Air firm accused of rendition flights role

Source: The Guardian

The US government is attempting to halt a lawsuit that could establish whether any of the Central Intelligence Agency's so-called rendition flights have been partly planned on British soil. Lawyers representing a number of men who have been held at Guantánamo are suing Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of the Boeing Corporation, accusing Jeppesen of involvement in the flights that took the men to secret prisons around the world. Once there, the men say, they were tortured.

The lawyers say they strongly suspect that at least some of the logistic support for the CIA's flights was arranged at Jeppesen's office in Crawley, West Sussex, a few miles from Gatwick airport.

However, the US government is asking a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit because "to proceed would risk the disclosure of highly classified information" about the agency's methods.

According to Washington's arguments, that information would include "whether any private entities or other countries assisted the CIA", as well as the locations of any secret prisons and "the methods of interrogation employed".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2217505,00.html

Maybe.

the government there would try to use a similar claim to worm out of it?

I'm getting sick of all this secrecy and obfuscation.

http://www.coe.int/T/E/Com/Files/Events/2006-cia/

The Council of Europe's action follows allegations revealed by the Washington Post and the NGO Human Rights Watch in 2005 about the existence of secret CIA detention centres in Council of Europe member states. An investigation was launched by the Parliamentary Assembly on 1 November 2005, investigation for which Swiss Senator Dick Marty was appointed rapporteur.

Pretty much admitting ties to corporations and governments that aided the program and that specific, ILLEGAL torture techniques were likely used?

Are they hoping this blackmail will force their collaborators to pressure the UK and international courts to back off on this? God, I hope it only pisses them off enough to redouble their efforts to expose this maladministration.

Just kick the hell back Madam Speaker and allow the foreign courts and governments to do your job.