Rendition Secrets Exposed in Lawsuit

A billing dispute in an upstate New York courthouse has exposed details of the U.S.’s “extraordinary rendition” program under which terrorism suspects were taken into custody and flown to other countries for interrogation. The CIA during the Bush administration hired small private companies that generally booked flights for sports teams to transport the prisoners on Gulfstream private jets. Richmor Aviation would supply planes while a company called Sportsflight brokered the deal; now, the Richmor is suing Sportsflight, and more than 1,500 pages have been filed in court. One flight used in the rendition of an Indonesian terrorist touched down in Alaska, Japan, Thailand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the UAE, and Ireland—at a cost of over $300,000. Documents also include air-to-ground call logs, which show many calls to a senior CIA official, and also calls to the private contractor DynCorp.