY

Robert Seldon Lady is an American born in Honduras in 1954. His father, William (Bill or Billy) Seldon Lady lived in Arkansas and Florida before moving to Honduras when he was 20 (in 1946). Billy Lady was in Honduras during the Iran-contra affair. This 1980s affair involved the sale of arms to Iran by Lt. Col. Oliver North, operating out of the Reagan White House. North and his associates used the proceeds from the Iran arms sales, and proceeds from sales of Colombian drugs in the US, to finance material aid to the contra ("against") rebels trying to overthrow the elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The CIA was heavily involved in this.

Bill Lady (again, Bob Lady's dad) ran an airline out of the Bay Islands (see map) at the time. As a mining prospector, he had thoroughly surveyed the Olancho department (province) of eastern Honduras, where most of the Iran-contra action occurred in Honduras, and neighboring parts of Nicaragua. Mr. Lady had a farm near Danli in the El Paraiso department, at the time, in the thick of the action. (SEE MAP.) He also was an accomplished cruise sailor, a network controller of a worldwide amateur-radio network used by military personnel, an aviation pioneer of Honduras, and the expert on eastern Honduras terrain. He may have rented aircraft to the US Government, which of course is not illegal.

His son, the alleged renditioner Robert Seldon Lady, joined the CIA in Latin America in about 1984. In 2001, before leaving for Milan, Italy, Bob Lady worked out of New Orleans and the US Embassy in Panama under Jose A. Rodriguez Jr, now the Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) of the CIA. Bob Lady is charged with being the ringleader of the Feb. 17, 2003, kidnapping of Abu Omar off the streets of Milan. Abu Omar was transferred to Egypt by the Boston Red Sox Gulfstream executive jet N85V (now N227SV) and the CIA Learjet N221SG. The Learjet is operated by Aero Contractors Limited, which has locations at the airports in Smithfield and Kinston, North Carolina, which recently have been picketed by protesters.

Bob Lady claims that the Italian secret service knew in advance of the Abu Omar grab, and he is right, based on the EU-US agreement and on the existence of a joint US-Italy "Counterterrorist Intelligence Center" (CTIC) in Italy.

Bob Lady, as the Milan station chief of the CIA, is rumored to have cooperated in the back-channel transmission (avoiding official CIA and other channels) of forged Niger documents to Dick Cheney's and Paul Wolfowitz's White House Iraq Group, also to the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans (the "Stovepipe") created by Wolfowitz. President Bush picked false intelligence based on those documents, for use in his 2003 State of the Union address and elsewhere, to sell his Iraq war plans.

Karl Rove's foreign policy advisor, Michael Ledeen, was a key figure in Iran-contra while the Ladys were in Honduras. If they were involved with the CIA in Honduras at the time, Ledeen knew them.

The Milan prosecutor, Armando Spataro, has hard drives captured from Lady's home in Penango. Lady in turn had his father's hard drives. Bob Lady's hard drives have revealed much about the abduction of Abu Omar; and the drives, or Lady himself, may have much to reveal about Iran-contra. Alumni of Iran-contra, like Michael Ledeen, are in the current Bush administration and were leaders in fabricating a cause for invading Iraq.

INDIVIDUAL AGREEMENTS FOR 25-PLUS CTICs -- JOINT SPY VENTURES WITH CIA

Beyond knowing about CIA rendition flights, the Europeans are cooperating fully in them. The CIA has supposedly "secret" CTICs (Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers) in over 25 countries, including some supposed Iraq-war opponents like France, Germany, and Sweden. These are joint-venture spy-nests with the local intelligence service (Italy's SISMI, for example) and military. The CIA supplies about 20 agents for each and an about-$20-million-dollars' annual budget. They share offices, equipment, and information continually. There is no way SISMI could NOT have known in advance about the Abu Omar snatch in Milan. refdag.nl

above AGREEMENT BETWEEN US AND EU FOR TORTURE FLIGHTS The US and the European Union signed an agreement on 22 Jan. 2003 that provides further evidence of EU cooperation with CIA torture flights and prisons. I know of only one unedited version of this on the Web. I have saved it and show you how to download it. (Save it to disk, then open it with Adobe Reader.) http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=35352

[backup]

Less than a month after the agreement, the CIA pulled the infamous Abu Omar rendition in Italy. There is no way the Italian secret service SISMI didn't know in advance, since it shares a CTIC office with the CIA. There is no way Prime Minister Berlusconi didn't know in advance, since his government approved both the Italian CTIC and the EU agreement.

