How planespotters turned into the scourge of the CIA (The Guardian)

(I hope the guy who runs the website mentioned here has his server in good working order this time, last time they mentioned his website, the traffic crashed one of his SCSI RAID drives.)

How planespotters turned into the scourge of the CIA

Gerard Seenan and Giles Tremlett
Saturday December 10, 2005
The Guardian

Paul last saw the Gulfstream V about 18 months ago. He comes down to Glasgow airport's planespotters' club most days. He had not seen the plane before so he marked the serial number down in his book. At the time, he did not think there was anything unusual about the Gulfstream being ushered to a stand away from public view, one that could not be seen from the airport terminal or the club's prime view.

But that flight this week was at the centre of a transatlantic row that saw the prime minister being put on the spot on the floor of the House of Commons and the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, forced on the defensive during a visit to Europe. The Gulfstream V has been identified as having been used by the CIA for "extraordinary renditions" - abducting terror suspects and taking them to secret prisons around the world where they may be tortured.

The recording of flights by spotters like Paul from places as far afield as Bournemouth and Karachi has unintentionally played a significant role in helping journalists and human rights groups expose the scale of the CIA's renditions system. But his impact on such international intrigue largely passes Paul by. "It's not the CIA bit that interests us. You don't even know who owns the plane when you take down the serial number," he said, already distracted as something comes in to land through the grey drizzle. "You keep accurate logs, for your own records."

At the door of the shabby end terrace which houses the Glasgow Airport Aviation Enthusiasts Club, Paul is considering how his hobby got him tangled in such a complex web. "We know now that these planes are run by the CIA, but it's not something we set out to know," he said. "I have seen the planes land in daytime and I've seen them land at nighttime. You never see anyone get off them. Most of the time they are just coming in to refuel, but the ones coming in at night you would expect to see people getting off. But you don't - at least, I never have."

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1664147,00.html?gusrc=rss>
(more at link above)

What a difference it makes when for whatever reason you have folks on the alert, not constantly face-down in their People mag or jabbering on their cell.

I can't personally imagine a hobby involving plane-spotting, but here's to "Paul" and everyone who finds a way to get beyond the self-absorption that seems to me the root of many of our problems.

...sharing great photographs of Jets and unique, older planes. The internet has just made it so much easier now. I've thought about joining that website too, in the past.

Another funny bit on this story, I did a search on Google Earth of some of "private aviation companies" that have been mentions in past articles, and some of the airplane hangers are labeled in the Google Earth Data base too.

:kick: