Posted on 06/24/2005 7:22:28 PM PDT by JustTheTruth
Italy orders arrest of CIA agents over Imams abduction 6/24/2005 10:45:00 PM GMT
Italian authorities ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents accused of kidnapping a Muslim leader
Italian authorities ordered the arrest of 13 agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) accused of kidnapping a Muslim leader in northern Italy, an Italian newspaper reported on Friday.
The arrest warrants were issued by Italian Judge Chiara Nobili at the request of the anti-terrorist division of the state prosecutor's office, the Corriere della Sera said.
The 13 agents are suspected of kidnapping Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, in a street in the northern city of Milan on February 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he was tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale said in a statement.
Minale said the agents remained at large, adding that Italy would ask the U.S. and Egypt to cooperate in the case.
The prosecutor's statement didn’t identify any of the suspects, but an Italian official familiar with the probe confirmed newspaper reports Friday that the suspects were working for the CIA.
The U.S. Embassy in Rome and the CIA in Washington refused to comment.
Hassan, 42, was the former Imam of a mosque in Milan which had been placed under close watch following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Prosecutors believe the agents kidnapped Hassan as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, which allows the transfer of suspects to third countries without court approval, the Corriere said.
The prosecutor's statement said Hassan was attacked by two people while walking from home to a local mosque. He was then transferred to a U.S. military base at Aviano in northern Italy; another U.S. naval base in Ramstein, Germany; and then Cairo.
Investigators confirmed the kidnapping through an eyewitness account and other unidentified witnesses, the statement said.
Milan prosecutors twice asked the Egyptian authorities for information about Hassan's whereabouts. But Cairo didn’t respond.
The involved CIA agents included the alleged chief of the operation, who was an accredited diplomat with the U.S. consulate in Milan at the time, the Corriere said, citing reports by Milan magistrates.
The paper also said that Italian investigators possess photographs of all the agents involved in the operation, as well as details of their accommodation, mobile telephones, passports and credit card records.
Something is wrong about this story. If he was kidnapped how could he call home? He said he was set free why did he not return home?
Who would be stupid enough to use their own credit cards is a covet operation. Who would use cell phones that can be monitored in a covert operation? Who in a covert operation would allow their pictures to be taken and their lodging location to be knows? Who would use open communications in a covert operation?
How close is Milan to France???
It's all over the wire services.
I hope the CIA grabbed this guy...and took down names of his associates.
If indeed we did this and that's a big if, my response is it's about effing time! If Italy coddles terrorists, they are no better than our sworn enemies- no more free passes for our so-called allies.
Ummmmmmmmmmm ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh can ya describe em ?.......:o)
My guess is that "CIA" guys...were mainstream office dudes for the agency. They were given a task to show up and grab this guy. Unlike the experience pro's that used to be in the agency back in the 1950s and 1960s...we have mostly CIA wannabes today, and a handful of old Pro's.
As for the phones...they are likely the standard Tri-band, which people use if they travel internationally. They should have been issued CIA contracted phones...but I've heard that the CIA is getting awful cheap these days...so they may have had to buy their own phones and simply bill the agency for these overseas calls (as stupid as it sounds).
As for the credit cards...probably typical government Impact Card (Visa), and very likely to have "Jim Bob's" name on it because it has to be an authentic name and billing address. And yes, they probably checked into the best hotel they could...for the per diem they are paid for overseas travel (the agency like every government shop has a listing of the per diem and every government guy spends the limit when traveling).
If this all sounds stupid...stand back and look at the agency. They haven't exactly been hitting home runs for the past 10 years. And the amusing thing is that the Italians actually got smart enough to figure out this entire story. And that should make you start to think...if they can see through the green door...then so can the Russians, the Germans and the Chinese. And eventually, even the Iranians will be able to see through. I don't like dumping on these dudes...but if you operate a five and dime store...then your profits will be measured in pennies...and your competition will catch up.
Interesting thing is that reports are that a guy named Tyler Drumheller running the Europe stations at the time this crap went down and he’s now all tied up in this Hillary Benghazi affair. Not to mention the libs he’s with were screeching holy hornytoads over waterboarding terrorists and renditions and so on.
As it happens the Turkish IHH terror group is connected to the Milan terror cell and the IHH was also accused of arms smuggling not just to Gaza [and was on the boat along with Code Pink leftists in one case] but was also accused of gunrunning to Syria...
Don’t know if the IHH was in Libya but since they are linked to Qatar’s Qaradawi, I would not be surprised.
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