Posted on 07/01/2005 4:00:10 PM PDT by familyop
Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, on Friday told the US to respect Italian sovereignty, as a diplomatic row with the US over an alleged CIA operation inside Italy escalated.
Last week, an Italian magistrate issued arrest warrants for 13 Central Intelligence Agency operatives for allegedly kidnapping Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, an Egyptian cleric, in connection with an anti-terrorism investigation.
Mr Berlusconi on Friday summoned Mel Sembler, the US ambassador to Rome, to a meeting over the incident. Mr Nasr also known as Abu Omar who was kidnapped in Milan in 2003 was allegedly flown to Egypt for interrogation, under a special US process called “renditions”.
As part of its effort to obtain intelligence in the war on terror, the US government has allowed the CIA to render prisoners to other countries for interrogation, such as Egypt and Jordan.
Human rights activists, and some lawmakers in the US, have criticised the operations, saying the prisoners might be tortured. US officials say they only transfer the prisoners after receiving guarantees that they will not be tortured.
Italian opposition leaders have been pressing the government to give a full explanation about whether they were informed about the renditions. But on Thursday, the government denied reports in the Washington Post that the CIA had given the Italian authorities advance notice about the operation.
Carlo Giovanardi, a cabinet minister, said the rendition was not “brought to the attention of the government...or national institutions”.
The warrants issued last week are not expected to lead to any arrests as the location of the people involved is not known.
Fongu!
Crocodile tears. The Italian authorities were in on the whole thing.
Rendering?...as in rendering the fat?...Can only imagine the stink from rendering the fat from an Islamistic terrorist! But I will support that option!
If they are saying that prisoners arent being tortured what is their reason for bringing them to these countries that allow torture?
Prosecute our agents? Ok. Fine. Go for it.
Just don't expect any public response from our government when all four agents mysterious escape through blast holes in the wall, with the exterior guards seeming to have been strangled with piano wire.
They're upset the Mob didn't get their cut.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.