Spain opens inquiry into CIA operation

[Judi Lynn]

Nov. 13, 2005, 11:24PM

Spain opens inquiry into CIA operation
Investigation to examine the secret transfer of terror suspects
By STEPHEN GREY and RENWICK MCLEAN
New York Times

LONDON - On the Spanish island of Majorca, the police quietly opened a criminal investigation in March after a local newspaper reported a series of visits to the island's international airport by planes known to regularly operate for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Now, it has emerged that an investigative judge in Palma has ordered the police inquiry to be sent to Spain's national court, to consider whether the CIA was routing planes carrying terrorism suspects through Majorca as part of its so-called rendition program.

Under that system, the United States has bypassed normal extradition procedures to secretly transfer at least 100 suspects to third countries where, according to allegations by human rights groups and former detainees, some of the suspects have been tortured.

The program is the focus of European investigations. Spain is the third country in Europe to open a judicial inquiry into potential criminal offenses committed by CIA operatives related to renditions. The other two are Germany and Italy, which on Friday requested the extradition of 22 people said to be CIA operatives linked to the suspected kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.

Last week, related investigations were started by the European Union and the Council of Europe to look into reports of secret CIA jails for terrorism suspects in Eastern Europe.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/3458614
(Free registration required)

[IndianaGreen]

1. The CIA is a criminal enterprise

an arm of the Bush dictatorship. The saddest fact is that most Americans are embracing torture. I wonder how many of our compatriots will feel when it is their sons and daughters that end up as torture victims. There are no limits to cruelty when you have a tyrant without limits in the White House.

[Stevepol]

4. Most Americans are NOT "embracing torture."

Bush DOES NOT REPRESENT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. He was defeated in both 2000 and 2004 by Gore and Kerry. Kerry won by about 5M votes according the exit polls, the only un-biased method we have at present for counting votes.

And any poll taken of the American people would find revulsion by a strong majority about the present torture policies.

The government of the US is not ever the American people, even when fairly elected, and in the case of Bush this is even more true since he has never been fairly elected.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. "Most Americans are embracing torture"??? In your opinion only.

[IndianaGreen]

12. On the Chris Matthews Show this past Sunday on NBC

This is the half hour show on NBC, not to be confused with Hardball on MSNBC. Tweety had Michelle Norrris, Michael Duffy, Andrea Mitchell, and Andrew Sullivan. The topic was whether the US should torture terror suspects for intelligence. The scenario being if you had a terrorist in custody and he knew of an impending attack, should he be tortured. Tweety showed a poll describing such an scenario. The majority of respondents supported torture as a means to extract a confession.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Sick bastards. May their reign be brief. n/t

[lostexpectation]

23. well

most europeans aren't embracing torture either there'll ignoring it though :/

[Up2Late]

2. Oh goody, and if any country knows Fascist police tactics, it Spain

Aren't they the last European country to get rid of their Fascist Dictator?

[bearfan454]

3. Spain used to be really bad under Franco.

They are very much in step with the world against bushco now. Yes they kicked out Aznar for supporting bush's war.

[formercia]

6. It goes deeper than that

http://www.counterpunch.org/velloso08302003.html


Jose Maria Aznar was not just Bush's lackey but a full conspirator in the events leading up to the War on Iraq. He is closely tied to conservative religious elements including Opus Dei. He is tied into the same Poobah Mafia that Berlusconi of Italy is.
This whole thing is a conspiracy on a grand scale that is only beginning to emerge and also involves the re-establishment of several royal family power bases that were tied to the Nazis in WWII.

The New World Order is in fact the Old World Order of the 19th. Century where there were ruling families, Robber barons, a small merchant class and lots of poor people.

It sounds really weird but the Bush Dynasty has a fascination with royalty and ruling classes.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. Actually, I'd say it's more the New World Order of the Third Reich....

...Franco and Hitler were very close politically, even though Spain chose to stay overtly neutral during WWII.

[formercia]

10. Franco had close ties to Opus Dei

it was well integrated into his power structure.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. The "good" CIA have left.... the tools have remained behind to do

the bidding of their "masters".

[formercia]

7. Most of us were driven out during Iran Contra

and the intervening years. There are still a lot of good people at the CIA but many are afraid to speak out openly for fear of having their careers destroyed or worse. I don't give a shit what Fearless leader thinks. They crushed me decades ago so I learned to live under rocks and I yank their chain whenever I get the chance.

There will be a reckoning, even though I may not live to see it..

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Woah.... someone who knows... tell me formercia, what's your take

on Michael Ruppert... is he 100% on the mark?? I have this book, and while it may not have him as an author, I do know that he was involved with the CIA/Cocaine/Crack thingy.... is he absolutely for real in your opinion? He seems to be pretty much on the mark, but I wonder if there is any exaggeration involved with some of his info....

