The CIA's Secret Flights in Europe
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The CIA's Secret Flights in Europe By Dominique Dhombres Le Monde
Tuesday 12 September 2006
Chaled El-Masri, a peaceful German citizen of Lebanese origin, had the misfortune of frequenting a mosque where a man suspected of terrorism by the German secret services also went to pray. Thus his name reached the CIA. In December 2003, while he was spending his vacation in Macedonia, he was kidnapped, then sequestered in a hotel room in Skopje. He was beaten and questioned about his supposed connections with al-Qaeda. At the end of three weeks, he was conveyed by hooded men into a private airplane that took him to Kabul.
On his arrival in Afghanistan, they told him: "You are here in a place where there is no law.
We can bury you here or forget you for twenty years. No one will ever know." He was interrogated and tortured again. He was liberated a few months later with no explanation. El-Masri's testimony is at the center of a Steeve Bauman and Arnaud Muller documentary, "CIA, Secret War in Europe," broadcast Monday, September 11, on Canal+. This unfortunate had already told his story. But the investigation conducted by the two journalists allowed for verification of his recital.
The journalists go to Skopje to see the room in which he asserts he was held. The hotel is 300 yards from the American embassy. During the visit of a delegation of European deputies charged with shedding some light on the CIA's secret flights and prisons in Europe, the director of the establishment was opportunely on vacation.
The two journalists had more luck. The director got muddled up in his denials, then disappeared again. But, above all, the date furnished by El-Masri for his forced embarkation to Kabul in January 2004 corresponds to that of a private flight, duly registered by Eurocontrol, the company responsible for surveillance of European skies.
That year, Eurocontrol inventoried no less than a thousand flights effected by the CIA in Europe. The stopovers were low profile; the ground fees generously paid out in cash. The flight plans were transmitted to the European Parliament. We follow the Euro deputies during their visit to the United States. They're sent packing from one office to another.
Condoleezza Rice has no time to see them. The State Department legal counsel explains to them - without encumbering himself with any diplomatic precautions - that they are in no way authorized to investigate the American government. Go poke around; there's nothing to see! Under pressure from Congress, George Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons on September 6. As for El-Masri, he's still waiting for apologies.
Translation: t r u t h o u t French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher.
The CIA's Secret Flights in Europe By Dominique Dhombres Le Monde
Tuesday 12 September 2006
Chaled El-Masri, a peaceful German citizen of Lebanese origin, had the misfortune of frequenting a mosque where a man suspected of terrorism by the German secret services also went to pray. Thus his name reached the CIA. In December 2003, while he was spending his vacation in Macedonia, he was kidnapped, then sequestered in a hotel room in Skopje. He was beaten and questioned about his supposed connections with al-Qaeda. At the end of three weeks, he was conveyed by hooded men into a private airplane that took him to Kabul.
On his arrival in Afghanistan, they told him: "You are here in a place where there is no law.
We can bury you here or forget you for twenty years. No one will ever know." He was interrogated and tortured again. He was liberated a few months later with no explanation. El-Masri's testimony is at the center of a Steeve Bauman and Arnaud Muller documentary, "CIA, Secret War in Europe," broadcast Monday, September 11, on Canal+. This unfortunate had already told his story. But the investigation conducted by the two journalists allowed for verification of his recital.
The journalists go to Skopje to see the room in which he asserts he was held. The hotel is 300 yards from the American embassy. During the visit of a delegation of European deputies charged with shedding some light on the CIA's secret flights and prisons in Europe, the director of the establishment was opportunely on vacation.
The two journalists had more luck. The director got muddled up in his denials, then disappeared again. But, above all, the date furnished by El-Masri for his forced embarkation to Kabul in January 2004 corresponds to that of a private flight, duly registered by Eurocontrol, the company responsible for surveillance of European skies.
That year, Eurocontrol inventoried no less than a thousand flights effected by the CIA in Europe. The stopovers were low profile; the ground fees generously paid out in cash. The flight plans were transmitted to the European Parliament. We follow the Euro deputies during their visit to the United States. They're sent packing from one office to another.
Condoleezza Rice has no time to see them. The State Department legal counsel explains to them - without encumbering himself with any diplomatic precautions - that they are in no way authorized to investigate the American government. Go poke around; there's nothing to see! Under pressure from Congress, George Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons on September 6. As for El-Masri, he's still waiting for apologies.
Translation: t r u t h o u t French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher.
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