Posted on 06/25/2005 8:35:05 PM PDT by phoenix_004
MILAN, June 25 -- For 19 American intelligence operatives assigned to apprehend a radical Islamic preacher in Milan two years ago, the mission was equal parts James Bond and taxpayer-financed Italian holiday, according to an Italian investigation of the man's disappearance.
The Americans stayed at some of the finest hotels in Milan, sometimes for as long as six weeks, ringing up tabs of as much as $500 a day on Diners Club accounts created to match their recently forged identities, according to Italian court documents and other records. Then, after abducting their target and flying him to Cairo under the noses of Italian police, some of them rounded out their European trip with long weekends in Venice and Florence before leaving the country, the records show. Milan prosecutors and police spent the last two years documenting Americans' role in the Feb. 17, 2003 disappearance of Hussan Mustafa Omar Nasr, 42, an Egyptian cleric. On Thursday, a Milan judge ruled that there was enough evidence to warrant the arrest of 13 suspected CIA operatives on kidnapping charges.
The Americans' whereabouts are unknown, and Italian authorities acknowledged that the odds were slim that they would ever be taken into custody. The CIA has declined to comment.
While most of the operatives apparently used false identities, they left a long trail of paper and electronic records that enabled Italian investigators to retrace their movements in detail. Posing as tourists and business travelers, the Americans often stayed in the same five-star hotels, rarely paid in cash, gave their frequent traveler account numbers to desk clerks and made dozens of calls from unsecure phones in their rooms.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
God forbid that CIA agents undercover as Tourists should stay in hotels and visit tourist attractions. Maybe they should save money and just stay in a dormitory on the US Embassy grounds /sarcasm.
OK so the supposed racecar rescuer incident didn't work. Now the Cut and Run Italians are trying the tired old CIA gambit.
Evidently their cover worked and got the mission accomplished and them out of the country. Well done.
It is cheaper to catch these guys on the rise than after the fact. Military operations are also very expensive..even without 5star hotels and also cost lives.
"stayed in the finest hotels."
I hope so. They were doing more good than these Euro weenies who want to "arrest" them. Worthless pukes.
The ComPost is playing a disgusting game of class warfare, trying to inflame the people against these heroes who risked life and limb to capture a jihadi scumbag. This is one of the few times they actually get to go somewhere that isn't dusty, dirty, grimy, hot, cold, whatever. They deserve this and much more.
For crying out loud, if they saved the world no one would be the wiser and theydon't even get to wear a medal to commemorate their heroism. They just get to look at it.
This p!$$ant is probably just jealous that these "barbarian baby killers/Muslim oppressors" get the same treatment that this prig gets on a daily basis.
...spaghetti eating surrender monkeys and the left leaning press that loves them.
Western Europe is western Europe.
1) Applying for the terrorists haven formerly (?) held by Libya.
2) Trying to show the terrorist they are their "friends", so don't attack us.
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