Still in the Rendition Business?

Observers in the UK have reported a liaison between a known rendition flight plane and British SAS helicopters.

A U.S. plane that featured in a European Parliament report into the ‘extraordinary rendition’ of terror suspects was met by two SAS helicopters in a secret operation at one of Britain’s biggest airports.

The Gulfstream jet landed at Birmingham International Airport on Friday, October 2, having flown in from an undisclosed location, and was seen by a member of staff being met minutes later by the Special Forces regiment aircraft.

Records show that the jet is owned by a subsidiary of L-3 Communications, a multi-billion-dollar defence corporation based in New York, whose clients include several American government departments, among them the Department of Homeland Security.

[snip]

The Birmingham airport employee who saw it land said helicopters that he recognised as belonging to the SAS’s support flight, 8 Flight Army Air Corps, based at Credenhill, near Hereford, arrived shortly afterwards.

The witness, who did not want to be named, added that he saw another plane, a Boeing 757 operated by COMCO, land at the airport on October 1, and that this was also met by two SAS helicopters. He said: ‘People were seen transferring between all the aircraft.’

The aircraft’s presence at Birmingham airport was also confirmed by Ron Kosys, a member of the Birmingham Aviation Enthusiasts Group, who has posted pictures on the group’s website.

The planes were parked in an area mostly used by private aircraft and situated away from the main runways.

[snip]

A Ministry of Defence source confirmed that SAS helicopters did meet the two aircraft at Birmingham airport but said their presence could be explained by an organised meeting to discuss ‘routine business between two allies’. He denied it had anything to do with rendition.

Though maybe it isn’t a rendition. As Tim Shorrock pointed out via Twitter this morning, L-3 Communications “also holds $2.4b contract for Spec Ops (assassination) Command.” So maybe we’re still in some other nasty business, along with the Brits.