Germany: How Germany benefits from torture abroad - CIA “renditions” and known cases
01 November 2005
The German government has come under attack about its initial denial, before it confirmed knowledge of CIA "rendition" flights through German territory. An insider, in this case a former CIA agent, is now blowing the whistle, or rather, confirming already known facts about rendition and European collaboration in the practice. There is also increasing evidence of police collaboration in the rendition and interrogation of German citizens or residents held in prisons in Beirut (Lebanon), Damascus (Syria) and Guantanamo (Cuba).
In all cases, the prisoners allege that they have been tortured by the local police or secret services. German prosecutors and law enforcement agencies are said to have used statements in their national investigations extracted through the use of torture abroad. A Parliamentary Investigations Committee (
Untersuchungsausschuss) is to investigate possible cross-border police cooperation in the kidnapping of German citizens and the failure of government officials to act on hearing about these cases. The investigations committee will also look into claims of the BND's collaboration with the US in Iraq.
CIA renditions always had European support
Although Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, who on 9 November last year was asked to investigate the CIA flights through European jurisdiction, has already confirmed that his preliminary investigations support claims that the CIA organises flights and that at least two European secret service agencies knew of them (
Süddeutsche Zeitung 19.12.05), sources from within the secret services are starting to spill the beans on unlawful operations carried out with European collaboration in the global "fight against terrorism", with the aim of destroying al Qaeda.
Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer revealed in an interview with the German weekly Newspaper
Die Zeit (1.7.06), that Germany has engaged in close cooperation with CIA flights since at least 11 September 2001. He traces the history of the CIA's rendition programme as follows:
President Clinton, his security counsellor Sandy Berger and his terrorism counsellor Richard Clarke instructed the CIA in autumn 1995 to destroy Al-Qaida. We asked the president what we should do with the arrested persons? Clinton replied that this was our problem. The CIA indicated that they are not jailors. It was then suggested we find any solution whatsoever to this problem. And this is what we did, we established a procedure and I myself was part of this working group. We concentrated on those members of Al-Qaida who were wanted by the police in their respective countries of origin or those who had already been convicted during their absence."
Scheuer also accuses European governments of hypocrisy in their recent denial of knowledge of these CIA operations:
Die Zeit: Your partner countries thus wanted to pass on the work to the CIA?
Michael Scheuer: Yes, but they did not want the persons to remain on their territory. The CIA did not arrest or imprison anybody themselves.
Die Zeit: I beg your pardon?
Michael Scheuer: The local police or the local secret services took care of that. We always stayed in the background. The American government is full of cowards. They do not permit the CIA to work independently.
Die Zeit: Did the interrogations take place in the target country?
Michael Scheuer: We always submitted our questions in writing.
Die Zeit: The CIA never really took part in the interrogations?
Michael Scheuer: I have never heard of anything like that. The lawyers enjoined us from doing so.
And further:
I believe it to be dishonest on the part of the Europeans to criticize this operation that intensely because we have transmitted all information obtained concerning them during the interrogations to the Spanish, Italian, German, French and English services. And if you asked these services, they would reply: The information obtained t