European Rights Court Condemns Lithuania, Romania Over Secret CIA Prisons

Daily Mail: Human rights of two al-Qaeda suspects tortured by the CIA were 'violated' by Lithuania and Romania for allowing the 'black sites' in their countries, European court rules

* Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri captured after September 11 attack
* They were sent to black sites in Romania and Lithuania between 2004 and 2006
* CIA subjected them to 'enhanced interrogation' including waterboarding
* European Court of Human Rights ruled both countries violated European law
* They were admonished by the court and ordered to pay each man €100,000

Romania and Lithuania violated EU anti-torture rules by allowing the CIA to interrogate terror suspects at secret black sites, a court ruled.

Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were captured after the September 11 attacks and sent to the sites for 'enhanced interrogation' in 2004-06.

There they suffered 'inhuman treatment' and 'an extremely harsh detention regime', the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday.

Read more ....

More News On The EU Rights Court Condemning Lithuania And Romania Over Secret CIA Prisons

Romania and Lithuania knowingly hosted secret CIA jails, European court rules -- Reuters
European court: Romania, Lithuania hosted CIA secret jails -- AP
Lithuania, Romania complicit in secret CIA prisons: European court -- AFP
Lithuania, Romania aided CIA torture by hosting secret detention sites, court rules -- DW
Lithuania and Romania complicit in CIA torture - European court -- BBC
Lithuania and Romania Complicit in C.I.A. Renditions, European Court Says -- The New York Times
European rights court condemns Lithuania, Romania over secret CIA prisons -- Expatica France

More Details Emerge On CIA Black Sites

The Guardian: Inside The CIA's Black Site Torture Room

There were twenty cells inside the prison, each a stand-alone concrete box. In sixteen, prisoners were shackled to a metal ring in the wall. In four, designed for sleep deprivation, they stood chained by the wrists to an overhead bar. Those in the regular cells had a plastic bucket; those in sleep deprivation wore diapers. When diapers weren’t available, guards crafted substitutes with duct tape, or prisoners were chained naked in their cells. The cellblock was unheated, pitch black day and night, with music blaring around the clock.

“The atmosphere was very good,” John “Bruce” Jessen told a CIA investigator in January 2003, two months after he interrogated a prisoner named Gul Rahman in the facility. “Nasty, but safe.”

Jessen, one of the two contract psychologists who designed the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques”, spent 10 days in the secret prison near Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2002. Five days after he left, Rahman, naked from the waist down and shackled to the cold concrete floor, was discovered dead in his cell from hypothermia.

In August, Gul Rahman’s family and Mohamed Ben Soud and Suleiman Abdullah Salim, two surviving prisoners of the Afghan black site, reached an out-of-court settlement in their lawsuit against Jessen and James Mitchell seeking restitution for torture.

Read more .....

WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction .... even though these CIA black sites closed years ago .... the debate and discussion on what happened during this time will still continue.

This Ex-CIA Officer Says Hillary Clinton Is Partially To Blame On Why She Is Going To Prison

Katie Engelhart and Jason Leopold, VICE News: Ex-CIA Officer Facing Imprisonment Says Hillary Clinton Is Partially to Blame

A former CIA counterterrorism officer who is set to be extradited to Italy where she faces a four-year prison sentence in connection with the rendition of a suspected terrorist that took place in Milan in 2003 said Hillary Clinton is partially to blame for her ordeal.

Sabrina De Sousa, two-dozen other CIA officers, and an Air Force colonel were convicted in absentia in 2009 in Italy on kidnapping and other charges in connection with the abduction of Osama Mustapha Hassan Nasr, better known as Abu Omar, a radical Egyptian cleric whose fiery anti-American speeches in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 attracted the attention of the CIA. It was the first and only prosecution and conviction involving Americans connected to the CIA's highly controversial rendition, detention, and interrogation program and the fallout has ensnared two administrations.

Read more ....

Previous Post: Ex-CIA Agent Loses Court Case In Portugal, Will Be Extradited To Italy Over US Rendition Case

WNU Editor: This is one very unhappy CIA agent who feels betrayed by her own government. If she does go to jail .... which looks like the case right now .... she will be the first CIA officer to go to jail for this rendition program, and she will also be the first U.S. diplomat to go to jail for this program .... a program that was authorised by a U.S. President and supported by Congress.

