C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights

A Casa 235 about to take off from Ruzyne Airport in Prague on a flight to Afghanistan operated by the C.I.A.-connected Aero Contractors.

SMITHFIELD, N.C. - The airplanes of Aero Contractors Ltd. take off from Johnston County Airport here, then disappear over the scrub pines and fields of tobacco and sweet potatoes. Nothing about the sleepy Southern setting hints of foreign intrigue. Nothing gives away the fact that Aero's pilots are the discreet bus drivers of the battle against terrorism, routinely sent on secret missions to Baghdad, Cairo, Tashkent and Kabul.

When the Central Intelligence Agency wants to grab a suspected member of Al Qaeda overseas and deliver him to interrogators in another country, an Aero Contractors plane often does the job. If agency experts need to fly overseas in a hurry after the capture of a prized prisoner, a plane will depart Johnston County and stop at Dulles Airport outside Washington to pick up the C.I.A. team on the way.

Aero Contractors' planes dropped C.I.A. paramilitary officers into Afghanistan in 2001; carried an American team to Karachi, Pakistan, right after the United States Consulate there was bombed in 2002; and flew from Libya to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the day before an American-held prisoner said he was questioned by Libyan intelligence agents last year, according to flight data and other records.

While posing as a private charter outfit - "aircraft rental with pilot" is the listing in Dun and Bradstreet - Aero Contractors is in fact a major domestic hub of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret air service. The company was founded in 1979 by a legendary C.I.A. officer and chief pilot for Air America, the agency's Vietnam-era air company, and it appears to be controlled by the agency, according to former employees.

source:
New York Times

A VERY interesting Article from New York Times - talking about the Air America back in the Game.


Related ATS Threads:
Aboard AIR C.I.A.
Air America II: The CIA's Ghost Civilian Airline: "Premier Executive Transport Service Inc"

C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights

You are making this out to be like it's "new" news.

This has gone on for many years....no big secret.

would you would much rather the CIA fly in corporate aircraft with a big
CIA logo on the side dragging a banner of starts and stripes?

Originally posted by SportyMB
would you would much rather the CIA fly in corporate aircraft with a big
CIA logo on the side dragging a banner of starts and stripes?

No.

I would like the CIA to stop Breaking a serious Number of INTERnational Laws with their Air-CIA.

Well I guess some Men are Below and some Above the Law.

dis is a tactic used by the CIA against Al Qaeda because Al Qaeda cant handle it.

Seven months before Sept. 11, 2001, the State Department issued a human rights report on Uzbekistan. It was a litany of horrors.

The police repeatedly tortured prisoners, State Department officials wrote, noting that the most common techniques were "beating, often with blunt weapons, and asphyxiation with a gas mask." Separately, international human rights groups had reported that torture in Uzbek jails included boiling of body parts, using electroshock on genitals and plucking off fingernails and toenails with pliers. Two prisoners were boiled to death, the groups reported. The February 2001 State Department report stated bluntly: "Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state with limited civil rights."

Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, however, the Bush administration turned to Uzbekistan as a partner in the global fight against terrorism. The nation, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, granted the United States the use of a military base for fighting the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan. President Bush welcomed Uzbek President Islam Karimov to the White House, and the United States has given Uzbekistan more than $500 million for border control and other security measures.

Now there is increasing evidence that the United States has sent terror suspects to Uzbekistan for detention and interrogation, even as Uzbekistan's treatment of its own prisoners continues to earn it admonishments from around the world, including from the State Department.

The so-called rendition program, under which the CIA transfers terror suspects to foreign countries to be held and interrogated, has linked the United States to other countries with poor human rights records. But the turnabout in relations with Uzbekistan is particularly sharp. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, there was little high-level contact between Washington and Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, beyond the United States' criticism of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan's role as a surrogate jailer for the United States has been confirmed by a half-dozen current and former intelligence officials working in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. The CIA declined to comment on the prisoner transfer program, but an intelligence official estimated that the number of terrorism suspects sent by the United States to Tashkent is in the dozens.

