4 ms·
It sounds like the CIA (and the Obama administration), drawing on past experience, got wise and figured the mission would look less "dirty" if it wasn't a spook
by kafkaesq 11y ago
It sounds like the CIA (and the Obama administration), drawing on past experience, got wise and figured the mission would look less "dirty" if it wasn't a spook plane, but a regular government-registered plane that actually came to pick Snowden up.
But the main point is that adds to the body of circumstantial evidence that some kind of a rendition operation was being planned.
- tptacek 11y agoAgain: nobody doubts there was a "rendition" planned. Snowden had been indicted for multiple felonies. "Rendition" is what happens when someone is extradited.
- kafkaesq 11y agoOK, some sort of extra- or pseudojudicial rendition, then.
- tptacek 11y agoBased on what evidence? Most of the EU will respond to extradition requests and render subjects in response to the crimes Snowden was indicted for.
- kafkaesq 11y agoIt's the preponderance of the multiple factors (as cited in the article), along with the immediacy of the flight and the USG's well-documented predilection for pulling similar shenanigans for the sake of far lesser targets, that are sufficient to raise reasonable suspicion. And it's the immediate dispatch of the plane which strongly suggests that the U.S. wasn't going to wait to go through normal judicial channels to pick up their target.
- gsnedders 11y agoI would expect the US to have planned for how to perform such a kidnapping, because dealing with rogue agents in one way or another is very definitely someone's job. I would be amazed if there wasn't a report giving a number of options and pros and cons for each compiled—of course, how it was acted on is anyone's guess.