Free Republic

Italy probes possible CIA role in abduction By John Crewdson (Chicago) Tribune senior correspondent An Italian prosecutor investigating the apparent kidnapping of a suspected Islamic militant in the streets of Milan served military authorities this week with a demand for records of flights into and out of a joint U.S.-Italian air base in northern Italy. Italian newspapers have reported that the prosecutor, Armando Spataro, is investigating the possible role of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the disappearance of Osama Nasr Mostafa Hassan, better known as Abu Omar, a popular figure in Milan's Islamic community who vanished Feb. 17, 2003....

Politicians and human rights groups want to go on board US-registered planes that are believed to be carrying terror suspects when they land in Norway for refueling. Planes believed to be chartered by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have landed at the Sola Airport outside Stavanger as many as 15 times since 2003, reports local newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad. It's also believed that the planes, officially owned by Aviation Specialties Inc of the US, have landed for refueling at airports in Bergen and Evenes as well. A report to the European Parliament in 2006 claimed that Aviation Specialties is a...

Today's Washington Post page-one round-up disclosing a little new and summarizing a lot of previously reported "highly classified" national security information is by Dana Priest: "Covert CIA program withstands new furor." Here are the article's opening paragraphs: The effort President Bush authorized shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, to fight al Qaeda has grown into the largest CIA covert action program since the height of the Cold War, expanding in size and ambition despite a growing outcry at home and abroad over its clandestine tactics, according to former and current intelligence officials and congressional and administration sources. The broad-based effort, known...

Tanker Aircraft That Crashed Near Walker was Former CIA Plane A federal investigator has revealed that some maintenance records for a C-130A firefighting aircraft that broke up in mid-air near Walker are missing, apparently because the plane flew spy missions for the CIA. George Petterson of the National Transportation Safety Board told The Associated Press the plane was used for a time as an electronic surveillance aircraft for the Central Intelligence Agency. Maintenance records from that period are unavailable. As a result, NTSB investigators cannot determine the flight history of the four-engine aircraft. The aircraft was used in fighting...