GRAPHIC left-- LIST OF COUNTRIES WHERE CIA / FOREIGN SPIES SHARE AN OFFICE The list shows the 31 countries where the CIA shares an office (CTIC, Counterterrorist Intelligence Center) with the foreign spy agency. Notice that the European countries on the list include the origination points of rendition (kidnap for torture) flights. The North African and Middle East countries include the destination countries, which the US admits practice torture. The CIA pays the bills for the joint offices. Top officials of the countries -- prime ministers and presidents -- have agreed to the CTICs.

http://www.refdag.nl/artikel/1238465/CIA%20spil%20van%20groot%20antiterreurnetwerk.html

The CIA's Director of the National Clandestine Center (aka Deputy Director of Operations, DDO), Jose Rodriguez, made his name setting these up.

- Clayton Hallmark

Minister admits 'rendition' planes used RAF bases

· Government breaks silence on CIA flights · Aircraft landed at Brize Norton and Northholt

Richard Norton-Taylor - Tuesday March 7, 2006 - The Guardian

The government last night admitted for the first time that aircraft suspected of being used by the CIA to transport detainees to secret interrogation centres had landed at British military airfields.

After months of refusing to answer questions from MPs or the media, it disclosed that two aircraft known to have been chartered by the CIA landed 14 times at RAF Northholt, west London, and RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire between October 2003 and May 2004.

One aircraft, a Boeing 737, was registered N313P, the other, a Gulfstream, was initially registered N379P and later as N8068V.

The flights were disclosed by Adam Ingram, the armed forces minister, in a letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, newly elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. Last week, the Liberal Democrats threatened to report the minister to the parliamentary ombudsman if he continued to refuse to answer detailed questions about flights suspected of being used for "extraordinary rendition" - the practice of sending detainees to camps where they were at risk of being tortured.

Sir Menzies was among a number of MPs of all parties, including Andrew Tyrie - the Conservative MP for Chichester who has set up a special parliamentary committee to investigate the flights - who have tabled questions about the flights since the Guardian published details of them last September.

In their replies, ministers have said that they either have no record of CIA flights since 1998, when they received four requests from the Clinton administration, or that records it might once have had had since been destroyed.

In his letter last night, Mr Ingram did not say the aircraft were used by the CIA, but the government has never denied they were. Mr Ingram also did not describe the purpose of the flights.

He insisted his disclosure was not "at odds with the foreign secretary's statements on the subject". Jack Straw has said that the government is "unaware" of any CIA flights landing in Britain or using UK airspace since 1998 and transporting terrorist suspects.

However, Michael Moore, the Liberal Democrat's new foreign affairs spokesman, said last night: "Another week, another grudging admission from the government. There is now a well-established pattern of partial disclosures after repeated denials." He added: "These are disturbing revelations. Were these rendition flights or not? Ministers must urgently obtain answers from the US government."

Liberty, the civil rights group, is supporting an amendment to the civil aviation bill now going through the Lords, tabled by Baroness D'Souza. It would oblige the government to require any plane using UK airspace to land if it had information that it was being used for purposes of unlawful rendition.

Flight details

Flights of CIA planes through RAF Northolt confirmed by the MoD

N313P Arrived from Brize Norton at 10.15, Oct 19, 2003. Departed to Tripoli at 13.00. Arrived from Tripoli, 15.35, Oct 22. Departed to Tripoli, noon, Oct 28. Arrived from Tripoli, 17.10, Oct 29. Departed to Shannon, 17.45. Arrived from Washington, 08:50, Dec 1. Departed to Tripoli, 11:00. Arrived from Tripoli, 13:00, Dec 3. Departed to Luqa, Malta 12:00, Dec 6.

