Tuesday, October 19, 2010

CIA paid Liverpool buyout tycoon millions…to use his jet for ‘torture’ flights

By Sharon Churcher and Chris Hastings, Daily Mail, Oct 18, 2010

Paid by the CIA: Philip Morse, above right, with ex-U.S. president George Bush Snr

A jet owned by a senior executive in the US firm which has bought Liverpool Football Club was chartered by the CIA and used in flights allegedly linked to the rendition of terror suspects.

The plane is owned by Phillip Morse, 69, the vice-chairman of New England Sports Ventures, which bought the club on Friday for £300million.

An investigation has established that between 2002 and 2005 the CIA chartered the plane from Mr Morse for millions of pounds and made extensive use of it.
Paid by the CIA: Philip Morse, above right, with ex-U.S. president George Bush SnrPaid by the CIA: Philip Morse, above right, with ex-U.S. president George Bush Snr

Inquiries by the European Parliament and human rights groups have linked the plane to alleged extraordinary rendition operations which took place during the same period.

A European Parliament report linked the jet directly to the abduction of Abu Omar, an Islamic preacher, who was snatched from a Milan street by the CIA in 2003 before being taken to Cairo.

Extraordinary rendition entails the abduction and transfer of a terrorist suspect from one country to another. People have been taken to states such as Egypt, Syria, Morocco and Uzbekistan which are suspected of practising torture in violation of a United Nations Convention.

The disclosure that such a senior figure in New England Sports Ventures (NESV) has been paid millions by the CIA is likely to alarm football fans already concerned that one of the country’s most prestigious clubs is still in American hands.

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