There is other evidence of the United States' reliance on Uzbekistan in the program. On Sept. 21, 2003, two American-registered airplanes -- a Gulfstream jet and a Boeing 737 -- landed at the international airport in Tashkent, according to flight logs obtained by the New York Times.

Although the precise purpose of those flights is not known, over a span of about three years, from late 2001 until early this year, the CIA used those two planes to ferry terror suspects in U.S. custody to countries around the world for questioning, according to interviews with former and current intelligence officials and the planes' flight logs. On the day the planes landed in Tashkent, the Gulfstream had taken off from Baghdad, while the 737 had departed from the Czech Republic, according to the logs.

www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2005/05/01/MNGE5CI9MO1.DTL

Among the countries where prisoners have been sent by America is Uzbekistan, a close ally and a dictatorship whose secret police are notorious for their interrogation methods, including the alleged boiling of prisoners. The Gulfstream made at least seven trips to the Uzbek capital.

The details bolster claims by Craig Murray, the former British ambassador, that America has sent terrorist suspects from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan to be interrogated by torture.

In a memo, whose disclosure last month contributed to Murray's removal, he told Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, that the CIA station chief in Tashkent had "readily acknowledged torture was deployed in obtaining intelligence".

www.notinourname.net...

Germany has been a key base for the CIA jets. The flight logs I have seen show frequent stops of the Gulfstream jet, and a Boeing 737 jet used for rendition, at Frankfurt airport. There is a judicial inquiry under way in Germany into the case of Khaled al-Masri, a German citizen from Ulm who claimed he was kidnapped in Skopje, Macedonia, on 31 December 2003. He was flown three weeks later to Afghanistan and a US prison facility where, he has claimed, he was repeatedly beaten before being released four months later and dumped on a roadside in Albania.

At first his claims seemed unbelievable, but flight logs I obtained from aviation sources show clear evidence that the CIA’s Boeing 737 transported him to Skopje on 23 January 2004. My documents show the plane flew in from Majorca and then took Masri to Kabul via Baghdad. Such evidence could put the CIA in a difficult position with its German counterparts, who may be forced to treat the case as an illegal kidnap.

In Italy there is now a judicial investigation into the kidnapping of a suspected al-Qaida activist in Milan. It is claimed that US agents, without legal permission, kidnapped a suspect from the streets of a close European ally. At noon on 16 February 2003 an Egyptian, Abu Omar, disappeared in Milan’s Via Guerzona during a 10-minute walk from his home to a local mosque. An eyewitness said he was stopped on the street by three white men, with a van drawn up on the pavement. He had been under surveillance by Italian authorities but they denied any role in his disappearance. The claim is that he was seized by US agents, taken to the US Aviano air base and flown to Egypt.

The deputy prosecutor of Milan, Armando Spataro, who is the magistrate investigating the case, refuses to accuse the US but is treating the case as involuntary kidnap and is certain that Omar is now in Egypt. If the US was involved, would it be a crime? “If it were true, it would be a serious breach of Italian law. It would be absolutely illegal,” he says.

mondediplo.com...


[edit on 31-5-2005 by Moretti]

*yawn*
This is getting old and boring.....


Yet another CIA bashing thread with no constructive arguments or comments. Just articles bashing the CIA.
Still no alternatives either. OK, so you hate the CIA, good for you. Now what would you use as an alternative? Intelligence gathering and analyzing is very neccesary, so without an organized government agency, how would you suggest we go about it? And how reliable do you think it would be if everything wasn't organized?

Originally posted by ThatsJustWeird
*yawn*
This is getting old and boring.....


Yet another CIA bashing thread with no constructive arguments or comments. Just articles bashing the CIA.
Still no alternatives either. OK, so you hate the CIA, good for you. Now what would you use as an alternative? Intelligence gathering and analyzing is very neccesary, so without an organized government agency, how would you suggest we go about it? And how reliable do you think it would be if everything wasn't organized?

Apparently not ENOUGH Cia bashing threads - since stuff is Still going on, and on, and on, and on...

And you call this Illegal Kidnapings "intelligence gathering"?

Torture and Abuse, Kidnap and possibly Murder - all in the Name of the "intelligence gathering"?

You think that wont Anger the People even More?

