Ghost Plane
Stephen Grey
'Brilliant book … gripping and chilling … Ghost Plane is full of the forensic detail you would expect from an investigative reporter ... his analysis of how the rendition policy was brought out of the mothballs and morphed into "extraordinary rendition" is fascinating … Grey is no bleeding heart and, at times, attacks "liberals" for their obsession with civil liberties in the war on terrorism. But, in a superbly argued final chapter, he comes more or less to the same conclusions.'
Tom Allard (Sydney Morning Herald)'Ghost Plane is a welcome addition to our knowledge of America's global prison network and exposes the democratic governments that assist in providing air space and diplomatic cover ... Grey's book is an invaluable tool in revealing the darkest secrets of the world's only superpower.'
Antony Loewenstein (The Age)'Grey's book Ghost Plane is a remarkable piece of storytelling that reconstructs a series of horrifying renditions and tracks the re-emergence of this highly questionable process. His book is based on seemingly exhaustive (and, from a journalist's point of view, hugely impressive) research drawn from public documents, confidential sources and a large range of sometimes shocking interviews with prisoners.'
Paul Daley (Bulletin with Newsweek)In December 2005, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, assured the world that the flights of CIA private jets that have criss-crossed Europe since 9/11 have no role in sending prisoners to be tortured. ‘The United States has not transported anyone, and will not transport anyone, to a country when we believe he will be tortured,’ she said. Tony Blair assured Parliament: ‘I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that anything illegal has been happening here at all.’
But, as Stephen Grey reveals in Ghost Plane, Rice’s claims were a falsehood — and Britain’s government has also turned a blind eye to a CIA operation that systematically out-sources the harsh interrogation of its captives.
Interviewing senior figures in the current and former US administration, and the CIA’s department of operations, Grey reveals how the agency’s program, known by the euphemism ‘extraordinary rendition’, has transported hundreds of prisoners to foreign jails and its own secret facilities in the full knowledge they will face harsh torture.
From the dark cells of Syria’s ‘Palestine Branch’ interrogation centre in Damascus — where inmates are detained for months on end in cells the size of coffins — to secret CIA jails in Afghanistan that bombard prisoners with 24-hour rock music, Grey uses the prisoners’ accounts and thousands of CIA jet flight logs to weave a vivid tale of life inside this hidden ‘extra-legal’ netherworld that is America’s international prison network.
Including interviews with pilots that flew the CIA’s jets and packed with exclusive revelations, Ghost Plane reveals the extraordinary detective work that tracked down the Agency’s covert aviation network. Grey shows how it emerged from the former Air America that flew in Vietnam and Laos. Tracing the history of rendition back to the mid-1990s, he then shows how after 9/11 rendition expanded beyond recognition into what amounted to a systematic torture program — a terrifying world of endless interrogations, frequent transfers round the world, and detention without charge. And all authorised by the White House.
'This is a compelling and fast-paced read. Grey's account compares with Woodward and Bernstein's All The President's Men as a prodigious piece of detective work.'
David Costello (Courier Mail)'This excellent example of investigative journalism uses interviews with former CIA pilots and tortured suspects to uncover how the American government authorised the detention — and brutal torture — of suspects without charge.'
David Bonnici (Melbourne Weekly)'Ghost Plane is an explosive book, and so chilling I could only read a few chapters at a time … It is an extraordinary book.'
Yvonne Lawrence (Melbourne Observer)'An explosive new book provides a rare glimpse into the full extent of the agency's controversial terror renditions — and the curious coalition of partners who helped the U.S. pull them off.'
Vivienne Walt (Time)'In Ghost Plane, Stephen Grey includes a short but essential history of rendition … In July 2003, Grey quit as the head of the investigative unit at the London Sunday Times in order to find and follow the fleet of planes the CIA used for renditions. He started with news accounts from around the world — Pakistan, Sweden, Indonesia — of CIA planes spiriting away suspected terrorists. Some of the accounts included the plane's tail number.
If a congressional committee ever decides to hold hearings into the rendition program, it should hire Grey. He had little money and no subpoena power, but he uncovered a vast network of planes, their flights, and the mailbox drop companies that the CIA used as covers. He had the help of plane watchers who report their sightings on the Web … By following the planes, Grey tells the chilling story of rendition and torture.'
Raymond Bonner (New York Review of Books)Stephen Grey
Author photo
Stephen Grey is a 38-year-old former editor of the Sunday Times' Insight investigative team, and has been the paper's home affairs reporter and a correspondent in South Asia, Europe, and Iraq. He has contributed regularly to the New York Times, the Guardian, the Times, the New Statesman, BBC TV's Newsnight, and BBC Radio Four, and has appeared on BBC News, ITN, Sky News, and CNN.
His reporting on the CIA's rendition programme won the Amnesty International 2005 Media Award for Best Periodical Article, was declared runner-up 'story of the year' by the Foreign Press Association in 2004, and was short-listed for the 2006 Paul Foot Award for Investigative and Campaigning Journalism.
Website: http://www.stephengrey.com/
Extent: 352pp
Size: 234mm x 153mm
ISBN (13): 9781921215353
RRP: $35.00
Pub date: February 2007
ANZ, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei
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