Ex-CIA Agent Loses Court Case In Portugal, Will Be Extradited To Italy Over US Rendition Case

Daily Mail: Ex-CIA agent who helped kidnap a terror suspect on foreign soil will be extradited to Italy for her part in America's secretive 'extraordinary renditions' program

* Sabrina de Sousa was implicated in the 2003 kidnapping of an Italian imam
* He was allegedly raped and tortured before being acquitted and released
* She was arrested in Portugal and now faces four years in an Italian prison
* De Sousa denies any involvement in the affair, which scandalized Italy
* She's appealing to the Italian President and the Pope for clemency
* It isn't known when she will be deported

A former CIA agent is to be extradited from Portugal to Italy to serve a prison sentence for her part in the U.S. extraordinary renditions program after the Portuguese Constitutional Court rejected her final appeal.

Sabrina de Sousa said Wednesday she is waiting to be told when she will be taken to Italy, where she was convicted in absentia and has a four-year sentence to serve.

Since her October arrest in Lisbon, Portugal, on a European arrest warrant, De Sousa has lost her fight at a lower Lisbon court and her appeal of that decision to the Portuguese Supreme Court.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The above video is from 7 months ago.

More News On An Ex-CIA Agent Losing Her Court Case In Portugal, And Will Be Extradited To Italy Over A Past US Rendition Case

Ex-CIA agent loses fight against extradition to Italy -- AP
Ex-CIA agent appeal fails, faces extradition to Italy -- Reuters
Former CIA officer faces extradition to Italy for Bush-era efforts -- The Hill
CIA agent expects to be extradited to Italy -- BBC
Ex-CIA officer faces extradition to Italy after final appeal rejected -- The Guardian
Ex-CIA officer loses extradition fight to Italy over kidnap operation -- USA Today

A U.S. Antiterror Spy has Been Left Out In The Cold

Robert Seldon Lady: The Antiterror Spy Left Out In The Cold -- Wall Street Journal

Caught up in a terrorist rendition debacle, Robert Lady is wanted in Italy, lost his house and marriage, and says he has been abandoned by the CIA.

When the anniversary of 9/11 came around this year, Robert Seldon Lady was moving between low-end hotels around Miami. An international arrest warrant keeps him from returning to his home in Panama. He says he's flirting with personal bankruptcy, fears for his life, and is "getting pretty desperate." His marriage is broken. He blames this hard luck on his former employer, the Central Intelligence Agency.

A decade ago, Mr. Lady served on the front lines of America's antiterror efforts after 9/11, heading up the agency's base in Milan. In the 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush credited him and his colleagues, albeit not by name, for dismantling several al Qaeda cells in that Italian city. "We've got the terrorists on the run," Mr. Bush said. "We're keeping them on the run." Mr. Lady's Italian stint capped a near quarter-century covert CIA career in Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Read more ....

My Comment: After 24 years of service you would think that someone in the CIA would answer his phone calls .... but it is clear that he is now 'persona grata' in the Agency.

Ex-CIA Officer Wanted In Italy For Kidnapping Claims That The Prosecution Was To Shield Higher-Ups

U.S. Allowed Italian Kidnap Prosecution To Shield Higher-Ups, Ex-CIA Officer Says -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from responsibility for approving the operation.

Confirming for the first time that she worked undercover for the CIA in Milan when the operation took place, Sabrina De Sousa provided new details about the “extraordinary rendition” that led to the only criminal prosecution stemming from the secret Bush administration rendition and detention program launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Read more ....

Update #1: Ex-CIA whistleblower claims US shielded higher-ups -- Digital Journal
Update #2: Former CIA Officer & Whistleblower Sabrina De Sousa & the ‘Proper Channels’ Myth -- Fire Dog Lake

My Comment: It appears that this is a major intelligence failure .... and Sabrina De Sousa is clearly frustrated that this case is going nowhere. What's my take .... I sympathize with her because she did her duty but she must now be careful for the rest of her life if she should travel abroad.

Is The CIA Rendition Program Still Active?

