June 27, 2005
DID THEY PLUCK HIM FROM GRAN SASSO?:
Italian anger over U.S. terror tactics deepens rift (Stephen Grey and Don Van Natta Jr., JUNE 27, 2005, The New York Times)
The extraordinary decision by an Italian judge to order the arrest of 13 people linked to the CIA on charges of kidnapping a terrorism suspect here dramatizes a growing rift between American counterterrorism officials and their counterparts in Europe.
European counterterrorism officials have pursued a policy of building criminal cases against terrorism suspects through surveillance, wiretaps, detective work and the criminal justice system. The United States, however, has frequently used other means since Sept. 11, 2001, including renditions - abducting terror suspects from foreign countries and transporting them for questioning to third countries, some of which are known to use torture.
The two approaches seem to have collided for an Egyptian cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, or Abu Omar, accused of leading a militant mosque in Milan.
By early 2003, the Italian secret police were aggressively pursuing a criminal terrorism case against Nasr, with the help of American intelligence officials. Italian investigators said they had told the Americans they had strong evidence that he was trying to build a terror recruitment network, possibly aimed for Iraq if the United States went forward with plans to topple Saddam Hussein.
On Feb. 17, 2003, Nasr disappeared.
When the Italians began investigating, they said, they were startled to find evidence that some of the CIA officers who had helped them investigate Nasr were involved in his abduction.
"We do feel quite betrayed that this operation was carried out in our city," a senior Italian investigator said. "We supplied them information about Abu Omar, and then they used that information against us, undermining an entire operation against his terrorist network."
Do the same folks who are funding the insurgency in Iraq expect us to trust them to dispose of militants properly? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 27, 2005 12:00 AM
Comments
Italian criminal justice system is an oxymoron not unlike French excellence or German comedy.
Posted by: bart at June 27, 2005 8:57 AMThe track record of the Italian authorities has not been exactly stellar in this area. When Italian govt sentenced Youssef Magied al-Molqi, the killer of Leon Klinghoffer in the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, they gave him a 12-day furlough and he promptly disappeared. The mastermind of the attack, Abul Abbas was released under cloudy circumstances (never really explained) and he fled the country.
Posted by: Gideon at June 27, 2005 9:03 AM