N379P Arrived from Islamabad, 15:50, Oct 18, 2002. Departed to Washington, 09:00, Oct 20. Arrived from Amman, 12:50, Jan 16, 2003. Departed to Shannon, 10:00, Jan 18 03. Arrived from Washington, 20.05, Feb 24. Departed to Glasgow, 09:00, Feb 26. Arrived from Dohaa, 12:49, Feb 28. Departed to Glasgow, 09:00, Mar 1.

N8068V Arrived from Marrakesh, 12:10, May 15 04. Departed to Luton 13:00. Arrived from Luton, 11:05, May 17. Departed to Shannon, 08:00, May 18.

guardian.co.uk

Secret CIA flights pass over Belgium: report

BRUSSELS, March 9 (Xinhuanet) -- At least two secret Central Intelligence Agency flights have passed through Belgium, local newspaper Le Soir reported on Thursday amid growing concerns that the U.S. may have clandestinely set up detention facilities in European countries to imprison terrorist suspects.

The report in the French-language daily cited information from a senior federal public servant.

According to the paper, the first flight took place on July 7, 2002, via Deurne Airport in Antwerp, and the second CIA flight passed through the same site three days later. The plane was a Gulf stream III, which has been used on other occasions by the CIA to transport terror suspects, Le Soir reported.

Although it could not produce a lease contract for the aircraft or determine the nature of the mission, the paper stressed that the plane was involved in secret activities of the U.S. intelligence service.

Following a Washington Post report in November that the CIA used camps in East European countries to interrogate terrorist suspects, the New York-based Human Rights Watch named Romania and Poland as possible hosts of U.S. prisons. Both Romania and Poland have denied the claims.

Washington has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations that the prisons existed in Europe but has denied using or condoning torture.

The Council of Europe (CoE) issued an interim report in January, saying that European governments had silently condoned the practice of abducting suspected terrorists and transporting them from European airports to countries in which torture is used.

A report by the news agency Belga said this week that the Belgian intelligence services had conducted only cursory investigations into whether secret CIA flights carrying terror suspects had ever passed through Belgium.

The report indicated that Belgium's intelligence services had barely bothered to conduct investigations because they had never been officially commissioned.

The lack of inquiries comes despite explicit requests from the CoE for member states to investigate claims of secret CIA flights. However, the Belgian government is adamant that it did ask the security services to investigate the matter. The Belgian government informed the CoE in late February that, with current knowledge, no CIA flights traveled via Belgium. xinhuanet.com

US Operate Rendition Flights in Ireland

CRIENGLISH.com | March 18 2006

Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said on Friday that he has been assured by the United States President that rendition flights operated by the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA in Ireland were for legitimate business.

Ahern is in Washington for talks with President Bush and other lawmakers regarding a series of issues, including immigration policy and support for completing the Northern Ireland peace process.

The Prime Minister said he had asked Bush for a little more transparency regarding the payload aboard the flights that land and take off from Shannon airport.

"We have CIA flights that land, I'm sure, they're all on totally legitimate business. But, if at times we were able to say what some of these flights are about, all of these flights were about, then it would make an easier position for us and I think it would make public opinion happier on that."

The British government has acknowledged in recent months that several private planes had landed at British military airports and had visited destinations in neighboring Ireland.

The U.S. is embroiled in rows with several countries over the use of airspace and facilities for extraordinary rendition - a process in which "terror" suspects are transferred from the U.S. to countries in which torture is known to occur.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last December denied that suspects are tortured in third countries.

73 Terror Flights In British Skies

London Mirror | March 18 2006

PLANES thought to be taken detainees to be tortured have landed and taken off from Britain 73 times since 9/11, the Government said yesterday.

But Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said there was no evidence any had been rendition flights - transferring detainees between two countries. He added: "The British Government is not aware of any cases of rendition through the UK since May 1997, apart from the two cases in 1998 about which the Foreign Secretary has informed Parliament."

