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Published Date: 12 June 2007
A LABOUR peer yesterday gave the Scottish Executive details of an inquiry being carried out into alleged secret rendition flights.
Lord Foulkes, the Labour MSP for Lothians region, said he had made the move to forestall any future "misunderstanding" between Holyrood and Westminster.

The investigation is being carried out by the government intelligence and security committee, of which Lord Foulkes is a member. Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said on Sunday that the Executive was ready to look at evidence that Scottish airports have been used by CIA rendition flights.

He issued an open invitation to human rights groups to meet the justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, over the issue.

Mr Salmond's move came after a report by UK police chiefs concluded that Britain did not allow CIA "torture flights" to use its airports to take terrorist suspects out of Europe.



The full article contains 145 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 11 June 2007 8:32 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: CIA 'torture flights'
 
1

Peter Cherbi,

Edinburgh 12/06/2007 00:34:59

Still, it's best we hold our own inquiry into this and see what turns up .. inconsistencies between the Lord Foulkes version & a fully independent inquiry would prove interesting ...

2

Humanitarian,

12/06/2007 00:46:34

Funny how he never called for 'torture' investigations against the Soviet Union or China, North Korea, Cuba or Vietnam etc
I guess he didn't care about their victims.

3

Keren, It's time,

12/06/2007 00:53:44

Gawd knows Foulksey is a befuddled chump and he talks the most utter nonsense but you know wot?

I find it hard to dislike him!! A few soucres in the know tell me he and Salmond are actually quite chummy.....Hmmm...

4

Guga II,

Rockall 12/06/2007 03:07:55

#2 Unlike the Americans, they never transported their kidnapped torture victims through Scotland.

5

W Smith,

Middle East 12/06/2007 05:08:13

#1 and #4
Still trying to make out these Muslims were on some kind of SAGA tour of the middle east when they were caught?

Fly into Karachi, get the bus over the mountains into Afghanistan while the tour guide stands at the front of the bus saying things like '..on the left you can see the opium poppy fields..'

NICE TRY!

Kenny MacAskill wants to be soft on criminals - unless the 'criminals' are american and suddenly he's into zero tolerance.

Alex and Kenny should concentrate on lowering the murder rate in Glasgow - but that has never been a left-wing priority now has it?

6

Conan,

Here 12/06/2007 06:32:18

Can we be specific in this discusion about exactly what is torture, as well as evidence thereof?

GUGA, I'm still waiting for your list of Blair's/Bush's 'war crimes' ...... still waiting, old chap.

7

Alastair the First,

12/06/2007 07:56:02

Frankly I would trust any report on this matter with which Foulkes was involved about as mucg as I'd trust a dossier on WMDs in Iraq. I think it would be far better to investigate independently.

8

walter,

12/06/2007 08:10:03

#4
Unlike the Americans, they never transported their kidnapped torture victims through Scotland.

If you knew the Americans did this why have the police not found any evidence of it happening.
Did you withhold evidence you have from the police during their investigation? why have you not handed over the evidence you have? or is your evidence that of Liberty's.
How does it go? we believe that these flights happened but have no evidence they did can you investigate please.
Oh you cannot find any evidence either it must be a cover up.

9

Edward,

12/06/2007 08:25:27

#8 Walter
The police investigation actulally only covered England, despite the BBC and other media reporting it as 'the UK', it was actually only carried out in England. Even then there is photographic evidence of CIA flights going in and out of Mildenhall in Sufolk (Plane spotters may be anoraks, but they do come in handy at times)

10

Edward,

12/06/2007 08:28:12

From Glasgow Prestwick airport info
http://www.glasgow-prestwick-airport.info/glasgow-prestwi...
17.12.05

Details of cases involving 4 men being flown to the Middle East in an aircraft that then travelled to Glasgow Prestwick airport emerged yesterday. There is no evidence to suggest that any terror suspects were on board the aircraft when it landed on Scottish soil.
Amnesty International yesterday told how one terror suspect was abducted in Pakistan and taken to Jordan, two were flown from Sweden to Cairo and the fourth was taken from Indonesia to Cairo on board the same Gulfstream V turbojet, which on all 3 occasions subsequently flew to Glasgow Prestwick airport to refuel.
Although there is no evidence to suggest that any terror suspects were on board the aircraft when it landed on Scottish soil, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is under increasing pressure to initiate an independent investigation into the use of UK airports during rendition flights.
Mr Straw said 3 days ago that since Mr Bush took office in 2001 the British government had found no evidence of any requests from the US government 'for over-flights or for refuelling or other facilitation' of rendition flights. However, Amnesty International have provided details of three instances when rendition flights landed at Prestwick after transporting suspects to the Middle East.
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: 'If Amnesty International's claims are true, then the government is under an even greater legal and moral obligation to investigate why flights are being allowed to pass through our country for rendition purposes.'