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1859842585/qid=1132014487/sr=8-4/ref=pd_bbs_4/103-5583024-0159044?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1859842585.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Amazon.com
Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair take the revelations of the links between the Central Intelligence Agency, the Nicaraguan Contras, and the Los Angeles crack market that journalist Gary Webb exposed in 1996--revelations that are the basis of Webb's book Dark Alliance--and use them as a springboard for a tale of the U.S. government's involvement with the illegal drug trade that extends much further back than Webb's tale.

The specific revelations are not, perhaps, entirely new; many know, for example, that even before there was a CIA, the WWII-era Office of Strategic Services enlisted the aid of gangster "Lucky" Luciano in arranging support among the Sicilian Mafia for the American invasion of Italy, or that the CIA was actively involved in the Southeast Asian opium trade during the Vietnam War. But Cockburn and St. Clair persuasively argue that the traditional explanation for such events--"rogue elements"--is deliberately misleading, and that the mainstream "liberal" press plays an active role in this obfuscation (noting, for example, that Webb's three biggest attackers were the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post).

By providing an overarching narrative rather than treating these incidents as isolated, the authors present a damning indictment of the CIA--but one that fully admits that the agency was not acting on its own, but was merely fulfilling the mandates of the American government. --Ron Hogan

[formercia]

15. I don't know

There's a lot of weird things that go on and even though I was cleared for weird,operations are very compartmented so even the guy at the next desk might not know what you are working on. Officers leave on trips and reappear weeks and even months later and you don't even ask where they went or what they were doing. Just part of the job.

I only know what i've read and have no proof. Sorry.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

16. Well, there was that one... and there is this one... now if they are all

just trying to "sell a book" then I am sorry, but if they are telling the truth, I am even more sorry than that.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1888363932/ref=pd_sim_b_1/103-5583024-0159044?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1888363932.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

In July 1995, San Jose Mercury-News reporter Gary Webb found the Big One--the blockbuster story every journalist secretly dreams about--without even looking for it. A simple phone call concerning an unexceptional pending drug trial turned into a massive conspiracy involving the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, L.A. and Bay Area crack cocaine dealers, and the Central Intelligence Agency.

For several years during the 1980s, Webb discovered, Contra elements shuttled thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States, with the profits going toward the funding of Contra rebels attempting a counterrevolution in their Nicaraguan homeland. Even more chilling, Webb quickly realized, was that the massive drug-dealing operation had the implicit approval--and occasional outright support--of the CIA, the very organization entrusted to prevent illegal drugs from being brought into the United States.


Within the pages of Dark Alliance, Webb produces a massive amount of evidence that suggests that such a scenario did take place, and more disturbing evidence that the powers that be that allowed such an alliance are still determined to ruthlessly guard their secrets.

Webb's research is impeccable--names, dates, places, and dollar amounts gather and mount with every page, eventually building a towering wall of evidence in support of his theories. After the original series of articles ran in the Mercury-News in late 1996, both Webb and his paper were so severely criticized by political commentators, government officials, and other members of the press that his own newspaper decided it best not to stand behind the series, in effect apologizing for the assertions and disavowing his work.

Webb quit the paper in disgust in November 1997. His book serves as both a complex memoir of the time of the Contras and an indictment of the current state of America's press; Dark Alliance is as necessary and valuable as it is horrifying and grim. --Tjames Madison

[EuroObserver]

11. That would be most unfortunate n/t

[struggle4progress]

17. kick

:kick:

[UDenver20]

18. Correct me if I'm wrong...

But I don't think Spain has been hit since they pulled out of Iraq around Aug 2004....

Didn't the right say they would see more attacks because they were capitulating?

[callady]

19. Madrid Opens Inquiry Into CIA 'Torture' Flights

Madrid opens inquiry into CIA 'torture' flights

By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid

Published: 16 November 2005


Spain has launched a judicial inquiry into allegations that CIA aircraft may have secretly used a Spanish airport to transport terror suspects to clandestine interrogation camps, Jose Antonio Alonso, the Interior Minister, said.

If the allegations proved true, Mr Alonso warned, "we would be looking at extremely serious, absolutely intolerable acts that violate rules for treating prisoners in a democratic society, and would demand a government response that would affect bilateral relations". The disputedeals a further blow to US-Spanish relations, already bruised by Spain's withdrawal of troops from Iraq last year.

Spain's intelligence service, the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, knew CIA planes were making stopovers on Spanish soil and urged the American agency to stop the flights,El Pais newspaper said yesterday.

<snip>

One flight arrived from Algiers on 22 January 2004 and took off the next day for Macedonia. There it allegedly collected a Lebanese-born German man, Khaled Masri, and took him to Kabul where he was beaten and interrogated over alleged links with al-Qa'ida. Other flights reportedly went to and from Libya and from Bucharest to Washington. Destinations included Ireland, Morocco and Sweden; countries of origin included Algeria, Romania and Egypt, El Pais said. The planes were said to be US-registered and used by Stevens Express Leasing, listed by The New York Times among those used by the CIA to transport suspects.

