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Boeing Accused of Running Torture Travel Agency

By Rick Anderson, Seattle Weekly. Posted December 2, 2006.


A British author and an ex-prisoner's attorney say that records uncovered by Spanish investigators show Boeing has a direct role in "extreme renditions" -- planning and organizing the flights through a unit of its Seattle commercial airplane division.
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Seattle
Posted by: rsaxto on Dec 2, 2006 1:26 AM   
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Torture out of Seattle: who would have thought it? Stupid and immoral government corrupts morality and action absolutely.

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» RE: Seattle Posted by: willymack
Why am I not surprised?
Posted by: kgs1947 on Dec 2, 2006 5:36 AM   
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I'm not surprised at all....what hand does Halliburton have in the renditions too? Afterall, does it mean money for them too? Our corporations are so corrupt as is our government's administration. Wow, no good news about how ethics means anything to our citizens?

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The military-industrial complex in action
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Dec 2, 2006 5:45 AM   
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So the Tribune Media company (an $8 billion firm) sells its subsidiary to Boeing (a $70 billion defense contractor) which then (we assume) gets a contract from the CIA or some other government fund to assist in torturing people in various prisons around the world. Some of the false information obtained under torture is fed back to the US government and provides a pretext for the invasion of Iraq, which then allows defense contractors (like Boeing) and oil companies to make world-record profits on arms and oil sales.

This is yet more evidence that Bush, who is at the head of this entire dirty enterprise, needs to be impeached for high crimes and for lying to the Congress and to the American people.

Congrats to everyone who helped dig this up!

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amacd
Posted by: amacd on Dec 2, 2006 6:45 AM   
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Gee? The combination and merger of corrupt authoritarian government (virtual dictatorship) and an empire of corporate, financial and elite wealthy interests? Now what was that word that describes this ideal combination? I know the term came into use during the mid 20th century to describe a couple of abberant governments in Europe that created some problems. But darned if I can think of the term that describes that form of government.

Anyone know what they call that??

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» TerrytomRE: amacd Posted by: terryton
Arab Countries Should CANCEL all airplane contracts
Posted by: sofla100 on Dec 2, 2006 7:16 AM   
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What is needed now happen is for AlJazeera and the Arab media to pick this story up. Next, for the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait all to cancel any current and future contracts with Boeing. Time now to go with Airbus instead.

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The anantomy of a fascist enterprise
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Dec 2, 2006 8:02 AM   
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More gorey details on the new Reich:

First of all, the major powerbrokers are the corporate lobbyists, but they work for the major oil companies (Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell, Conoco, Halliburton etc.) and the major pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, J&J, BristolMyersSquibb, Eli Lilly, etc.), the major food-alcohol-tobacco corporations (PhilipMorris, ArcherDanielsMidland, Cargill, etc.), the Pentagon defense contractors (Boeing, Gen Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, UTC, SAIC, etc.), the major media corporations (TimeWarner-CNN, Viacom-CBS, General Electric-NBC, Disney-ABC, FOXCorp, etc.) and a whole host of privately held engineering firms (like Bechtel, FlourGroup, etc.)

These corporate groups are really just holding companies controlled by a small number of banks who operate under names like Barclays UK, State Street Corp, Vanguard, Fidelity, Citigroup, and so on. These banks in turn are fronts for a relatively small number of wealthy families – the five ruling families of the Persian Gulf Monarchies are a classic example; the Kuwaiti Royal family makes more money off its US investments than it does from oil sales (their investments are something like 20-30 billion in the US). I’m not sure but there are maybe 14 ruling families in the United States; just check the Forbes 500 (all billionaires, now). The Gates and the Buffets are the most famous. Don't expect the Saudis to take their money out of Boeing, either.

These billionaires dislike publicity and the new favorite mechanism of control is private equity funds and hedge funds, who don’t have to disclose any financial information, unlike the above publicly held corporations. These funds are moving towards taking these megacorps into the privately held realm to avoid public scutiny. Recall that J. Rockefeller (of the original Standard Oil) had a motto: “First, Hide the Profits.”

As amacd points out above, it’s all remarkably similar to the ownership of Germany in the 1930’s – massive concentration of wealth and power in a few hands, coupled with control of media and academic institutions. Politicians know where the real power lies; whenever there’s an almost unanimous vote in the House and Senate you know it has the blessing of the corporatocracy.

The Saudis and the Israelis both exert enormous influence over US Middle East policy, it’s true – but face it, they’re just along for the ride. The cash flows are mostly based on six things: fossil fuels (including gas, oil, coal and uranium), drugs and pharmaceuticals (including Viagra, Ritalin, cocaine and heroin), intellectual property (i.e. Microsoft source code and drug patents), arms sales (everything from M16’s to tanks and bombers), agricultural production (linked to intellectual property via patented GMO’s), and cheap outsourced slave labor courtesy of the globalization agreements (like NAFTA, CAFTA, MEFTA, and TRIPS).

The state intelligence services (CIA, NSA, MI6, etc) and the public relations corporations (Burson-Marstellar and Qorvis Comm., etc.) – they seem to serve as the ‘glue’ that coordinates the whole operation. Their enforcer? The Pentagon.

