EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION RULED ORDINARY CRIME IN ITALY

EXTRAORDINARY NEWS ON  RENDITION
Italy Orders Arrest Warrants for Thirteen CIA Agents
CIA road games don't play well with Italian prosecutors or judges. In pursuing international terrorists, Italy demands US agents play by the rules or face consequences

An Italian judge ordered the arrests of 13 people in the purported CIA bduction of an imam, who then was sent to Egypt, the Milan prosecutor's office said Friday. An Italian official said earlier the 13 were CIA officers involved in U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.
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The 13 are suspected of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on the streets of Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale said in a statement.

An Italian newspaper said all 13 were American agents.
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Prosecutors believe the officers seized Omar as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in which terror suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval, according to reports Friday in newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Giorno.
The statement said Omar was attacked by two people while walking from home to a local mosque and hustled into a white van. He was taken to Aviano, a joint U.S.-Italian base north of Venice; another American air base in Ramstein, Germany; and then Cairo.

Investigators confirmed the abduction through an eyewitness account and other, unidentified witnesses, the statement said.
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The question of national sovereignity, of who does what on Italian soil, seems to play a part in this striking development between allies in what United States calls the war on terror.

The deputy district attorney of Milan and lead investigator, Armando Spataro, issued this statement to CNN:

"If the kidnapping of the person in question had not been carried out, Nasr ... would now be detained and subject to Italian justice. ... More importantly, the ongoing investigations had revealed important information which could have led to other suspects and arrests.

"The Italian investigation was a major breakthrough into a terrorist network in Milan which also operated overseas. Therefore, the kidnapping of Nasr ... is not just a totally illegal act that violates gravely Italy's sovereignty, but it is also a damaging and counterproductive act against the efficiency of the fight against terrorism."

[CNN]

 

A QUICK HERETIK COMMENT: For the inevitable apologists who say we have to live in a real world and take the fight to the enemy (even in our allies's backyards), just imagine what the uproar would be like here if foreign agents swooped down on the streets of Manhattan or worse Kansas City and ran off with a some civilian  on the streets without a trial?

WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING:
5 PM EASTERN JUNE 24, 2005

[BODY AND SOUL] HAS MORE  DETAILS:

An Egyptian woman witnessed the kidnapping and says that two men, who spoke Italian and wore Italian police uniforms, blocked Abu Omar. In one article, Corriere suggests that they were posing as Italians, in another that they may demonstrate Italian complicity.
After the kidnapping the cell phone of the presumed leader of the raid called the US consulate in Milan and the personal cell phone of "Bob." He later dialed a number of a colonel at the Aviano Air Base, apparently to avoid controls by Italian military.
That evening, at 6:20,  a plane presumed to belong to the CIA  took off for Ramstein, German. At 8:30, a second plane -- this one -- left for Cairo. At midnight, the leader of the raid called from Italy to a reserved number in Virginia (presumably Langley) and said that the mission was accomplished.
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[MAHABLOG] I've been wondering how the CIA was getting away with snatching so many people on foreign soil. I guess maybe now they won't always get away with it.
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Followup on this later today.

MORE COVERAGE BY: [TALK LEFT]  [SPONTANEOUS ARISING]  has a sardonic take on this