The classified documents prepared for the German parliament last February make clear that Berlin did eventually get to see the detained suspect, who was arrested in Morocco in 2002 as an alleged organiser of the September 11 strikes.

He was flown from Morocco to Syria on another rendition flight. Syria offered access to the prisoner on the condition that charges were dropped against Syrian intelligence agents in Germany accused of threatening Syrian dissidents. Germany dropped the charges, but denied any link.

After the CIA offered a deal to Germany, EU countries adopted an almost universal policy of downplaying criticism of human rights records in countries where terrorist suspects have been held. They have also sidestepped questions about secret CIA flights partly because of growing evidence of their complicity.

The disclosure is among fresh revelations about how the CIA flew terrorist suspects to locations where they were tortured, and Britain's knowledge of the practice known as "secret rendition". They are contained in Ghost Plane, by Stephen Grey, the journalist who first revealed details of secret CIA flights in the Guardian a year ago. More than 200 CIA flights have passed through Britain, records show.

He describes how one CIA pilot told him that Prestwick airport, near Glasgow, was a popular destination for refuelling stops and layovers. "It's an 'ask-no-questions' type of place and you don't need to give them any advance warning you're coming," the pilot said.

The CIA used planes of Air America, a group of private companies it secretly owned, and a second company, Aero Contractors. A CIA Gulfstream V jet, frequently used for the secret rendition of prisoners, flew to Diego Garcia, the British Indian Ocean territory where the US has a large base, the book says. Grey plans to publish more than 3,000 logs of the CIA flights on the internet this week.

CIA pilots, sometimes using false identities and whose planes regularly passed through Britain, ran up huge bills in luxury hotels after flying terrorist suspects to secret locations where they were tortured. But they revealed their whereabouts and identities by indiscreet use of mobile phones and allowed outsiders to track their aircraft's flights.

On one occasion, CIA pilots and crew lived it up in Majorca after rendering Benyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian brought up in Notting Hill, west London, to Afghanistan where he was tortured. Benyam was detained in Pakistan early in 2002, and then flown to Morocco, where he says he suffered appalling torture. He is being held at Guantánamo Bay.

Benyam has said in a statement to his lawyer that he was tortured for more than two years after being questioned by US and British officials. He says that while in Morocco he was shown photos of people he knew from a west London mosque, and was asked about information he was told was supplied by MI5.

The government has consistently denied it has ever actively cooperated in the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" programme". The Foreign Office said yesterday that the government had "not approved and will not approve a policy of facilitating transfer of individuals through the UK to places where there are substantial grounds to believe they face a real risk of torture".

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. investigator on torture, told a news conference that "all too frequently" governments respond to criticism about their jails by saying they handled detainees the same way the United States did.

"The United States has been the pioneer of human rights and is a country that has a high reputation in the world," Nowak said. "Today, other governments are kind of saying, 'But why are you criticizing us, we are not doing something different than what the United States is doing.'"

He said nations like Jordan tell him, "We are collaborating with the United States so it can't be wrong if it is also done by the United States."

Nowak, along with other U.N. human rights officials, has criticized U.S. policies against terror suspects, including secret jails, harsh treatment and the lack of due process. He turned down a visit to Guantanamo Bay because he could not interview detainees and prison officials in private.

He has argued that if there is evidence against detainees, after years in jail, it should be presented to the usually "efficient" and fair civilian courts rather than military tribunals.

Nowak, an Austrian law professor, said the new U.S. law adopted earlier this month, which outlaws rape and most forms of torture, still allows harsh interrogation methods rights advocates say border on torture. And it does not permit appeals in U.S. federal court.

But he acknowledged U.S. difficulties in closing Guantanamo, saying other countries were refusing to accept prisoners and that Washington did not want to send them to countries where torture was certain. In Europe to date, only Albania has offered to accept them.

In Iraq, however, Nowak said there were improvements in U.S.-run jails and those of its allies following the torture scandals at Abu Ghraib. But now prisoners say jails run by Baghdad's Interior Ministry and militia are brutal.

"They would prefer if they are in detention to be in the international detention facilities rather than the Iraqi detention facilities," he said.

"As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq," states the appeal posted on the campaign's Web site at www.appealforredress.org.

"Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home," it adds.

The Web site allows service members to sign the appeal that will be presented to members of Congress. Organizers said the number of signatories has climbed from 65 to 219 since the appeal was posted a few days ago and Wednesday when it was publicly launched. There are 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Active duty service members are restricted in expressing personal views publicly. But rules governed by the Military Whistleblower Protection Act give them the right to speak to a member of Congress respectfully while off-duty and out of uniform, making clear they do not speak for the military.

In a conference call with reporters, a sailor, a Marine and a soldier who had served in the Iraq operation said American troops there have increasingly had difficulty seeing the purpose of lengthy and repeated tours of duty since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Their misgivings have intensified this year as the country has edged toward civil war, they said.