General Smedley Butler, aka “Old Gimlet Eye” had it right – War is a Racket!

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Heist
Posted by: Menance on Dec 2, 2006 9:40 AM   
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Noticed also at the original site of this story, at SeattleWeekly.com, there's also a story about Army Rangers who held up a bank - claiming, perhaps desperately, they did it to expose war crimes.

In a way, when the Army starts robbing banks, maybe we've achieved a kind of socio-corporate balance.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0648/rangers.php

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What a crappy piece of writing!
Posted by: Labrys on Dec 2, 2006 10:48 AM   
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This is undoubtedly the worst writing I have seen at Alternet.
Boeing sells jets all over the world...to many customers; and Boeing is not responsible for what customers use said airliners to do. The subsidiary mentioned is not responsible either....as was said, they calculate flight plans and fuel usage. No Boeing employee is on board chaining people to floors, nor is any subsidiary. This is akin to deciding to sue a gun manufacturer every time someone is shot, or a baseball manufacturing company when a window gets busted. Gee, if someone runs over my cat, I guess I should blame Ford or Chevy instead of the driver, right?

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Boeing: Just like HITLER's OVENS
Posted by: sofla100 on Dec 2, 2006 12:12 PM   
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From the article, it sure sounds like Boeing knew something. But let us be frank, Boeing does tens of billions of dollars in defense work for the gov evey year. They are intimately involved with the military and CIA's planning and logistics or these planes could never fly.

Are we to believe Boeing is like the companies that built Hitler's ovens but never knew they would be used to kill Jews? What is this going to be then, another case of "plausible deniability?"

Boeing was initimately involved from day one, no doubt about it. The Arab world should start boycotting them now. If they are complicit in war crimes, the company should be dissolved.

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There's another Bush in there
Posted by: VannaLaRoche on Dec 2, 2006 3:25 PM   
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George H. W.'s brother, Patrick (I think: he goes by "Buck") Bush, Duhbya's uncle, is embedded deep in in the military-industrials of St. Louis: Boeing, McDonnell, and others. Don't think that doesn't weight the web.

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Who is responsible for torture??
Posted by: Erik1968 on Dec 3, 2006 1:07 AM   
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WE ARE.

It's a democracy, after all. It's not Boeing's fault. We've all gotten past that whole, "oh, the German people COULDN'T have done anything to stop the Nazis! The SS was so evil!" Etc, etc. Haven't we?

History will judge us harshly. We didn't stop it. We knew about it. We argued about it. There was no SS to stop us from stopping it. We LIKED IT.

We will be judged. Harshly.

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surprised?
Posted by: paschn on Dec 3, 2006 7:20 AM   
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One need only to think objectively about the information culled from the free flow, ( thank God ), of non-corporate / government information on the internet to see what appears to be the core of much of the evil committed by the U.S. against the world. Granted, other governments are guilty of acts as evil, but by virtue of the U.S.'s size and power, it commits or is responsible for the acts which affect the largest number of people.
The core, it seems, is the whore-like coupling of big business with government "leaders". But remember, at the head of these businesses are, (using the term very losely ), human beings.
What the drones being governed by this whore-ish group of leaders seem to have forgotten, ( much to the the joy of Republican core members ), is that roughly 100 years ago these corporations were literally working their predecessors to death. 12 to 14 hours a day, 6 and seven days a week, paying in company "scrip" that was redeemable only at company stores at prices the company set. Pulling out their "pocket politicians" to sic scores of "our boys" on people to murder and burn alive men women and children, ( Ludlow massacre ), with immunity. The victims' only crime being the desire to work a reasonable work week, paid a livable wage in a safe environment. These corporations know no flags, are not patriotic to a nation other than a potential market. these "human beings" are an international breed that on a whim will go to another nation to play and frollic with their foreign counterparts while the rank and file slaughter one another for "ideals" fed to us thru their media. What you people need to realize is the Republican party represents these corporations. many of which, although thriving still today worked hand in hand with Nazi germany selling their products in the market there while our troops were fighting and dying / killing people buying the same products from those same corporations. How in the hell a large group of working people can align themselves with the very swine that manipulate and oppress them would be a case study for Mr. Pavlov. NO, I'm not a card carrying "commy", so don't seek me out for "free" nation mob justice. It's simply that people are people. Some much less human than others, but still people. Free market capitolism is fine. As long as there are irrevocable laws in place that control those corporate giants and stop them from victimising not only their own citizens, but the citizens of other nations as well. It seems the U.S. sheeple, for the most part, have acquired a dangerous idea that corporations are their "benevolent friends". Remember, even a mass murderer will smile at you while he drives a knife into your back.

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TSA strikes again
Posted by: Burton on Dec 3, 2006 1:52 PM   
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Considering how hellacious airline travel has become, and the police state the TSA has enacted at the airports, none of this ought to be considered unusual.

Do you get frequent flyer miles for these torture flights?

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At Defcon!
Posted by: Valdis on Jan 7, 2007 1:02 AM   
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At Defcon!

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yoora
Posted by: kladyc on Feb 13, 2007 1:09 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
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