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September 5, 2008 10:34:14 PM CDT

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Judge Blocks Terror Kidnap Suit Against Boeing

Posted Feb 14, 08 5:11 AM CST in US,  Business,  World 

(Newser) – A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that charged a flight-planning company owned by Boeing with helping the CIA fly terror suspects to secret overseas dungeons. He ruled such a case could reveal state secrets, and that "proceeding would jeopardize national security and foreign relations," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on behalf of five foreign nationals who say they were kidnapped by the CIA and flown to secret prisons where they were tortured.

The flights were allegedly organized by Jeppesen International Trip Planning, a San Jose, Calif., company owned by Boeing. In granting the government's motion to dismiss the case, the judge noted that "covert US military or CIA operations in foreign countries against foreign nationals" are clearly state secrets. The ACLU plans to appeal. "The CIA is not trying to protect state secrets. It's trying to protect itself from embarrassment," said one of their lawyers.

Sources San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters

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U.S. soldiers are seen near a U.S. air force plane on the runway at the main US air base in Bagram, Afghanistan. Two of the plaintiffs in the Boeing case say there were tortured at a US base in Afghanistan...   (Associated Press)
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a unit of Boeing that alleged the firm had helped fly terror suspects to secret prisons abroad. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)   (Associated Press)
CIA Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on world threats. The judge in the Boeing lawsuit said...   (Associated Press)
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