Accused pilots traced to Johnston

[struggle4progress]

Published: Feb 19, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 19, 2007 05:43 AM

Bob Drogin and John Goetz, Los Angeles Times

CLAYTON - ... The names they used were all aliases, but the Los Angeles Times confirmed their real identities from government databases and visited their homes this month after a German court ordered the arrest of the three so-called "ghost pilots" and 10 members of the CIA's special renditions unit on charges of kidnapping and causing serious bodily harm to Khaled Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, three years ago ...

Flight records show that Aero Contractors Ltd., based in Smithfield, operated a plane that carried Masri from Macedonia to Afghanistan. The charter aircraft company has flown scores of sensitive missions for the CIA and has played a key support role in counterterror operations since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to former agency officials.

The three pilots in the Masri rendition case live within a 30-minute drive of the guarded Aero hangar and offices at the rural Johnston County Airport. Reached by telephone Saturday at the Aero office, Freddy Pearce, an Aero official, declined to discuss any aspects of the company's business.

http://www.newsobserver.com/110/story/544844.html