11

Edward,

12/06/2007 08:29:57

From Glasgow Prestwick airport info
http://www.glasgow-prestwick-airport.info/glasgow-prestwi...
18.12.05
Evidence emerged yesterday of a CIA plane flying al-Qaeda suspects to secret prisons in the Middle East using Glasgow Prestwick airport on its journey. The claim will embarrass the Government, which has so far resisted mounting calls for an inquiry after assurances from Washington that it does not operate torture flights.
The new evidence, uncovered by respected aviation experts, casts doubt on a statement by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, this week that US authorities had never used British airfields for 'extraordinary renditions'.
Three times in the weeks after the September 11 attacks, the same Gulfstream G5 executive jet allegedly ferried detainees to secret installations in Jordan and Egypt. Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, one of the men reportedly transferred on this flight, registration N379P, has not been heard of for 4 years. Another is now held at Guantanamo Bay.
Two men flown from Sweden to Cairo resisted efforts to get them on board the jet and Sweden's parliamentary ombudsmen criticised the police for letting US agents force them on to the plane. On all these flights, the jet used Prestwick to refuel on its way back to the US.
Details of alleged CIA torture flights have been uncovered by Chris Yates, a respected aviation expert and editor for Jane's Information Group. He found 'significant evidence' that a Gulfstream G5 executive jet and a Boeing 737 had flown 'innumerable times' from civilian and military airports.
'My research has revealed that these two aircraft roam globally and, although ostensibly in the US civil registry, have special dispensation to use US military air facilities around the world,'Mr Yates said. He added that, from photographic evidence, flight logs and air traffic d

12

Edward,

12/06/2007 08:33:44

From Glasgow Prestwick airport info
http://www.glasgow-prestwick-airport.info/glasgow-prestwi...
19.01.06
The Scottish National Party accused the Scottish Executive of turning a blind eye to so-called torture flights yesterday, after it published pictures of alleged CIA planes at Edinburgh Airport. The executive said it has no knowledge of Scottish airports being used.
The SNP has compiled a dossier which lists in detail the planes and the dates on which they landed while allegedly operating for front companies of the CIA. Makes and registration numbers of planes at Edinburgh, Glasgow Prestwick, Glasgow were detailed along with photographs.
Among the planes identified is a Gulf stream jet, dubbed the 'Guantanamo Bay Express', which was reportedly used to transport suspects to the US prison in Cuba. According to the dossier, the plane landed 5 times at Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick airports between 2002 and the end of 2004.
The SNP said the report, which lists 10 firms that have allegedly operated as CIA shell companies, had been compiled by a senior aviation expert. It comes after a Council of Europe human rights probe said the CIA had breached international law by transporting prisoners to foreign countries for interrogation.
The US has confirmed that a number of flights carrying terror suspects have taken place across the world under a process known as 'extraordinary rendition', but has rejected claims of prisoner abuse.
SNP foreign affairs spokesman, Angus Robertson MP, accused Scottish First Minister, Jack McConnell, of turning a blind eye to the issue and called for an investigation. Robertson said: 'This report gives worrying details about alleged intelligence flights through Scotland. The planes in question have been subject to diplomatic and parliamentary inquiries in different countries. This report e