A man believed to be Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in a still from a 2002 video. (Reuters)

Bin Laden Son-In-Law Says He Was Victim Of U.S. 'Rendition' -- Reuters

(Reuters) - A former spokesman for al Qaeda says he was the subject of an extrajudicial transfer to U.S. custody via three Middle Eastern countries this year, an allegation that suggests President Barack Obama's administration is still carrying out controversial "rendition" operations.

Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a close associate and son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was victim of "an absolute rendition ... an extrajudicial rendition," said Stanley Cohen, a New York lawyer who is representing Abu Ghaith.

The Kuwaiti cleric has pleaded not guilty in Federal Court in Manhattan to charges of conspiring to kill Americans.

The use of "rendition" was a counterterrorism tactic begun under President George W. Bush when suspected al Qaeda figures were grabbed by CIA teams around the world and transferred without judicial process to third countries or to secret prisons that the U.S. spy agency maintained overseas.

Read more ....

Update #1: Ex-bin Laden spokesman: U.S. tortured me on plane -- USA Today/AP
Update #2: Bin Laden son-in-law accuses U.S. of torture, collusion with Iran -- Al Arabiya/AFP

My Comment: I am deeply skeptical that the rendition program is still operating for the simple reason that it would be next to impossible to keep it secret for this long. Someone would have talked and/or leak such an operation a long time ago. But what is believable is Bin Laden's son-in-law being angry that he has been captured .... a prospect that I suspect he never thought would happen to him.

US Rendition: Every Suspected CIA Flight Mapped

New Light Shed On US Government's Extraordinary Rendition Programme -- The Guardian

Online project uncovers details of way in which CIA carried out kidnaps and secret detentions following September 11 attacks

A groundbreaking research project has mapped the US government's global kidnap and secret detention programme, shedding unprecedented light on one of the most controversial secret operations of recent years.

The interactive online project – by two British universities and a legal charity – has uncovered new details of the way in which the so-called extraordinary rendition programme operated for years in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and the techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to avoid detection in the face of growing public concern.

The Rendition Project website is intended to serve as a research tool that not only collates all the publicly available data about the programme, but can continue to be updated as further information comes to light.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The Rendition Project website is here.

At Least 54 Countries 'Offered Covert Support' For The CIA's Rendition Program

CIA Rendition: More Than A Quarter Of Countries 'Offered Covert Support' -- The Guardian

Report finds at least 54 countries co-operated with global kidnap, detention and torture operation mounted after 9/11 attacks.

The full extent of the CIA's extraordinary rendition programme has been laid bare with the publication of a report showing there is evidence that more than a quarter of the world's governments covertly offered support.

A 213-page report compiled by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), a New York-based human rights organisation, says that at least 54 countries co-operated with the global kidnap, detention and torture operation that was mounted after 9/11, many of them in Europe.

Read more ....

More News On The Open Society Justice Initiative's Report On The CIA's Rendition Program

Report Says 54 Countries Helped C.I.A. After 9/11 -- New York Times
Report pulls back veil on CIA's rendition program -- NBC
REPORT: More Than A Quarter Of The World Was Complicit In The CIA's Extraordinary Rendition And Torture Program -- Business Insider
Study finds 54 countries complicit in post 9/11 torture -- Times of Israel
54 countries helped CIA to kidnap, detain and torture – report -- RT
More Than 50 Countries Helped the CIA Outsource Torture -- Danger Room
Report: 54 countries supported CIA rendition -- Salon
America's gulag: Syrian regime was a 'common destination' for CIA rendition -- Al Bawaba
Extraordinary Rendition Report Finds More Than 50 Nations Involved In Global Torture Scheme -- Huffington Post
The 54 Countries That Helped the CIA Kidnap and Torture Terror Suspects -- The Atlantic

WNU Editor: The Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) report is here.

WNU Editor: The 54 countries that aided in post-9/11 renditions are: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

This list doesn’t preclude the possibility that additional countries’ involvement may emerge.

It Looks Like The CIA Rendition Program Is Alive And Well Under President Obama

Photo: Charged: Mahdi Hashi, 23, from London, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences

Briton, 23, Accused Of Working With Terror Group Secretly Quizzed By CIA For Three Months In African Prison -- Daily Mail

* Mahdi Hashi, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences

A British man controversially stripped of his citizenship last year by the Home Secretary has spent three months being interrogated by US agents in an African prison.