OR does the tactic "Fight Fire with Fight Fire" seem appropriate to you in this case?

TO STOP TERRORISM - STOP PRACTICING IT!!!!

"The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world..."

"Here, you're innocent until proven guilty..."

-President George W. Bush
May 31, 2005

news.yahoo.com.../ap/20050531/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

Really....?

Dr. Nolte examined the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen who American officials have confirmed was pulled from a bus on the Serbia-Macedonia border on Dec. 31, 2003, and held for three weeks. Then he was drugged and beaten, by his account, before being flown to Afghanistan.

The episode illustrates the circumstantial nature of the evidence on C.I.A. flights, which often coincide with the arrest and transporting of Al Qaeda suspects. No public record states how Mr. Masri was taken to Afghanistan. But flight data shows a Boeing Business Jet operated by Aero Contractors and owned by Premier Executive Transport Services, one of the C.I.A.-linked shell companies, flew from Skopje, Macedonia, to Baghdad and on to Kabul on Jan. 24, 2004, the day after Mr. Masri's passport was marked with a Macedonian exit stamp.

Mr. Masri was later released by order of Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser at the time, after his arrest was shown to be a case of mistaken identity.

Perhaps Mr. Bush should take his foot out of his mouth.

America's marketing department should rethink it's global branding strategy. In the face of proof that evidence was falsified to make a case to go to war with Iraq (see the Downing Street Memo) and that the U.S. is kidnapping and torturing innocent citizens of sovereign countries, the President's hollow statements about discarded American ideals are beyond inappropriate.

The cat is out of the bag. Sure, there are many that may continue to deny factual evidence--and there are many that may continue to support horribly wrong policies just because the blinders are welded on.

How can you call yourself an American, but then condone the institutionalized practice of sentencing people to imprisonment without proving guilt?

And if that wasn't bad enough--subject these people, some of whom are innocent, to medieval torture?

The CIA may be taking a few hundred terrorists off the street now, but inspiring thousands more to hate Americans in the future. Is the plan to enslave and torture everyone that hates America?

This practice indicts the American legal and judiciary system as being completely ineffectual. Have you considered the long term impact of our government making the determination that they must look outside the Constitution for effective solutions for dealing with criminals? What makes terrorism any different from any other case that involves national security? And what makes you think that the umbrella of national security has limits? Homeland security investigators are already going after copyright infringement crimes and counterfitters--national security, right? I wouldn't be surprised if we don't start hearing stories of unlawful detention and torture of American citizens within the borders of the United States.

Oops! It's already happening...

Isn't it time for this duality to stop? When the President tortures innocent people with one hand and then waves an American flag and pats babies on the head with the other, how can you not feel dirty?

Originally posted by lmgnyc
When the President tortures innocent people with one hand and then waves an American flag and pats babies on the head with the other, how can you not feel dirty?

I just spin Paris' 'Bushkilla' a few dozen times and things even out.

Yeah, so where's he at? I might wait
For his mother#in’ ass on a rooftop next tour
Buck his dome cause I'm known to play for keeps
Lay low to the flo’ and keep it neat
And send his ass home belly up
Yeah, it's P-Dog the Bush Killa.

It was about Bush 1, but Bush 2 is the same, just a lot dumber and meaner.

Originally posted by Souljah
Apparently not ENOUGH Cia bashing threads - since stuff is Still going on, and on, and on, and on...

And you call this Illegal Kidnapings "intelligence gathering"?

Torture and Abuse, Kidnap and possibly Murder - all in the Name of the "intelligence gathering"?

You think that wont Anger the People even More?

OR does the tactic "Fight Fire with Fight Fire" seem appropriate to you in this case?

TO STOP TERRORISM - STOP PRACTICING IT!!!!

You're good at not answering questions or only addressing certain comments and completely ignoring stuff you have no answer too

Despite all your misguided (and misinformed) misgivings, the our intel agencies are very necessary. Again, since you feel they shouldn't exsist and are pure evil, what do you suggest we do as an alternative?


btw, good luck with coming up with credible proof of how evil the CIA is. Very rarely can one prove of the good stuff the CIA does (which outweighs any "bad" a billion to one -at least) so proving anything bad ain't easy.