13

Edward,

12/06/2007 08:37:47

From Glasgow Prestwick airport info
http://www.glasgow-prestwick-airport.info/glasgow-prestwi...
21.02.06
CIA planes suspected of flying terror suspects to secret prisons for torture have landed at commercial British airports and received help from UK air traffic control, the authorities have admitted for the first time. National Air Traffic Services (Nats) confirmed in a letter that that 3 planes with CIA tail numbers have travelled through Britain 'on a number of occasions'.
MPs last night seized on the news as the first formal acknowledgement that British authorities were aware that CIA flights associated with 'extraordinary rendition' have travelled through UK airspace. They said it showed that the Government could no longer claim they had no knowledge of CIA flights that have been linked to the policy of sending terrorist suspects for interrogation in countries that carry out torture.
Nats admitted in a letter that it had provided a service to the flights after a number of Parliamentary questions to Transport ministers from Sir Menzies Campbell, acting leader of the Liberal Democrats.
The letter, written to Campbell on the order of Transport minister Karen Buck, says that of 4 aircraft identified from records as having been used by the CIA, '3 have received an ATC [air traffic control service] from Nats on a number of occasions in the past 5 years. We are not prepared to offer a number because we are not confident that such a number would be robust.'
The planes are part of a ghost fleet of CIA jets that have been spotted at UK airports since 2001. Nats implies that they have travelled through the UK frequently and may even have travelled under different call signs.
It said the flights may also have used airspace controlled by the Ministry of Defence. Defence ministers have been criticised for refusing to an

14

Edward,

12/06/2007 08:40:48

From Glasgow Prestwick airport info
http://www.glasgow-prestwick-airport.info/glasgow-prestwi...
18.03.06
Six US planes linked by campaigners to 'extraordinary rendition' flights used UK airports 73 times since 2001, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling confirmed yesterday. Campaigners claim to have details of planes used by the CIA to transfer terror suspects to countries where they could be tortured. Mr Darling confirmed the serial numbers of planes that had landed in the UK matched those on the campaigners' list, but he said he had no evidence they were involved in rendition.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Michael Moore asked Mr Darling for details of landings by six planes with the registration numbers N2189M, N8183J, N970SJ, N129QS, N368CE and N85VM. In a written Parliamentary answer, Mr Darling confirmed the planes had landed respectively 10, 12, 2, 5, 20 and 24 times at UK airports since January 1 2001.
But he added: 'None of the information held by my department provides evidence that these flights were involved in rendition. The British government is not aware of any cases of rendition through the UK since May 1997, apart from the two cases in 1998 about which the foreign secretary has informed Parliament.'
The flights revealed by Mr Darling included one stopover on the way between the Afghan capital Kabul and Washington and others stopping on their way to destinations in the Middle East such as Amman in Jordan and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, Mr Straw said claims the US has secretly flown terror suspects through the UK would eventually 'fall away' due to lack of evidence. But Mr Moore said the disclosures raised 'serious questions' about the number and purpose of CIA flights through the UK.
'A fundamental question remains unanswered. Has the UK government actually asked the US

15

Loop,

12/06/2007 09:07:36

foulkes is a moronic numpty. how many salaries can a useless lord claim? he thought that he'd get a job in the executive which is why he put his name on labour's lothian list. intersting that he didn't bother standing in a constituency...
the rendition flights inquiries have been a joke and these flights have been landing in the UK. we let the Americans bend us over and take us whatever it is taht they want. it has to stop.
don't let foulkes investigate anything other than a cream bun

16

Calum10,

12/06/2007 09:34:32

Re: "government intelligence and security committee, of which Lord Foulkes is a member."

This reminds me of a Groucho Marx quote, "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members".

Lord Foulkes is more clown than clownish.

17

Peter Cherbi,

Edinburgh 12/06/2007 11:56:17

#5. W Smith, Middle East

Wrong again on your interpretation of what I wrote.

I am more interested in this apparently secret policy as an issue of law, and how it may be used in the future in areas other than your beloved terrorist rendition framework.

The Scottish Executive have a right to make enquiries of incidents which occur on Scottish soil and since these flights apparently landed in Scotland, and we weren't told about it, perhaps it's time for the truth to come out.

Belittling an administration on the basis they want to carry out such enquiries as we the voters would expect, doesn't do much for your arguement.

18

Alastair the First,

12/06/2007 14:22:18

"Intelligence" and "Foulkes". Now there's two words you don't often see in the same sentence.

19

Miss Jean Brodie,

12/06/2007 19:57:53

Joe - Airport Fan Boy will be able to tell ye how many Rendition flights have flown throo Edinburgh airport - he’ll even gie ye the pilots number and show ye sum pics of their children an aw nae doobts!


 

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