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Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program

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Any citizen concerned about the manifest threats to our constitutionally guaranteed liberties emanating from the Bush administration in its approach to the "War On Terror" will do well to read and appreciate the frightening story contained in these pages. Author Stephen Grey takes great pains to carefully document the astonishing ways in which the Executive Branch has unleashed the least principled elements within the Central Intelligence Agency and fully endorsed the crypto-fascistic policy of "extraordinary rendition", which is a clever euphemism for the unlawful abduction and illegal international transportation of certain designated "terrorist" suspects to avoid domestic legal complications. In other words, when the CIA and Executive branch determine that a specific suspected terrorist might have critical time-sensitive information, it employs this technique to deliver the suspected terrorist into the hands of foreign governments that sanction and practice torture. Thus, the fundamental purpose of this policy is to do an end run around the constitutional guarantees which everyone within the borders of the USA enjoys by situating the suspect in countries in which brutal torture is both tolerated and practiced.

In many cases there is an almost comical ironic twist to the politics involved in the sense that the Executive Branch and the CIA seem to blatently ignore and deliberately subvert existing foreign policy in acts that are most accurately described as being cynically pragmatic, which also employ outlaw states such as Syria to use extreme torture methods to ply sensitive information from known or suspected terrorist suspects. What Grey reveals is a well-established network of secret international prisons not only sanctioned by the United States Government, but which also rewards host countries who are aided and abetted in their own civil rights violations through immoral and unethical manipulation of Presidential influence on other countries to "take it easy" on human rights violator states like Morocco, Syria, and the Sudan. The picture that eventually comes into sharp focus is one in which both American and European leaders intentionally subvert both civil and criminal laws as well as well established international policies to keep such outlawed practices of illegal imprisonment and extreme torture secret as they attempt to mine the depths of human intelligence without worrying about either the morality or legality of such actions.

This story is not only shocking in terms of the craven practices it shows our elected and appointed leaders to be guilty of, but is also a stunning indictment of the whole notion of the "War On Terror" by illustrating that we as a country are apparently just as willing to inflict pain and suffering on potential innocents to achieve our political means as are the terrorists, meaning that in that regard we are no better than they. It should be an outrage for Americans to recognize that our elected and appointed representatives, that is, those who have initiated and are practicing extraordinary rendition appear all too ready, willing, and able to simply set aside thorny constitutional and ethical standards (which have such a rich tradition in western civilization) to achieve what they term to be a short term advantage in the struggle against the terrorists.

While I am no Pollyanna, and am willing to admit there are certain rare circumstances in which such situational ethics may seem to justify the use of extreme measures, it seems that what Mr. Grey has uncovered is anything but an exceptional situation, that in fact there has developed a wholesale policy which trashes these traditional cautions against the use of extreme torture and the related legal abuse of the suspect's legal rights, thus setting the stage for an increasingly noxious authoritarian practice in which the act of abducting a person quickly becomes a de facto justification for the act itself. Having such trust and confidence in the wisdom of the Executive Branch and the CIA to visit such summary justice to people simply suspected of terrorist ties seems quite contrary to the fundamental laws and liberties guaranteed by the founding fathers. Indeed, such rushes to judgement can have catastrophic consequences for innocent people mistakenly caught up in this practice, and there are several documented cases in which this has happened, most undeniably to a Canadian citizen who was simply passing through the USA en route from the Middle East back to Canada when he was detained and abducted at JFK airport, and was subsequently flown to Syria and then systematically tortured for months before being released after continuing complaints from Canadian authorities to the CIA and US State Department.

Indeed, it is difficult not to be outraged and disgusted when Grey traces the record of government representatives as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making public pronouncements denying the use of extraordinary rendition and torture by third party host nations on behalf of the USA. Under such circumstances, it is preposterous to suggest that we simply trust Mr. Bush and his cabinet members to do whatever they think best by allowing them the latitude to defend our liberties as they see fit, and without any meaningful oversight or review. We should all be ashamed of the way in which our leaders have done such things in the name of national security, and be prepared to compensate the many innocent victims who were virtually kidnapped and willingly surrendered by our agents to suffer in the hands of bestial captors. As I indicated above, some have had their lives ruined. Senator Barry Goldwater once commented that "extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice"; yet I am sure he would turn over in his grave to learn of the sordid details that are described in this book. In my opinion, our own clutch on personal liberty is seriously jeapordized by the anti-democratic and authoritarian policies and practices described herein. Enjoy!