They were on their way to the Middle East and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Campaigners claim six planes have been used by the CIA to ferry terror suspects. The National Air Service said the jets had been in our airspace 200 times since 2001. The US denies torture claims.

British airports handled 73 CIA flights (Guardian, link)

One Man's "Extraordinary Rendition"

MAHER ARAR TESTIFIES TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Innocent Canadian Describes Detainment in New York and Rendition to Syria
Urges Committee to Understand the “Implications of Torturing a Human Being"

On March 23, 2006, in Brussels, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was detained by the U.S. government without charges in New York and sent to Syria for torture, testified at a public hearing of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on the Transportation and Illegal Detention of Prisoners. Excerpts from his official testimony are below.

Mr. Arar commended the European Parliament's decision to address torture and rendition. The committee is researching: The existence of CIA detention centers in European Union states; the CIA's possible use of European airports for the transportation of terrorist suspects to locations where they could face torture; and the possibility that citizens from the EU have been involved or complicit in such practices.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) represents Mr. Arar in the United States, where a U.S. District Court recently rejected his case challenging U.S. government officials for his detention and rendition (Arar v. Ashcroft). Maria LaHood, a CCR attorney who represents Mr. Arar, said the new testimony should lead to a day of reckoning for U.S. torture and rendition policies: "Mr. Arar's courageous testimony reveals how the Bush Administration sent him to Syria to be tortured. I hope people around the world, especially in the U.S., are able to hear Mr. Arar's moving story in his own words."

Excerpts from Mr. Arar's testimony are below, listed by subject.

On his arrival and detention in New York: "I was pulled aside by immigration and waited until they took my fingerprints and photographs. Police arrived and searched my bags and copied my Canadian passport. They denied me the right to make a phone call. Then a team including a member of the FBI and New York Police told me they wanted to ask me some questions. I was scared and did not know what was going on. I told them I wanted a lawyer. They told me I had no right to a lawyer, because I was not an American citizen. This interrogation lasted until midnight. I asked for a lawyer again and again. They just ignored me. Then they put me in chains, on both my wrists and ankles. They kept me at the airport. I could not sleep. I was very, very scared and disoriented."

On the US decision to send Arar to Syria: "They told me that based on classified information that they could not reveal to me, I would be deported to Syria. I said again that I would be tortured there. Then they read part of the document where it explained that US Immigration Department was not the body that deals with the Convention Against Torture."

Arar speaks of his travel on a small jet which left from a New Jersey airport: "The plane landed in Amman at 3 in the morning on October 9th. They took me out of the plane and we were met by six or seven men. I was blindfolded and chained, and put in a van. I was forced to bend my head down in the back seat. Then, they started beating me on the back of my head. Every time I tried to talk they beat me."

On his "grave-like" cell: "It was approximately one metre wide, two metres long and two metres high. It had a metal door with a small opening that did not let in light because there was a piece of metal on the outside for sliding things into the cell. There was also a small opening in the ceiling, about one third by two thirds of a metre with an iron bar grate. There were cats and rats above, and from time to time the cats peed through the opening into the cell. There were two blankets, two dishes and two bottles. One bottle was for water and the other one was used for urinating during the night. Nothing else. No light. I spent ten months, and ten days inside that cell which I grew to think of as my grave."

Mr. Arar details the torture he experienced: "The beating started that day and was very intense for a week, and then less intense for another week. That second and the third days were the worst. I could hear other prisoners being tortured, and screaming. The women's screams haunt me the most."

On the extraction of Mr. Arar's confession: "About a month after I arrived, they called me up to sign and place my thumb print on a document about seven pages long. They would not let me read it, but I had to put my thumb print and signature on the bottom of each page. It was handwritten. I was afraid that if I didn't sign it the beatings would resume.

On life since his return to Canada: "Since my return to Canada I have been living in constant fear of being kidnapped again. I believe it is crucial for this committee to understand what is at stake here. It is important for this committee to understand the short and long term implications of torturing a human being. While the physical pain I have been suffering from is intermittent the psychological one is persistent and is manifested in different forms like nightmares, recurrent flashbacks, loss of confidence in myself and constant fear."

ccr-ny.or

Italy halts CIA extradition bid

Italy's Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has refused to pass on to the United States a request to extradite 22 purported CIA agents.

