Editing Extraordinary rendition (section)

==== Germany ====
Business daily ''[[Handelsblatt]]'' reported 24 November 2005, that the CIA used an American military base in Germany to transport terrorism suspects without informing the German government. The ''[[Berliner Zeitung]]'' reported the following day there was documentation of 85 takeoffs and landings by planes with a "high probability" of being operated by the CIA, at [[Ramstein Air Base|Ramstein]], the [[Rhein-Main Air Base]] and others. The newspaper cited experts and "[[Aircraft spotting|plane-spotters]]" who observed the planes as responsible for the tally.<ref name="refbot.947">{{cite web | title=CIA Uses German Bases to Transport Terrorists, Paper Says | publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] | date=25 November 2005 | url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1792376,00.html | access-date=18 December 2005 }}</ref>

In January 2007, the German government indicted 13 alleged CIA operatives for the abduction in Macedonia, transport to Afghanistan, and torture of Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen mistakenly believed to be a terrorist.<ref name="German Court">Landler, Mark, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/world/europe/01germany.html German Court Challenges C.I.A. Over Abduction] The New York Times, 1 February 2007.</ref><ref name="German justice system stymied">Slackman, Michael, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/world/europe/09wikileaks-elmasri.html?hp Officials Pressed Germans on Kidnapping by C.I.A.] The New York Times, 8 December 2010.</ref> Spanish authorities identified the suspected CIA abduction team from hotel records after a stopover by their Boeing 737 in Palma de Mallorca.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Names of the alleged occupants of the rendition aircraft were James Fairing, Jason Franklin, Michael Grady, Lyle Edgard Lumsden III, Eric Fain, Bryam Charles, Kirk James Bird, Walter Richard Gressbore, Patricia Rilroy, Jane Payne, James O'Hale, John Decker, and Hector Lorenzo.<ref>Horton, Scott, [http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/05/hbc-90007028 Arrest of 13 CIA Agents Sought in Spain] Harpers Magazine, 12 May 2010.</ref>

Many of these names proved to be aliases.  Investigations by news organizations including the ''Los Angeles Times'',<ref name="Ghost Pilots">Drogin, Bob and Goetz, John [http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007/20070218-2.htm "Ghost Pilots: The Times Identifies Three Fliers Facing Kidnapping Charges in Germany Related to a 2003 Counter-terrorism Mission"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720181640/http://www.expose-the-war-profiteers.org/archive/media/2007/20070218-2.htm |date=20 July 2011 }}. ''Los Angeles Times'', 18 February 2007</ref>  ''The Nation'',<ref>Krom, Chris and Doub, Jill, [http://www.thenation.com/article/tracking-ghost-pilots "Tracking the Ghost Pilots"]. ''The Nation'', 3 March 2007.</ref> and ''Der Spiegel''<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,438371,00.html Suspected CIA Kidnappers Identified] Der Spiegel 21 September 2006</ref> identified James Kovalesky (alias James Richard Fairing), Harry Kirk Elarbee (alias Kirk James Bird), and Eric Robert Hume (alias Eric Matthew Fain) as pilots working for [[Aero Contractors (US)|Aero Contractors]], a CIA flight contractor based in Smithfield, N.C.  CBS News identified Lyle Edgard Lumsden III as a US Army captain who "retired in 1992 from active duty, having served as a physician's assistant" whose last known address was "the Washington DC area".<ref name="Thirteen Arrests">Grace, Francie [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203023849/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/31/world/main2415627.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2415627 "Thirteen Arrests Ordered by Germany"]. CBS News, 31 January 2007</ref>

None of the names or aliases in this case match those of the 26 alleged CIA agents prosecuted by Italy (see [[Abu Omar case]] below). However, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported one of the pilots may have been involved in both incidents.<ref name="Ghost Pilots" /> ''The New York Times'' reported that the 13 alleged CIA operatives were charged in indictments issued in Spain and in Munich, but because of "intense political pressure from Washington" Germany never requested their extradition.<ref name="German justice system stymied" /><ref name="Wikileaks Cables">Egelko, Bob, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/06/IN251HEQIP.DTL&tsp=1 "WikiLeaks Cables Recount How U.S. Pressured Allies"], ''San Francisco Chronicle'', 6 March 2011.</ref> In Germany, unlike Italy, defendants cannot be [[trial in absentia|tried ''in absentia'']].<ref name="German Court" />