Grey's "Ghost Plane" provides credible documentation of America's involvement in secret renditions and torture - often on the flimsiest of "evidence" (eg. suspect was a friend of someone believed to be a terrorist). He begins by telling of our recently sending prisoners to Syria for interrogation and torture - despite Bush and the State Department condemning Syria for torture and supporting terrorism. ("The enemy of my enemy is my friend" - both Syria and Egypt are anti-Al Qaeda.)

Grey also asserts that the U.S. has outsourced "questioning" since at least 1965 (South American Communists); in addition similar activities took place in Central America and Vietnam. President Carter then ceased all such activities, and directed the CIA to promote human rights. However, 9/11 ended that - first came Guantanamo, then stories began to leak out of the CIA working with some of the most repressive secret police in the world (eg. Egypt and Uzbekistan) that also opposed Islamic extremism.

Renditions are described as typically utilizing about 8 men dressed in black and wearing masks; when going to Egypt they would also bring two Egyptian officers - thus, technically the prisoners were never in U.S. custody. The U.S. only provided "taxi service" via small unmarked civilian "ghost planes."

Grey documents 89 renditions, and suspects hundreds more took place. Substantiation is provided by public flight logs, released prisoners' site descriptions matching actual known foreign country secret police settings, scars (on some), and reports from a British ambassador. Techniques included beatings, cuts, drug injections, food and water adulteration, threats made regarding a suspect's relatives, incessant and loud music, 18-hour interrogations, near drownings (eg. confined in a small room while water rose to one's chin), "water-boarding," chaining one's hands over the head - becoming unable to stand any longer caused great pain, etc.

Grey's "Ghost Plane" is a service to America - we need to know what is going on; it also puts torture allegations about Abu Ghraib into a new light.

A fabulous job of integrating detail with narrative into a web of our secret and not too righteous world of torture, kidnapping and disregard for human rights.
Grey has made his case of detailing the flights, passengers, destinations, and outcomes of the "rendition" and extraordinary rendition by our own government. And how the details of delusion of the public were worked out by Gonzalez et al.
This book is well worth reading if you have an interest in how a government can go overboard in trashing human rights--and still get poor results (from torture).
What looks like a formidable read turns out to be riveting and is truly a worhtwhile addition to the support of a better, more open government that is above torture.

Stephen Grey, a former editor of the Sunday Times Insight investigation team, broke many of the news stories about the CIAs programme of secret renditions. In this extremely useful book, he gives us the fullest account yet of this programme. He exposes the CIAs covert aircraft fleet, Aero Contractors, and also describes how CIA planes operated illegally in Venezuela to support the attempted coup against President Chavez in 2002.

The CIA runs a system of clandestine prisons holding thousands of kidnapped prisoners, taken from Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Germany, Italy, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia, Gambia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia to be tortured in Afghanistan, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Syria, Egypt and Morocco. Grey writes, the foreign torture cells of Cairo and Damascus and the US jails at Guantanamo and Bagram were part of one interconnected gulag in which prisoners were swapped both between countries but also between the CIA and the US military.

Grey asked Edward Walker, US Ambassador to Egypt, When Condoleezza Rice and the president now stand in front of people and say we dont send people to countries where they torture, are they telling the truth? Walker replied, No, theyre not telling the truth. A CIA official said, nothing was done without approval from the White House  from Condoleezza Rice herself.

The Bush and Blair governments talk democracy but support dictatorship. For example, in 2002, the State Department said Uzbekistan routinely tortured prisoners, then gave it an extra $180 million aid. Grey points out that the Blair government connived in the renditions and in the use of torture, by using the information gained from torturing prisoners. Nor has the Blair government defended British citizens from CIA rendition.

Grey also notes that the illegal war on Iraq is a counter-productive diversion from the struggle against Al-Qaeda. As Britains Joint Intelligence Committee said in April 2005, We judge that the conflict in Iraq has exacerbated the threat from international terrorism and will continue to have an impact in the long term. It has reinforced the determination of terrorists who were already committed to attacking the West and motivated others who were not. The JIC said that the war provided an additional motivation for attacks on Britain and was increasing Al Qaedas potential.