The agents are accused of helping to abduct Muslim cleric Osama Mustafa Hassan, without Italian permission, in Milan in 2003.

The cleric, also known as Abu Omar, was flown to Egypt for interrogation.

An Italian court had issued Europe-wide arrest warrants for the suspects, who are thought to have returned to the US. Mr Castelli signed the warrants but has now told Milan prosecutors that he had decided against forwarding their extradition request to Washington. He had previously accused one of the prosecutors involved of being a leftist militant and anti-American.

Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro said he would repeat the extradition request when the new government is formed, following the recent general elections, according to the Associated Press.

Mr Castelli is part of the Silvio Berlusconi centre-right government which was narrowly defeated by the centre-left opposition led by Romano Prodi in the vote on 9-10 April.

Mr Spataro said in a statement that he would "reiterate the extradition request" as he was "convinced it will obtain a different decision from the next justice minister".

Rendition

Correspondents say the case is one of the best documented alleged cases of the CIA's policy of extraordinary rendition. The US policy involves seizing suspects and taking them to third countries for questioning without court approval. The policy has been criticised by human rights groups who say suspects are tortured. They also allege that the CIA has secret prisons where it keeps prisoners without reference to US or international law.

Mr Hassan, 42, is believed to have been abducted on 17 February 2003, and flown out of the country from a US base in Aviano, north of Venice. He reportedly called his family last year, telling them he had been tortured with electric shocks during his detention.

The CIA has refused to comment on the case and the Italian government has said it had no prior knowledge of any kidnap plot. Mr Hassan is believed to have arrived in Italy in 1997, where he was granted refugee status. - BBC

EU lawmaker says over 1000 secret CIA flights passed through Europe

Thursday April 27, - ews.yahoo.com

The CIA has carried out more than 1,000 secret flights in Europe since 2001 without governments raising questions, an EU lawmaker trying to shed light on alleged kidnappings claimed.

Despite evidence from the Eurocontrol air traffic body showing "more than 1,000 CIA flights" had gone through European airports and airspace, governments had shown "incriminating inertia", said Claudio Fava.

The Italian Socialist is leading a European Parliament inquiry into allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency secretly transported prisoners through EU territory in what have become know as extraordinary renditions. "We think that after September 11 (2001) extraordinary renditions were not rare, but a practice that was very well known and wide-spread geographically," Fava said.

Eurodeputies decided to set up a special committee to look into the allegations in January in parallel to a separate probe by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe.

Washington has come under intense fire in the last few months after reports about hundreds of CIA flights, suspected of carrying undeclared prisoners across European airspace, since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Because they do not have the authority to require individuals to appear before the committee, the EU lawmakers are relying on voluntary hearings and publicly available information.

Fava said that such voluntary hearings had confirmed that the CIA was "clearly responsible for the abduction and the detention of terrorists on the member states' territory". In a draft report to be submitted to other EU lawmakers in June, Fava singled out EU member states Italy and Sweden as well as Bosnia, which harbours ambitions to join the 25-nation bloc one day. Fava said that it was "improbable that the abduction of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar on February 17, 2003 in Milan by CIA agents was organized and carried out without the previous knowledge of Italian authorities and security services". He also criticized Swedish authorities for "turning Egyptians Mohammed Al Zary and Ahmed Agiza over to CIA agents in order to repatriate them to Egypt knowing very well about the risks of torture".

Fava also slammed Bosnian authorities for ignoring warnings of the Bosnian Human Rights Chamber in 2002 and transferring six Algerian residents to the United States, which has since sent them to the controversial detention centre in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Members of the parliament's committee investigating the CIA flights are to head to Macedonia on Thursday and Friday to look into the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin, who accuses the CIA of having kidnapped him at the end of 2003 and interrogated him in Afghanistan.

They are also to visit the United States on a May 8-12 trip although it is uncertain who will agree to see them there.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has agreed to meet with the eurodeputies on May 2 and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has also agreed to an interview.

