[Sosfbay-discuss] [gpsmc-d] FW: Join us for an anti-torture action on November 16

[Curt Wechsler]

for anyone able to participate in the Jeppesen action,
http://tinyurl.com/yvtt87 , tonight's event in SF will provide great
background:

Mon, Nov 5, 2007      6:00 pm - 7:30 pm    
   “FRONTLINE’S Extraordinary Rendition – A Look at the CIA’s Controversial
Rendition Program”
World Affairs Council
312 Sutter St, 2nd floor Auditorium
San Francisco

British investigative journalist Stephen Grey joins the Council for a
screening of his PBS’ FRONTLINE/World Video Report, Extraordinary
Rendition, and to discuss the CIA’s controversial practice of kidnapping
terror suspects for interrogation, often in countries where torture is
common. Grey is a leading authority on the Agency’s controversial
“rendition” program, having quit his job as head of investigations at The
Sunday Times of London in order to independently pursue his investigation.
Author of Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA’s Rendition and Torture
Program and one of the first reporters to track the CIA’s rendition flights
around the world, he travels to sites in Europe and Africa, and ultimately
to Washington, D.C. for this report, which presents new details and
evidence about the U.S. government’s controversial interrogation program
and a rare on-camera interview with former Egyptian detainee Abu Omar. This
event is co-sponsored by UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center.

Advanced registration is recommended for guaranteed seating. However,
pre-registration is not required and walk-ins on the day of this program
are welcome.

Admission Costs: Member: Free; Non-Member: $15; Student with Valid ID: $5;
Ticket+Membership: $95

For more information contact:
World Affairs Council
415.293.4600
info at wacsf.org
http://www.itsyourworld.org/ 


OR if you can't make it but care about the issue, the FRONTLINE episode
will be aired on TV tomorrow night.  Check for show times @
http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/ (10pm on channel 9).

FRONTLINE/World
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
 
- This Week: "Extraordinary Rendition" and "A Second Opinion" (60 minutes),
Tuesday, November 6th at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)
- Live Discussion: Chat with investigative reporter Stephen Grey Nov. 7, at
11 am ET
 
This week, we turn our newsletter over to Stephen Talbot, series editor of
our international news magazine, FRONTLINE/World --
 
-------
 
With all the debate in Washington about "waterboarding" -- and the upcoming
vote on the nominee for attorney general -- our episode of FRONTLINE/World
this Tuesday night is right on target.
 
Our lead story, "Extraordinary Rendition," is an investigation into the
CIA's controversial, extra-legal practice of seizing terrorist suspects
abroad and transporting them to third countries for interrogation in jails
where torture is common.
 
Investigative reporter Stephen Grey has been pursuing this story for four
years. The author of "Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture and
Rendition Program," Grey breaks new ground in this report, interviewing an
Iraqi-born British resident who was flown on a CIA-chartered Gulfstream jet
to a secret interrogation site in Afghanistan known as the "dark prison." 
 
He also uncovers evidence of a rendition that took place earlier this year
in the Horn of Africa, involving the detention of women and children in
what appears to be a failed attempt to smoke out the mastermind of the 1998
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
 
Grey interviews former CIA and FBI officials who were active in the hunt
for Al Qaeda leaders and other suspected terrorists around the world. He
finds that many U.S. agents who were involved in extraordinary renditions
are now worried about the legal and political consequences of the program,
which was denounced in a recent Council of Europe investigation that
exposed CIA "black site" prisons in Romania and Poland.
 
It is a gripping and disturbing report. For those of you who have seen the
new movie, "Rendition," it may seem eerily similar. But this is fact not
fiction and President Bush has signed a new executive order allowing the
CIA to continue to question terrorist suspects in secret jails.


I find the FRONTLINE series to be excellent... you can also watch previous
episodes online, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/ .  Well
worth the time.