Similarly, the US governments appalling treatment of prisoners has worsened the threat from Al-Qaeda. Grey concludes, Americas programme of extraordinary rendition and its harsh treatment of prisoners have not, when considered strategically, been successful weapons against terrorism.

I have just finished reading Ghost Plane -- and I have just one problem with it's contents. Grey makes numerous references to the capture, detention, and confessions of the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; and yet Grey fails to mention Khalid's reported death on September 16th 2002 in Pakistan at the hands of Pakistani security forces, months before he was officially captured by the FBI and Pakistani joint operation in March 2003.

It would seem most unfortunate to be killed and then resurrected only to have the misfortune to be captured. It would seem possible, that the FBI and CIA needed to have a high value prisoner -- who would sing like a canary after a few session on the water-board, and implicate many other detained suspects in complicity in his crimes. We will never know, but the chances are that whomever is being duffed up in the name of American liberty down in Cuba is nothing more than a stooge, who will say anything to spot the beatings and who also (quite conveniently) confessed to killing Daniel Pearle, allowing the actual murder and Pakistani ISI agent - Omar Saeed - to be freed soon enough. It is also worth mentioning, that Omar Saeed is the man who wired Mohammed Atta the $100k at the bequest of the head of Pakistani's ISI, not Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as many believe.

More on Khalid Shaikh Mohammed;

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/essay.jsp?article=essayksmcapture

Grey's book is thoroughly researched and he documents very well the careless "trail" that the CIA left behind.

The first half of the book can be a bit difficult to follow at times, as they are "case-studies" on individual prisoners. I found it a bit challenging to keep all the key players in context.

However, with that said, Grey includes all the detail to set the stage for proving that these renditions had taken place, and that the Executive Branch had knowingly "out-sourced" enemy combatants to organizations that carried-out the tortures, on behalf of the US.

Three of the key points that I took away from this book were: a sense of disappointment and disgust with the US approach. Sen. John McCain, who himself was tortured as a POW (Read his book "Faith of Our Fathers"), vehemently opposes torture. He continues to state that the biggest thing that kept him and his fellow POWs steadfast, was that they stalwartly believed that their government was "above" this type of treatment, and humanity and justice by the US makes them different than their captors.

The second point is that torture is counter-productive to achieving peace and diplomacy. Grey does a nice job of laying-out how these actions only serve to fuel and further incite the animosity that hostile organizations feel for the US.

The final point, that defense cuts and disregard for the value of human intelligence, by past presidential administrations, really fostered the environment for the Bush aministration to play "catch-up"...although it doesn't exonerate the Administration from the actions.

I'll leave the rest to you to uncover how Bush, Condi Rice, the CIA, looked the other way as this all went down...

An important book in the quest to better understand the war on terror and the actions taken by the United States and others. In this writing, the actions taken are not consistent with civil and democratic society. While readers may have alternative views and/or sentiments as they read this book, most will find it worth the read. It is a powerful and appropriate indictment of America's "extraordinary rendition" program.

The book recounts the secret prison and torture program sponsored (at least in this argument) by the CIA. Books like Grey's are required reading in any democratic society. The informed citizen will assure that we remain a democracy and, in this case, that we clean up our mess.

Most of this is a chapter by chapter case by case analysis of various individuals alleged to have ties to terrorist groups who were snatched up by the CIA, taken to countries where there are no laws against torturing people and basicly tortured by outsourcing. As if this wasn't bad enough the ties any of these people had to terrorism were very dubious at best. I have to commend Greys investigative journalism in putting this book together. The book itself wasn't overly exciting or interesting to read for me but thats probably because I was already familiar with most of the subject matter covered in this book. Still its a worthwhile read.

This book is banned in Egypt.
It's describing the torture during Mubarak's. It also talk about Omar Soliman who was the head of intelligence in Egypt and Al Adly who was the Interior minister and now being prosecuted.
Those group of criminals are the ones who created terrorism by spreading corruption, torture and lies.
The book also explain, how using torture and forcing people to admit to anything they ask, Mubarak convinced US that Saddam Hussein has nuclear weapons.

The book also give excellent description of investigation techniques and the use of software to find evidence. The parts I liked was how he managed to trace the flights and how the Italians managed to identify all the agents involved in the kidnapping of Abu Omar.

Very detaile information on the CIA's rendition flights.Also covers the History of the CIA's "Private" Air assets going back to the Vietnam War.