Come get 'em
Don't send the Italian Keystone cops --
I think I can hear Porter Goss laughing from here in my office (about 6 miles away from Langley).
22 Agents? Maybe they are using a broad brush?
You know, if they'd stop letting these guys go, it would make it much more difficult for them to talk to the press.
Not to quibble, but almost everything a spy does is illegal. Thats one of several reasons you maintain a spy agency, to do things that are illegal. You give them fake names, fake ID, fake jobs, and you whisk them in and out as you need to.
If they get caught, they may have to do some time, or you may just have to pay a judge and get them off. Or remind the judge that you've got those photos he doesn't want published, and away you go.
If its legal, you have your diplomats do it. If its illegal, you have those other guys do it.
Solution: Declare 25 EU diplomats persona non grata and kick their sorry EU behinds out of the U.S.
Rinse and repeat until the other EU countries tell Italy to back off.
Let me guess, he was denied access to current affairs via "Reuters".
Oh, the humanity!
One thing you have to remember about Milan is that it is almost entirely governed by Communists.
Italy has been a great friend of the United States, but this EU/PC business is going to fray the knots that bind.
Spying just isn't the respected profession it once was during the cold war.
This is very strange. This was a story back in June. The judge issued Italian warrants and then EU warrants. This is not new.
What I suspect is that they merely reapplied the existing warrants for the sixth month mark and tried to make it look like a new story.
I suspect Reuters and the prosecutor collaborated on this, it is not new at all. Do a search on Italy and CIA and warrants; same stuff in June.
By Emilio Parodi
Fri Dec 23, 9:39 AM ET
MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.
The case is one of several investigations into whether U.S. intelligence agents used Europe to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation. The renditions have led to tensions between Washington and the European Union.
Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.
Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.
A EU warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require the approval of any government.
The warrant was agreed by the European Union in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and was hailed as a key part of the bloc's fight against terrorism.
Under the agreement, any EU member state can ask another to hand over a suspect and in most cases, the other state will have to comply.
Spataro told Reuters he had also asked Interpol to try to detain the agents anywhere in the world.
The U.S. embassy in Rome was not immediately available for comment and telephone calls seeking comment from the White House, Justice Department, Central Intelligence Agency and State Department were not immediately returned.
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Earlier this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not believe CIA agents had kidnapped Nasr, but added governments would not defeat terrorism by playing by the rules.
Justice officials believe Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is still in custody in Egypt. Italian investigators have accused him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq, and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.
Before his disappearance, investigators had closely monitored Nasr, hoping phone conversations would provide clues about planned militant attacks in Europe. But their probe was cut short when the imam vanished on February 17, 2003.
Court documents show the CIA agents accused of kidnapping Nasr on that day left ample documentation of their stay in Italy. Many of them presented frequent-client cards when they registered at hotels and prosecutors have one of the agent's United Airlines frequent flyer number.
About a year after he vanished, Nasr was able to make two telephone calls -- to his wife, Ghali Nabila, and to a religious leader in Milan named Mohamed Reda, the document said.
Nasr said in the calls he had been sent to Alexandria in Egypt and had been tortured with electric shock and exposure to extreme noise and temperatures. He was allegedly re-arrested by the Egyptians for recounting the ordeal.
Details about the renditions are emerging at a time when the United States also faces allegations that the CIA has run secret prisons in Europe and elsewhere.
German citizen Khaled el-Masri says he was abducted in Macedonia in 2003 and flown to Afghanistan by U.S. officials. He is now suing the CIA for wrongful imprisonment.
So the CIA went to Italy and took a bad guy back to his own country of origin and they objected?
Then they worry that a possible terrorist is being tortured in his own country (though there is no proof).
See, this is where there needs to be an international McCain bill of rights for all terrorists so they can kill without the threat of torture! EGADS!!!!!