CIA Torture Jets

March 8, 2005 --

CIA Jets Fly the War On Terror

Rendition program ships suspects abroad. (ABCNEWS)

Gonzales Defends Transfer of Detainees
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Monday defended the practice of "extraordinary rendition," the process under which the United States sometimes transfers detainees in the war on terrorism to other nations where they may undergo harsh interrogation, trial or imprisonment. (Washington Post)

Spy Agencies Fear Some Applicants Are Terrorists
Counterintelligence officials are concerned that al Qaeda operatives may have tried to get jobs at the CIA and other agencies to spy on U.S. efforts. (LA Times)

Ticket Agent Recalls 9/11 Hijackers
The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was angered when he learned he had to undergo security screening between flights on the morning of the suicide attacks, a former U.S. Airways ticket agent says. (AP)

Terror Suspects Buying Firearms, U.S. Report Finds
Dozens of terror suspects on federal watch lists were allowed to buy firearms legally, according to a Congressional inquiry. (NY Times)

U.S. Eroding Inmates' Trust at Cuba Base, Lawyers Say
Defense lawyers for detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, say the military has been working to undermine the inmates' trust in them. (NY Times)

Three Guantanamo Bay Detainees Return Home
The last three French detainees at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returned to France and were taken into custody, officials said. (LA Times)

Terror Suspect Arrested in Spain

Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan man in connection with the Madrid train bombings, just three days before the first anniversary of the attack. (BBC)

Summit on Terrorism Opens in Spain
A summit on terrorism opened Tuesday in this city that a year ago suffered one of Europe's worst attacks, with experts and government leaders attempting to identify causes of extremist violence and find ways to curtail it. (AP)

Pearl Murder Suspect Not Cooperating With Investigators

A Pakistani court yesterday granted police another four days to question a militant over the death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf. (Arab News)

Peers Set to Force More Changes to Terror Laws

Govt could be forced to include "sunset clause" on anti-terror bill. (Guardian)

Guard's PR Man Reported Video
Gulf War veteran said he was concerned when he saw soldiers watching the footage. (Palm Beach Post)

'Ramadi Madness': Scene By Scene
Excerpts, descriptions from video. (Palm Beach Post)

U.S. Soldiers Accused of Sex Assaults
The unit whose troops fired on the car carrying the freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena has been investigated for raping Iraqi women, U.S. army documents reveal. (The Guardian)

Judge Won't Dismiss Abu Ghraib Charges
A military judge refused to dismiss charges against Abu Ghraib Army prison guard Spc. Sabrina Harman. The 27-year-old is accused of writing "rapeist" on the leg of one prisoner and forcing another to stand on a box with wires in his hands. (AP)

Italy Demands U.S. Punish Killers
Rome demands the U.S. punish those who killed an Italian agent in Iraq, as tensions over the death mount. (BBC)

Series of Attacks in Iraq Kill 25
Insurgents have killed at least 25 Iraqis in attacks in towns north of Baghdad, reports say. (BBC)

Gunmen Kill Senior Iraqi Official
A senior official with the interior ministry in Iraq has been gunned down in Baghdad, the ministry has said. (BBC)

Allawi Refuses to Join New Coalition Govt
Outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has declined an offer to join a new coalition government led by the election-winning Shiite bloc, its leaders said yesterday. (AFP)

Scaremongering
Ministers talk about hundreds of would-be bombers. (The Guardian)

Next Step in Rebuilding Iraq: Bring Power to the People
The effort to improve the electrical supply is finally concentrating on individual neighborhoods. (NY Times)

Bolton, Out of the Blue
President Bush got good reviews in Europe last month, but his second-term diplomatic charm offensive suffered a severe setback Monday with his nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton, an arms control expert with very little patience for multilateral niceties, is a leader of the administration's neoconservative hawks, who have been openly scornful of the United Nations. (LA Times)

Work On the Undecided Who Don't Hate Our Guts
The key to good management, veteran Yankee baseball man Casey Stengel once quipped, "is keeping the nine guys who hate your guts away from the nine guys who haven't made up their minds." As we move into 2005, the current managers of U.S. foreign policy, particularly toward the Arab and Muslim worlds, would be well advised to heed Stengel's advice. (The Daily Star)