Straw says no record of CIA detainee flights
reuters:The government has found no evidence that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has been transporting terrorism suspects through British airports, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Monday.
Human rights groups accuse the CIA of running secret prisons in eastern Europe and covertly transporting detainees -- a practice known as "extraordinary rendition". They say incomunicado detention often leads to torture.
But Straw said research of government records had found no record of U.S. requests for flights carrying suspects to land.
He acknowledged however that military flights from other countries were not subject to checks by local authorities and that the government could not prove such flights had not landed in the country.
"This careful research has been unable to identify any occasion since September 11, 2001, or earlier in the Bush administration when we've received requests for permission by the U.S. government for a rendition through UK territory or air space," he told BBC Radio.
"Nor are we aware by other means of any such case."
Asked if he was certain no CIA flights carrying terrorism suspects had touched down in Britain, Straw said: "That appears to be the case ... We have checked the records as carefully as we can."
He said it had always been U.S. government practice to request permission for rendition flights to land. Under the administration of former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Britain received three requests and granted two of them, Straw said.
But he added: "Military flights by other countries are not subject to checking by local authorities."
Straw said the government would continue to investigate the allegations.
"I believe the answer we've given from the records suggests there have been no such flights through UK territory. That is the position as I believe it to be today," he said. Link
db: This is just the beginning - JS understands that much
Human rights groups accuse the CIA of running secret prisons in eastern Europe and covertly transporting detainees -- a practice known as "extraordinary rendition". They say incomunicado detention often leads to torture.
But Straw said research of government records had found no record of U.S. requests for flights carrying suspects to land.
He acknowledged however that military flights from other countries were not subject to checks by local authorities and that the government could not prove such flights had not landed in the country.
"This careful research has been unable to identify any occasion since September 11, 2001, or earlier in the Bush administration when we've received requests for permission by the U.S. government for a rendition through UK territory or air space," he told BBC Radio.
"Nor are we aware by other means of any such case."
Asked if he was certain no CIA flights carrying terrorism suspects had touched down in Britain, Straw said: "That appears to be the case ... We have checked the records as carefully as we can."
He said it had always been U.S. government practice to request permission for rendition flights to land. Under the administration of former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Britain received three requests and granted two of them, Straw said.
But he added: "Military flights by other countries are not subject to checking by local authorities."
Straw said the government would continue to investigate the allegations.
"I believe the answer we've given from the records suggests there have been no such flights through UK territory. That is the position as I believe it to be today," he said. Link
db: This is just the beginning - JS understands that much
posted by exoplanet at 1:27 PM
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