European Parliament Spanks Ireland On CIA Rendition Flights

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES have been “turning a blind eye” to flights operated by the CIA which, “on some occasions, were being used for extraordinary rendition or the illegal transportation of detainees” according to a report published today. The European Parliament  has produced it’s final report on the alleged illegal activities of the CIA in Europe, specifically the so-called “Rendition” flights and the secret detention facilities.

The report alleges that over 1200 CIA-operated flights used European airspace from 2001 to 2005 and temporary secret detention facilities “may have been located at US military bases” in Europe. The report notes that the renditions investigated by the committee “in the majority of cases involved incommunicado detention and torture” during interrogations, as was confirmed by the victims – or their lawyers – who gave testimony to the Parliament’s committee on CIA activities in Europe.

This is not exactly a surprise in some respects because the Council of Europe also investigated the CIA activities and produced their own report as far back as April 2006, citing specific countries for their collusion and noting the lack of co-operation from others during the investigative process. You can read the special file on this topic they maintain on this topic for more information. What is interesting however this time out is the mention that Ireland gets in the European Parliament report, and more interestingly the ‘offical response’ from our illustrious Minister for Foreign Affairs

The following are the key points raised about Ireland in the report:-

• Where as it was noted that the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs testified to his unequivocal criticism of the process of extraordinary rendition, it was also noted that he failed to answer all the questions posed by the committee in relation to concerns that Irish Airports were being used by CIA aircraft travelling to or from extraordinary rendition missions (as in the case of Abu Omar).
• It was also noted that the Irish Government had ignored the recommendation of Irish Human Rights Commission in respect of the current policy to take diplomatic assurances as proof that no rendition flights or activities were in fact taking place at Irish Airports.
• The committee stated that there were 147 stopovers made at Irish Airports by the CIA-operated aircraft and expressed serious concern about the purpose of these flights which were linked with extraordinary rendition activities elsewhere.
• The report considered it ‘deplorable’ that stopovers in Ireland were permitted for aircraft which have been shown to be used by the CIA for the extraordinary rendition of Bisher Al-Rawi, Jamil El-Banna, Abou Elkassim Britel, Khaled El-Masri, Binyam Mohammed, Abu Omar and Maher Arar and for the expulsion of Ahmed Agiza and Mohammed El Zari.
• It cites a lack of Irish Parliamentary scrutiny either Irish or foreign intelligence services and the potential that this creates for abuse.
• It strongly recommends that in the absence of random searches a complete ban on all CIA-operated aircraft in ireland be implemented.
• Lastly it recommends the Irish Parliament launch a full investigation into CIA-related rendition activities within the Irish jurisdiction.

It’s pretty damming stuff, but no more than is deserved for this shower of wankers we call a government; they have systematically ignored the warnings and the human rights issues in favour of making a profit from all the American troop transports and CIA stopovers down in Shannon airport.

And the best bit is the reaction from our inglorious Minister for Foreign Affairs to the report’s publication and it’s damnation of our complicity in these rendition activities. He did what any politican would in similar circumstances; he blamed the European Parliament for letting the CIA flights happen in Ireland!