New Details On CIA Kidnap-For-Torture Scheme Unveiled

A trove of new information about the international renditions business has been unveiled by legal action charity Reprieve.

Over 1500 operational and legal documents were disclosed as part of a lawsuit brought by a company called Richmor Aviation over unpaid bills by the CIA. These documents now offer the first comprehensive overview of the CIA’s unlawful program of kidnapping ('extraordinary rendition’). Reprieve’s evidence shows how:

• A complicated billing chain obscured the ultimate end user of the flights -- the CIA.
• The U.S. government used the same aircraft – tail number N85VM, owned by Liverpool FC owner Philip Morse -- for over 55 flights to Guantanamo Bay, Kabul, Bangkok, Dubai, Islamabad, Cairo, Baghdad, Djibouti, Rabat, Frankfurt, Ramstein, Rome, Tenerife, the Azores and Bucharest. The plane, a Gulfstream jet, frequently passed through British and Irish airports en route, including Shannon, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London Luton.
• Richmor executives used disturbing newspeak to describe the prisoners-- calling them 'invitees'-- as they were shuttling them to torture sites across the globe.
• All rendition flights were covered by a "letter of convenience" from the State Department.
• Richmor frequently subcontracted for private business jets to conduct the flights. One single flight alone cost the U.S. government as much as $300,000.
• The crew of one of the jets involved made expenses claims for items such as $20 sandwiches and $40 wine bottles.
• The CIA continued to pay millions to cover its its tracks, well after its illegal rendition-to-torture program was made public.

The documents also add previously unseen detail to several notorious rendition cases, including that of Abu Omar (kidnapped in Milan in February 2003 and sent to be tortured in Egypt)-- a case which culminated in the 'in absentia' kidnapping conviction of 22 CIA operatives by an Italian judge.

According to Reprieve’s Legal Director Cori Crider, “These documents give us an unprecedented insight into how the government outsourced renditions, right down to the complicated paper-trail the CIA used to cover their tracks. This case proves, once and for all, that the reason the government blocked the rendition cases was not to protect sensitive material. It was to avoid embarrassment.”