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article327342.ece

[lostexpectation]

20. shamefully late

All the governments and intelligences agencies of these countries, Denmark, Sweden, Greenland, Spain, Ireland etc etc are denyng all knowledge after giving the cia a free pass and valet service, the activist tracking the planes are unfortunately only playing catch up :/

But look pretty maps of Gitmo Airlines routes. You wish it was Oceanic :/

http://www.elpais.es/articulo/elpporesp/20051116elpepunac_4/Tes

[lostexpectation]

21. Don't you collate news stories around here

3 or 4 post on same gitmo jet story, all ranked no cohesion ?

[zann725]

22. Isn't it about time for the Hague to step in?

n/t

[dutchdoctor]

24. Spain probes 'secret CIA flights'

Spain is launching an investigation into claims that CIA planes carrying terror suspects made secret stopovers on Spanish soil.

Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso made the announcement on Spanish television on Tuesday.

He said that if proven, such activities could damage relations between the Spanish and US governments.

According to Spanish press reports, the CIA is suspected of having used Mallorca for such prisoner transfers.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4439036.stm


That is al they have on their website right now, maybe more will follow later..

[Horse with no Name]

25. I guess I have been proven wrong

The world isn't gonna just let Georgie use it for a giant sandbox.

[EuroObserver]

26. Yep. This has been building for months here.

But I hesitate to post Spanish language material and links, and making translations takes a lot of time.

Anyway, on the Mallorca-based material, see here (Spanish): http://www.nodo50.org/tortura/varios/20050300-Mallorca-AvionesCarcel-Cia.htm

Note that such flights have been observed using the Canary Islands also.

[Briar]

27. The Guardian's story adds:

"The Guardian has established that some 210 flights involved in the "extraordinary rendition" operation have also passed through British airports."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1642829,00.html

No investigation has been set in motion by the Bliar government, as far as I know.

[dutchdoctor]

28. Thanks,

from the Guardian article:

"We have to demand an explanation from the US state department and ban the entry of these flights to Spain," Miguel Roselló of the United Left party told journalists yesterday.
This spells more doom for Bush, isn't the United left party the party in power in Spain right now?

Clearly a violation of EU torture guidelines

[EuroObserver]

29. Spanish political primer + CIA Flight Reg. Nos.

No, dutchdoctor, the 'United Left' party (Izquierda Unida) is a Spain-wide agrupation of left and green parties rather further to the 'left' (if the terminology is still valid) than the governing 'Socialist' party - the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español - Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) which is in spite of its name a centre-left 'social-democrat'-type party in the European sense.

Because the governing PSOE does not quite have an overall majority in the Spanish Parliament (but has more seats that any other party), it governs at present not in a formal coalition, but depending on support, as necessary and from time to time, from the 'United Left', the Catalan Left (and Greens), and/or Catalan, Basque, Canarian or Galician 'nationalist' (read, regional) parties.

The now ousted Bush/Blair-supporting 'centre-right' PP (Partido Popular or Popular Party) is actually best described as a unified force representing all right-wing opinion streching all the way to neo- and ultra-fascists. The lying warmongering but essentially cowardly ex-PM José María Aznar is still its 'spiritual' leader, although ostensibly now retired, and appears in practice to completely dominate the political strategy, tactics and everyday discourse of the fourth-rate personages (plural) currently occupying the 'leadership' of this essentially Franco-oriented party (with help of far-right elements in the Catholic Church and much influence in much of the mainstream media in this long-suffering country.

Uff. I'll have to work up a longer essay on this one of these days.

Some data courtesy of Izquierda Unida:

"aviones Boeing BBJ, Gulfstream V y Gulfstream IV de matrículas N313P o N4476S, N379P o N8068V, N85VM o N227SV."

-> Airplanes Boeing BBJ (737), Gulfstream V and Gulfstream IV registrations N313P or N4476S, N379P or N8068V, N85VM or N227SV.

[sabra]

30. Spain probes CIA’s ‘torture flights’

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=96418

Spain probes CIA’s ‘torture flights’

Nov. 16. — Spain has launched a judicial inquiry into allegations that CIA aircraft may have secretly used a Spanish airport to transport terror suspects to clandestine interrogation camps, Mr Jose Antonio Alonso, the interior minister, said today.

If the allegations proved true, Mr Alonso warned: “We would be looking at extremely serious, intolerable acts that violate rules for treating prisoners in a democratic society, and would demand a government response that would affect bilateral ties.”

The dispute deals a blow to strained US-Spanish relations. Spain’s intelligence service knew that CIA planes were making stopovers on Spanish soil and urged the American agency to stop the flights, El Pais newspaper said today.

The Spanish request was prompted by a police report last June said 10 flights were found to have used Palma de Mallorca airport. The CIA never acknowledged any connection with these flights, where terror suspects were allegedly taken to prisons in third countries for interrogation in a programme known as “extraordinary rendition”, El Pais said, but it added, quoting government sources, that “the Spanish secret services had no doubts about the matter”. Mr Jose Bono, Spain’s defence minister, insisted there was no proof that the USA had engaged in “illicit activities”. “We have no evidence, so I am not prepared to put a friendly, allied government on the spot on the basis of supposition and rumour.”

[Chicago Democrat]

31. kik