CIA allegedly flies into Barcelona

The CIA allegedly made another clandestine flight into Spanish territory to pick up suspected Al Qaeda prisoners at the end of October with a stopover in Barcelona, the daily El País reported on Monday. If true, this puts at nine the number of unauthorized CIA flights in Spain. Quoting Turkish Foreign Minister Abudula Gul, El País reports that the DHC-8 aircraft arrived in Istambul, Turkey from Barcelona and proceeded to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on Oct. 31.

The aircraft with a registered number N-505L belongs to the Path Corp. of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, a CIA front entity, El País stated. A quick Internet search for Path Corp. yielded no entry. The plane was reportedly photographed last month at Amsterdam´s Schiphol airport (photo above courtesy of Frequency Monitoring Centre webpage).

The plane, after arriving in Holland, took off for Iceland then landed at Daytona Beach, Florida. Its ultimate destination was unknown, including the number of passengers it was carrying.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had to face some tough questions last week from the European Union concerning the unauthorized flights as well as alleged reports of torture and use of secret prisons in some Eastern European countries. In her best deflection on the matter, Rice told reporters that whatever she says, whether a confirmation or a denial, would jeopardize national security. She went on to remind EU leaders that the United States was responsible for helping thwart further acts of terrorism on European soil in recent months.

It is possible that more reports on other CIA flights will be forthcoming. But it is doubtful that the EU will do anything except continue to put up a front by publicly protesting in the media to quell concerns by anti-American, anti-Iraqi war factions in different countries. Although the routes may change, the flights no doubt will continue as the war on terror endures.