"The real grievances are: Why are we in Iraq if the weapons of mass destruction are not found, if the links to al Qaeda are not substantiated," said Marine Sgt. Liam Madden of Rockingham, Vermont, who was in Iraq from September 2004 to February 2005 and is based at Quantico, Virginia.

"The occupation is perpetuating more violence," he said. "It's costing way too many Iraqi civilian and American service member lives while it brings us no benefit."

The campaign's sponsoring committee includes the activist groups Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out.

Navy Seaman Jonathan Hutto of Atlanta, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia and the first service member to join the campaign, said a similar appeal during the Vietnam War drew support from over 250,000 active duty service members in the early 1970s.

Warda pointed to the recent beheading of a Syrian Orthodox priest, the abduction and murder of 13 Christian Assyrian women just over a week ago as examples of violence targeted against Christian that is forcing many Iraqi believers from the country.

"The consequence of this situation is clear," said Warda. "The Christian Assyrian population, in all its denominations, is fleeing the country."

Michael Youash, project director of the Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project, a Washington-based think tank focused on the plight of Iraq's most vulnerable minorities, is a supporter of the idea of a province for minorities. He believes the province will help maintain minority voices in Iraq that will be able to provide a voice of compromise in debates about federalism, the constitution and other contentious issues.

Youash noted that the liberation of Iraq did not intend to drive out the Assyrian Christian population, but unfortunately this has occurring.

She cited that the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees is reporting that 36 percent of refugees are Christians.

"If this continues, Iraq will more and more look like other Middle Eastern countries which lost their Assyrian population decades ago," Warda concluded. "Iraq needs it minorities for democracy.

Warda said she is part of a group of Iraqi trying to create an "administrative unit" for minorities in the Nineveh Plain and specific minority lands in the western part of Dohuk governate. Discussion on the province is still underway but supporters believe it possibly might be the only solution to retaining Iraq's Assyrian population.

The Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick, the Washington representative of Christian Solidarity International, cited from his recent article about the month of Ramadan and persecution against non-Muslims in Iraq.

"Hope in Iraq's future cannot be found in the destruction of minority faith and ethnic communities," concluded Roderick in his article. "It must be discovered in the actions of those right-hearted and --minded persons who have courageously dedicated themselves to the creation of a truly pluralistic multi-ethnic/religious society in Iraq."

The four Marines and one Navy sailor all died in fighting in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. troops and their Iraqi government allies.

The 96 deaths is the highest monthly total since October 2005, when the same number of American forces were killed.

Before that the deadliest months were January 2005, at 107; November 2004 at 137 and April 2004, at 135.

The sailor was assigned to the 3rd Naval Construction Regiment, the military said. Two of the Marines were attached to Regimental Combat Team 5, and two others to Regimental Combat Team 7. All died Wednesday from wounds suffered in attacks that day, it said.

The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of their families.

Meanwhile, an angry Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki disavowed a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid in the capital's Sadr City slum Wednesday, and criticized the top U.S. military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for saying his government needs to set a timetable to curb violence in the country.

The U.S. military on Thursday announced the deaths of five U.S. troops in fighting in Iraq, raising to 96 the number of American forces killed this month.

The four Marines and one Navy sailor all died in fighting in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. troops and their Iraqi government allies.

The latest deaths raised to 96 the number of U.S. forces killed in October, the highest toll for any month this year and on course to surpass the October 2005 total of 96.

Before that the deadliest months were January 2005, at 107; November 2004 at 137 and April 2004, at 135.

The sailor was assigned to the 3rd Naval Construction Regiment, the military said. Two of the Marines were attached to Regimental Combat Team 5, and two others to Regimental Combat Team 7. All died Wednesday from wounds suffered in attacks that day, it said.

The names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of their families.

Meanwhile, Al-Maliki spoke at a news conference a day after U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Iraqi leaders had agreed to set deadlines by year's end for achieving specific political and security goals laid out by the United States, including reining in militia groups.

"I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," the prime minister said.

The prime minister dismissed U.S. talk of timelines as driven by the coming midterm elections in the United States. "I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign. And that does not concern us much," he said.

Al-Maliki complained that he was not consulted beforehand about the Sadr City offensive. The raid was conducted by Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. advisers and was aimed at capturing a top militia commander wanted for running a Shiite death squad.

"We will ask for clarification to what has happened," al-Maliki said. "We will review this issue with the Multinational Forces so that it will not be repeated."

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, his national security adviser, later told The Associated Press that al-Maliki's anger grew out of a misunderstanding that had since been cleared up with Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

While the U.S. military said the raid had been cleared in advance with al-Maliki's government,
President Bush acknowledged that al-Maliki himself may not have been consulted.

"We need coordinate with him. That makes sense to me. And there's a lot of operations taking place which means sometimes communications are not as good as they should be. And we'll continue to work very closely with the government to make sure communications are solid," Bush said at his own news conference.