Wayne Madsen reports more plane shenanigans

April 30, 2006 -- As the CIA seeks to cover up further details about its secret rendition flights and prisons, more information has been revealed about another rendition aircraft. It is a Gulfstream V (tail number N1HC), registered to United States Aviation Co. of Tulsa, Oklahoma, an air charter company. The firm is owned by Roger Hardesty, named in 1998 as one of the 400 wealthiest Americans. The aircraft has been spotted as recently as the end of March flying between Malta and Algeria and Qatar and Algeria and in April flying from Abu Dhabi to Libya.

CIA rendition flights continuing

WMR has reported on CIA proprietary aircraft being discovered moving heroin from Afghanistan and cocaine from Venezuela. N1HC's flight records also show a cross over of rendition flights to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and suspicious flights to Latin America, Florida, and the Caribbean. The following germane flights have been recorded by European researchers:

2002: Miami to Naples, Italy to Milan, Italy to Tulsa Dallas to Kahului, Hawaii to Denpassar, Bali to Kahului, Hawaii to Dallas Tulsa to Bratislava, Slovakia.

2003: May 6, 2003 Tulsa to Dakar, Senegal to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands to Kenosha, Wisconsin to Tulsa
July 1, 2003 Tulsa to Dakar, Senegal
Teterboro, NJ to RAF Northolt, UK and RAF Northolt to Teterboro, NJ
Tulsa to Caracas, Venezuela, Caracas to Grenoble, France, and Grenoble to Tulsa

2004: Tulsa to Dakar, Senegal June 5, 2004: Tulsa to Westchester County, NY to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands to Kiliminjaro, Tanzania to Farnborough, UK to Westchester County to Tulsa

2005: Tulsa to Tampa to Kiev, Ukraine to Atlanta to Tulsa
Tulsa to Miami, Miami to Guantanamo, Cuba to Kahului, Hawaii to Tulsa
Tulsa to Anguilla, Anguilla to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale to Tulsa
Tulsa to Dallas, Dallas to Farnborough, UK, Farnborough to Bangalore, India
Tulsa to New York City, New York to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Milan, Milan to New York
Tulsa to Washington, DC, Washington, DC to Guatemala City, Guatemala City to Washington, Washington to Tulsa

July 8, 2005: Tulsa to Richmond, Virginia, Richmond to Baku, Azerbaijan, Baku to Helsinki, Finland, Helsinki to Tulsa
Tulsa to Morgantown, West Virginia, Morgantown to Bangor, Maine, Bangor to Warsaw, Poland, Warsaw to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Tulsa.
Tulsa to Westchester County, NY, Westchester to Rotterdam, Rotterdam to Cologne, Germany, Cologne to Westchester, Westchester to Harrisburg, PA, Harrisburg to Oporto, Portugal, Oporto to Reykjavik, Iceland, Reykjavik to Tulsa
Tulsa to Westchester County, Westchester to London, UK, London to Frankfurt, Germany, Frankfurt to Rotterdam, Rotterdam to New York City, New York to Tulsa
Tulsa to Paris, France, Paris to Tulsa

2006: March: Tulsa to Bedford, Mass., Bedford to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage to Tokyo, Tokyo to Kunming, China, Kunming to Anchorage, Anchorage to Bedford, Bedford to Tulsa Tulsa to Washington, DC, Washington to Doha, Qatar, Doha to Algiers, Algeria, Algiers to Houston, Houston to Tulsa April: Tulsa to Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington to Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi to Mitiga, Libya, Mitiga to Teterboro, Teterboro to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Hagerstown, Maryland, Hagerstown to Tulsa

May 1, 2006 -- CIA Boeing 737 still flying secret prisoners around Asia and Europe. A Boeing 737, tail number N368CE, registered to a shadowy company called Premier Aircraft Management and incorporated in North Las Vegas, Nevada, has been sighted in Frankfurt, Germany, Luxembourg, Baghdad, and Kabul in recent months. The Boeing is ostensibly owned by Wells Fargo Bank and was based in Wilmington, Delaware until 2004. The plane was previously registered to a Malaysian firm called Country Heights, based in Seri Kembangan, Malaysia and operated under registration number 9M-LKY. The Boeing has had an interesting history. Once known for flying around VIPs such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kofi Annan, the plane has been used by the CIA to fly around renditioned prisoners and their CIA captors.