Oh and nice JJ. Advocating the assasination of a world leader. Classy

Originally posted by ThatsJustWeird
You're good at not answering questions or only addressing certain comments and completely ignoring stuff you have no answer too

And You're good at diverting from the Title of this Thread - but OK, I guess your defending the actions performed by the so called Central Intelligence Agency.

Despite all your misguided (and misinformed) misgivings, the our intel agencies are very necessary. Again, since you feel they shouldn't exsist and are pure evil, what do you suggest we do as an alternative?

I suggest that CIA along with the current US goverment Stops the Hypochrisy. As the alternative I suggest that CIA goes to Africa and cracks down some serious Warlords that dwell upon human suffering, instead of Coccaine and Opium smuggling and Illegal Kidnaping and Torture.

Hows that for a "Role Model" for all WORLDS INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES?

Geeeez, what will they think - if CIA can do IT, so can WE!

Where does it Stop?

btw, good luck with coming up with credible proof of how evil the CIA is. Very rarely can one prove of the good stuff the CIA does (which outweighs any "bad" a billion to one -at least) so proving anything bad ain't easy.

Three things cannot long be Hidden: the Sun, the Moon, and the Truth.
Confucious

Sooner or Later...

[edit on 31/5/05 by Souljah]

Plenty Of Rancor For The CIA, But Not For Torture Nations

I'm not knocking the call for human decency. I'm all for it, and oppose torture in any form.

If you need information from somebody, you drug them and make friends.

Torture is for amateurs.

But hey, let's assume the charges are absolutely true.

Why not? Better safe than sorry.

What undermines credibility of this “Anti-CIA” campaign is the rather obvious fact the people are bagging on the CIA while being very careful not to say so much as an unkind word about the fact that these countries are known to practice torture.

It gives me a “forest for the trees” sort of vibe.

Selective outrage = political toolsmanship.

If you don't like torture, I recommend not being picky about who you condemn for it.

Not to put words in anyone's mouth, some folks in this thread do indeed seem to be opposed to torture in general -- although it tends to be lost in all the nation-bashing. Well, America-bashing, actually.

A more balanced appeal would probably gain more support.

But that's just my subjective opinion based on what I'm seeing here.

Wow another international LAW brocken byu the USA..
Where's edsinger when you need him.
Im sure there's a logical law abiding reason he can create that makes it PERFECTly ok for the US to transport prisoners for torture and itnerigation.

As long as its under the guise of information gathering!

And you call this Illegal Kidnapings "intelligence gathering"?

Torture and Abuse, Kidnap and possibly Murder - all in the Name of the "intelligence gathering"?

You think that wont Anger the People even More?

OR does the tactic "Fight Fire with Fight Fire" seem appropriate to you in this case?

TO STOP TERRORISM - STOP PRACTICING IT!!!!

Once again your suggesting the US use tactics the enemy has no problem doing. Ok they're wrong so why do we do it? come on, dont play "im a saint". The al qaeda in iraq ILLEGALLY kidnap and kill people. So yes, i believe fighting fire with fire is appropriate. Who cares who it angers, they dont seem to be too concerned with this. I think your problem is that you think there should be one set of rules for america, and another set for those who "fight the evil empire".

Isnt that exactly what the US is doing?

Saddm is creating WMD's ( turns out he wasnt )
But so are we.

They are breaking geneva conventions by showing prisoners on TV
But so are we.

They are abusing and murdering there captives.
But so are we.

Exactly, so why is the US in the more wrong because of it, because we are bigger? because we have more money? what?

Because your out there fighting to remove these vicous acts.
Your the ones screaming democracy, remove the regime
Your the ones telling the world YOUR NOT DOING THESE Things.
That is why its wrong.

And your the only ones holding people UNJUSTLY, withuot trial.
Descrating their relgious book, beating them, the cr*p from Abugrahib.

And your doing it in the name of Freedom
My A$$

Would you consider it fair to be locked up for yrs without trial, without visitation rights?

The only reason the US gave them korans, is because Red Cross would of shat all over them