On the trail of the "ghost pilots"
Our blog piece this week on the search for CIA "ghost pilots" involved in extraordinary rendition flights -- including new evidence linking three North Carolina pilots to the debate over torture -- is igniting a firestorm of outrage. We've also written a piece for The Nation which now appears on their website.
Today we've received threatening (if inarticulate) calls saying, among other things, that we should be tried for "treason." There's also this piece at the popular conservative website, TownHall.com, which runs under the title "This is what a real outing looks like."
The comparison is the Valerie Plame case, and the author Lorie Byrd finds our references (along with the Los Angeles Times) to North Carolina pilots linked to torture flights much more dangerous:
First, is the author confirming the involvement of these pilots in "black renditions?" They all deny it, but Byrd seems to know that they were "recently involved in extremely sensitive covert actions flying CIA rendition flights."
Second, the "real" names of the CIA pilots are known, but no news agency -- including the Institute -- has printed them. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to the multiple outings of Valerie Plame. Indeed, that's what a "real outing" looks like.
And lastly, one could say that it's been an astonishing act of restraint that the names of the three pilots -- charged with being involved in some of the most egregious violations of human rights -- haven't been named, given that they are being pursued by prosecutors in two foreign governments and are the subject of a lawsuit before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court. Plame's only mistake, apparently, was being married to a critic of the Iraq war.
Today we've received threatening (if inarticulate) calls saying, among other things, that we should be tried for "treason." There's also this piece at the popular conservative website, TownHall.com, which runs under the title "This is what a real outing looks like."
The comparison is the Valerie Plame case, and the author Lorie Byrd finds our references (along with the Los Angeles Times) to North Carolina pilots linked to torture flights much more dangerous:
Unlike Valerie Plame, who was removed from covert duty years earlier, the subjects of the L.A. Times story, three North Carolina pilots, were recently involved in extremely sensitive covert actions flying CIA rendition flights. The three pilots have, along with ten others, been indicted in a German court, for their involvement in the “extraordinary rendition” of Khaled Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent. [...]So now they get upset about "outing" intelligence personnel! While those commenting at TownHall.com debate whether we should be charged for treason or espionage (?), it's helpful to recall some facts.
The pilots’ real names were not disclosed in the L.A. Times, but some pretty specific information was. The report included information that all three pilots live “within a 30-minute drive of the guarded Aero hangar and offices at the rural Johnston County airport.” Also reported was the type of car driven by two of the men and some details about what else might be found in their driveways, as well as some information about their homes.
First, is the author confirming the involvement of these pilots in "black renditions?" They all deny it, but Byrd seems to know that they were "recently involved in extremely sensitive covert actions flying CIA rendition flights."
Second, the "real" names of the CIA pilots are known, but no news agency -- including the Institute -- has printed them. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to the multiple outings of Valerie Plame. Indeed, that's what a "real outing" looks like.
And lastly, one could say that it's been an astonishing act of restraint that the names of the three pilots -- charged with being involved in some of the most egregious violations of human rights -- haven't been named, given that they are being pursued by prosecutors in two foreign governments and are the subject of a lawsuit before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court. Plame's only mistake, apparently, was being married to a critic of the Iraq war.
2 Comments:
I've read the piece in Townhall.com, and it is wonderfully free of the normal constraints observed by essays purporting to present any reasoned argument, let alone observe fundamental journalistic principles. So many of its skewed, ideological points -- well, all of them -- are unexplained that I was quite confused after reading it. But the point is not to explain, really, is it?
would that plame's 'only crime' was being married to wilson.
if you think carefully about her role as head of the cia joint task force on iraq, starting in the summer of 02, don't you imagine cheney actually encountered her when he made his frequent unprecedented visits to langley? and don't you imagine she did not win him over with specially prepared intel such as he'd ordered up? and don't you imagine he wet himself when he discovered that she was married to wilson, his other nemesis? how delicious to skewer two birds with one novakula.
put these questions together with cheney's history with halliburton's illegal arms dealings being watched by brewster-jennings, plame's cover company, and this story really begins to cook. add those suggestions raised by sibel edmonds that brewster-jennings had intercepted attempts to smuggle wmds INTO iraq after baghdad fell, and you have yourself a regular seven course meal.
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