Military action in Sadr City is especially sensitive for the prime minister.

Until Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi forces had largely avoided the densely populated slum, a grid of rutted streets and tumble-down housing that is home to 2.5 million Shiites and under the control of anti-American cleric Muqtada's al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

Reining in the Mahdi Army and the other major militia, the Badr Brigades, remains one of the thorniest problems facing al-Maliki. His fragile Shiite-dominated government derives much of its power from the al-Sadr's faction and from the Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, which operates the Badr Brigades.

The U.S. military said Mahdi Army militiamen fought back in the Sadr City raid and that the Americans called in an air strike and cordoned the sprawling east Baghdad region.

Late Wednesday the military said it had killed 10 suspected militia fighters and wounded two in the battle. It did not identify the wanted militia leader or say whether he was still at large. Earlier, police and hospital officials said four people were killed and at least 18 wounded.

The military also said it had raided a mosque in Sadr City looking for a missing U.S. soldier and his kidnappers. The soldier was not found but three suspects were detained.

Residents living near Sadr City said gunfire and air strikes began about 11 p.m. Tuesday and continued for hours. The neighborhood was sealed to outsiders before dawn.

Groups of young men in black fatigues favored by the Mahdi Army were seen driving toward the area to join the fight. Explosions and automatic weapons fire were heard above the noise of U.S. helicopters circling overhead firing flares.

Crowds of Shiite men, some carrying pistols and others hoisting giant posters of al-Sadr, swarmed onto the district's streets Wednesday morning, chanting, "America has insulted us."

Throughout the day and into the night, U.S. F-16 jet fighters growled across the Baghdad sky, and at one point the report of tank cannon fire echoed across the city five times in quick succession.

Streets were empty and shops closed, although the district still had electricity from the national power grid.

Well after nightfall, residents said all roads into the slum remained blocked by U.S. and Iraqi forces. U.S. soldiers were searching all cars.

A frustrated motorist waiting at one checkpoint jumped out of his car and called for al-Maliki to resign.

"Where is al-Maliki? It would be more honorable for him to resign. Why is he letting the Americans do this to us," the driver could be heard to scream.

Falah Hassan Shanshal, a lawmaker from al-Sadr's political bloc, said women and children had been killed, although videotape pictures of the bodies from the neighborhood taken at the local morgue showed only male victims.

"If there was an arrest operation, it should have been carried out by the Iraqi authorities, and not like this where air cover is used as if we were in a war zone," Shanshal said in an interview with the government's al-Iraqiya television station.

Four cars blocked their car, and 16 gunmen stepped out asking my uncle and his friends to come with them, so the gun men started to kick him force him to rid with them but he kept resisting tell them if you want to kill me then do it here, at least my body can be found and identified.

Then came two police cars, to his surprise the police were shaking hands with the gunmen asking them to hurry up because roads are getting very crowded with people going to their works.

With my uncle keep reinstating to go with them and totally covered with blood they left him and his friends, saying there will a next time.

If you want to understand what's behind the story then, Islammemo obtained this document and I translated it to check by yourself how bad it is.

--------Start Reading--------

To / Gen Ghassan Albaoui-police chief of Diyala
Brigadier Mudhafar and Brigadier General Karim Qassem,

Under the slogan of [the Shiites are the Winners]

In a few days a battalion of [200] fighters from the "Mahdi army" loyal to the Shiites religious authorities, will enter the province of Diyala, to clean it from the Sunni terrorists, especially from these regions [Names of districts in Baquba - Diyala province].

We have prepared a plan and it is ready for the full implementation, our sources collected valuable information from the areas mentioned above, we ask your cooperation with us as much as possible with thanks and appreciation.

Explain the steps below you plan to get rid of the Sunnis:

Our force will come in cars and Humvee'st of the Iraqi Army, ambulances and police vehicles, wearing Iraqi army and police uniforms.

- We will block the mentioned areas to arrest the terrorists and destroy their homes and rape their wives, as Muqtada al-Sadr said in one of his valuable speeches [kill them wherever you find them].

- The duration of the operation is three days after that we will take the detainees into the Army intelligence and integrate them to lose attention from regular citizens and then in the night we will take them to Baghdad "to do the rest".

Thank you
Abu Hussein al-Tamimi
Commander of the Al-Mahdi Army

"The suspected insurgents were in fact firefighters responding to a call. The fire truck number did not match the one of the hijacked truck. All four of the firefighters that exited the vehicle died," the statement said.

"Minutes later another fire truck was spotted and pulled over in an area nearby. The occupants fled. It was determined that this truck number did match the truck that was hijacked," it added.

American forces are often accused of using excessive and indiscriminate force in
Iraq, although commanders say the problem is now taken more seriously and the number of wrongful killings has diminished.