Extraordinary renditions - extraordinary ignorance

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Saturday November 12, 2005 22:45 by Dr. Coilín Oscar ÓhAiseadha Máigh Nuad, Co. Cill Dara

Taoiseach in Dáil demonstrates ignorance of the movements of CIA abduction planes

According to the Dáil Report in The Irish Times on Friday 11 November, the Taoiseach said: “Human Rights Watch went on to say that it was highly unlikely that this type of clandestine activity [i.e. the CIA's extraordinary renditions] would operate out of a major civilian airport.”

On this basis, we are to be reassured that we do not need to search US aircraft landing at Shannon.

In a letter to the Taoiseach, I quote reports from mainstream media sources of CIA aircraft operating its extraordinary abuses out of the following major civilian airports: Bromma (aka Stockholm City Airport), Dulles (Washington), Prestwick (Glasgow), Queen Alia (Amman) and Kastrup (Copenhagen).

If all of these airports have been used and abused, then why not Shannon?

To: An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern TD
CC: Michael D. Higgins, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, John Gormley, Joe Costello, Finian McGrath, Tony Gregory, David Norris ...
BCC: Ray McGovern ...

...
Máigh Nuad
Co. Cill Dara

12 November, 2005


Re: Extraordinary renditions - extraordinary ignorance


Mr Taoiseach,

Thanks for your comments to the Dáil regarding suspicions that Shannon Airport has been used by CIA aircraft for the abduction and “extraordinary rendition” of suspected terrorists to countries where they can be tortured.

According to the Dáil Report in The Irish Times yesterday, Friday 11 November, you said: “Human Rights Watch went on to say that it was highly unlikely that this type of clandestine activity would operate out of a major civilian airport.”

Mr Ahern, permit me to come directly to the point: I find it outrageous that a good socialist such as yourself should be so extraordinarily ignorant of matters of such significance for Ireland’s role in international affairs.

Since it is conceivable that you are genuinely unaware of the facts of the matter, I would like to document some of the major civilian airports used by the CIA for its extraordinary abductions:

1. In an article entitled “New Swedish Documents Illuminate CIA Action”, published by the Washington Post Foreign Service on 21 May, 2005, I read the following:
“STOCKHOLM -- The CIA Gulfstream V jet touched down at a small airport west of here just before 9 p.m. on a subfreezing night in December 2001. ... Swedish officers watched as the CIA operatives pulled out scissors and rapidly sliced off the prisoners' clothes, including their underwear ... At 9:47 p.m., less than an hour after its arrival at Bromma Airport, the jet took off on a five-hour flight to Cairo, where the prisoners, Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad Zery, were handed over to Egyptian security officials.”

According to its own web site, more than one million people are expected to travel to and from Bromma – also known as Stockholm City Airport – this year.

Mr Taoiseach, as Sweden is not involved in the occupation of Iraq, I submit that these one million passengers must be understood to be civilians. Bromma is thus a “major civilian airport” that has been used by the CIA for its extraordinary abuses.

2. In the transcript of a BBC radio programme “File on 4”, broadcast on Tuesday 8 February, 2005, reporter Stephen Grey says:
“This is Dulles Airport, Washington, within easy reach of both the Pentagon and the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Our flight logs show that on almost every occasion when the Gulfstream jet leaves America, it passes through this airport.”

According to its own web site, Washington Dulles International Airport served 22.8 million passengers in 2004. Yet another major civilian airport, Mr Taoiseach.

The same radio programme examined extracts from the flight logs of the CIA’s Gulfstream jet, marked with the American civilian registration number N379P. These flight logs showed that the jet flew from Glasgow Prestwick to Washington on 15 January, 2002, and from Queen Alia Airport in Jordan to Glasgow Prestwick on 12 February, 2002.

3. According to its own web site, Glasgow Prestwick will handle some 2.5 million passengers this year. That is 2.5 million civilians, Mr Ahern!

4. According to my research, Queen Alia International Airport in Amman is served by airlines including Aeroflot, Air France, British Airways and KLM. It has an annual capacity of 1.8 million passengers.

Mr Taoiseach, perhaps you are privy to information that has not previously been widely published: Do British Airways and KLM operate military airline services out of Jordan?

5. In an article entitled “Red-Green Alliance wants to know why CIA aeroplane was in Kastrup”, published on the web site of the Danish national broadcasting station, DR, on 29 October, 2005, I read:
“One of the aeroplanes the American intelligence agency CIA uses to transport suspected terrorists around the world landed in Copenhagen earlier this year. ... According to a reply from traffic minister Flemming Hansen to the defence spokesperson for the Danish Red-Green Alliance, Frank Aaen, the aeroplane with the registration number N221SG landed in Copenhagen at 9 am on 7 March.”

According to its own web site, 50,000 passengers use Copenhagen Kastrup Airport every day. Having previously lived in Denmark for seven years, I myself have flown in and out of Kastrup many times, and I have never seen any soldiers or military aircraft there. So I hope we can agree that this also counts as a “major civilian airport”.

Mr Ahern, on searching the web site of Human Rights Watch, I do not see the statement to which you refer. If you can find your source, and if you can confirm that you have not misrepresented it, I would be very grateful to receive a copy so that I can alert HRW to this extraordinary discrepancy in matters of fact.

In any case, in the light of the above reports from reputable sources, I trust we can agree that your assurances that the CIA would not use civilian airports for its extraordinary abductions are untenable. If all of the major civilian airports listed – Bromma, Dulles, Prestwick, Queen Alia and Kastrup – can be used by the CIA, then there is no reason to accept assurances that Shannon might not also be used.

Hence, I support TD Michael D. Higgins’ demand that US aeroplanes landing at Shannon be searched to ensure that Ireland is not complicit in the CIA’s extraordinary crimes against humanity.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Coilín ÓhAiseadha.