In 2005, the home base of the plane was shifted from Wilmington to Frankfurt, Germany. Recently, the ownership of the Boeing was shifted from Premier Aircraft Management to a sister company called Vision Airlines. The owner of both companies is William Acor, whose airline business has largely encompassed sightseeing flights over the Grand Canyon. The registered secretary and treasurer of Premier is Chong How Kiat while Acor is treasurer for Vision. Vision's secretary is listed as Steven Acor. According to FEC records, Acor donated to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2004.

Premier Aircraft Management appears to be an umbrella company consisting of firms and branches in Nevada, Canada, Luxembourg, and Malaysia. Another Boeing 737, tail number N34315 and registered to Wilmington Trust, in Wilmington, Delaware, has been spotted at Luxembourg's Findel Airport along with N368CE. There are reports of a cooperative arrangement between these aircraft and Luxair, which is based at Findel.

CIA uses Boeing 737 owned by company connected to Malaysia. Malaysia was the site of the Jan. 2000 Al Qaeda summit that planned the 9-11 attacks. The CIA and Malaysia's Special Branch conducted surveillance of the meeting, which included future hijackers Khalid al Midhar and Nawaf al Hazmi, in a posh Kuala Lumpur suburb. The CIA sent the warning to the FBI, which ignored it.

According to European sources, N368CE had the following flight itinerary earlier this year:

Jan. 8, 06 -- Kabul to Frankfurt, Germany
Jan. 9, 06 -- Frankfurt to Baghdad
Jan. 06 -- Frankfurt to Baghdad and Baghdad to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Kabul and Kabul to Frankfurt
Feb. 1, 06 -- Frankfurt to Kabul
Feb. 2, 06 -- Kabul to Frankfurt

N368CE also had an interesting itinerary just prior to the U.S.-backed coup against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in April 2002:

Mar.-Apr. 2002 -- Los Angeles to Toluca, Mexico; Caracas, Venezuela to New York City; New York to Managua, Nicaragua; Brownsville, Texas to Managua; Washington, DC to Shannon, Ireland; Gander, Newfoundland to Washington, DC; Washington to Houston; Houston to Washington.

Beginning in Feb. 2003, the Boeing made some other interesting stops: Miami to Managua; Miami to Wilmington, North Carolina; Wilmington, NC to Baltimore; Baltimore to Basseterre, St. Kitts; Atlanta to Gander, Newfoundland; Gander to Shannon, Ireland; Athens, Greece to Shannon; Shannon to Gander; Gander to Atlanta; Washington, DC to Santa Maria, Azores; San Juan, Puerto Rico to Washington, DC; Newark, NJ to Inverness, Scotland; Inverness to Gander; Gander to Newark, Newark to Wilmington, NC; Wilmington, NC to Houston; Houston to Gander; London to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Larnaca, Cyprus to Shannon; Wilmington, NC to Columbus, Ohio; Columbus to Pittsburgh, PA; Pittsburgh to Shannon, Larnaca, Cyprus to Shannon; Los Angeles to Brownsville, Texas; Brownsville to Port of Spain, Trinidad; Trinidad to Montego Bay, Jamaica; Montego Bay to Washington, DC; Wilmington, NC to Providence, Rhode Island; Providence to Mosstown, Great Exuma, Bahamas; Mosstown to Basseterre, St. Kitts; Basseterre to New York City; New York to Wilmington, NC. Some of these routes are known to be used by couriers transporting large amounts of cash from of-shore bank haven to haven (Larnaca, St. Kitts, Bahamas, e.g.). In April 2004, the Boeing flew from Wilmington, NC to Washington, DC to Guantanamo, Cuba and returned to Wilmington via Washington.