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NDP Questions Paul Martin's Alleged Authorization of Illegal CIA Renditions |
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Written by NDP
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Monday, 16 January 2006 |
CIA rendition flights that fly in Canadian air space or land at Canadian airports are doing so with Ottawa's permission, says James Risen, the Washington-based journalist for the New York Times and author who uncovered the controversial wiretapping program approved by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Today's Toronto Star quotes Risen saying, "It stretches credulity to think the CIA is doing this without some local government approval." ("Ottawa okayed `ghost flights': author" Toronto Star, January 16, 2006)
"Rendition" is bureaucratese for the CIA's practice of kidnapping terrorist suspects and sending them to secret detention centres out of the public eye and reach of the U.S. justice system.
In November, La Presse reported that as many as 13 planes have stopped in 10 different Canadians airports (La Presse, November 28, 2005)
As recently as last fall, a Twin Otter plane owned by a suspected CIA front turned up in northern Ontario, raising unanswered questions about why it was there, and whether the US is still using Canadian airspace for rendition flights. At the time, Paul Martin claimed, "There are absolutely no indications that anything of that kind is occurring." (Canadian Press, December 8, 2005)
Of course, the government has denied they had anything to do with extraordinary renditions before. In answer to a question about extraordinary rendition then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill Graham said "To say now that we are going to be responsible for the policies of another government and what it does is again an attempt by the opposition to blame the government for what another country does." (House of Commons, November 5, 2003)
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