Mahdi Hashi, 23, from London, who vanished last summer in Somalia, turned up in a New York courtroom just before Christmas, charged with terrorism offences.

His sudden appearance in America five months after his family had reported him missing has prompted claims that he is the victim of international kidnap or ‘rendition’.

Read more ....

My Comment: In 2007 then candidate President Obama made the following remark ....

.... In 2007, Obama said in opposition to the practice that renditions and rough interrogations did not "reflect the decency and aspirations of the American people."

I also recall how massive the opposition was to the rendition program. Demonstrations/academia/pundits in the press/most Democrats in Congress/etc. .... they were unanimous in their opposition to the practice of renditions, and made their opinions very clear. But now .... under a different administration .... no one is saying anything.

Is The U.S. Rendition Program Still In Operation?

Photo: Mahdi Hashi is accused of providing support to Al Shabaab

Mahdi Hashi: Lawyer's Question Over 'Rendition' -- BBC

The lawyer for the family of a man whose British citizenship was revoked over allegations of extremism has questioned how he came to appear before a US court.

Mahdi Hashi, 23, of Camden, was stripped of his citizenship in the summer when he went missing in Africa.

He appeared in a New York court on Friday charged with "providing material support" to terrorist group Al Shabaab.

Solicitor Saghir Hussain said the case has "hallmarks of rendition".

The Home Office has refused to comment on the issue saying it was a matter of national security.

Mr Hashi was born in Somalia and moved to London with his family at the age of five. Three years ago he returned to Somalia and got married.

Read more ....

More News On the Rendition Of Mahdi Hashi

Missing Briton 'kidnapped' by FBI and facing life in prison: Family stunned as man stripped of his UK passport appears in New York court -- Daily Mail
Three Men Appear in Court in Mysterious Terror Case -- New York Times
Three charged for support of al Shabaab terrorist organization -- Examiner
Missing British-Somali man reappears in New York court -- Bureau of Investigative Journalism

My Comment: I guess we will have to wait for the trial to get more information.

Verdict On CIA Agents In Rendition Case Upheld In Italy

Italy Upholds Verdict On CIA Agents In Rendition Case -- BBC

Italy's highest appeals court has upheld guilty verdicts on 23 Americans, all but one of them CIA agents, accused of kidnapping a terror suspect.

Their case related to the abduction of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.

The man, known as Abu Omar, was allegedly flown to Egypt and tortured.

The Americans were tried in absentia, in the first trial involving extraordinary rendition, the CIA's practice of transferring suspects to countries where torture is permitted.

The practice has been condemned by human rights groups as a violation of international agreements.

The group of Americans - 22 of whom were CIA agents and one an Air Force pilot - are believed to be living in the US and are unlikely to serve their sentences.

Read more ....

My Comment: I guess these CIA agents are not going to go to Europe for their vacation.

European Nations Are Accused Of Coverup Over CIA Rendition Flights

Rights Groups Accuse European Nations Of Coverup Over CIA Rendition Flights -- Washington Post/AP

LONDON — A majority of 28 mostly European countries have failed to comply with freedom of information requests about their involvement in secret CIA flights carrying suspected terrorists, two human rights groups said Monday.

London-based Reprieve and Madrid-based Access Info Europe accused European nations of covering up their complicity in the so-called “extraordinary rendition” program by failing to release flight-traffic data that could show the paths of the planes.

Read more ....

My Comment: These human groups are not going to get anywhere with their requests for info ... not even close.

The CIA's Secret Thai Prison

Inside The CIA's Secret Thai Prison -- Asia Times

BANGKOK - The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) appears to have used Bangkok's former Don Muang International Airport as a secret prison to torture a suspected Muslim terrorist, the first time a specific location has ever been described within Thailand, according to statements by the Libyan who was allegedly held there.

It was impossible to immediately confirm Abdel Hakim Belhaj's allegations of being "hung", "injected" and refrigerated with "ice" at the airport, but if true it is the first description of any site in Thailand pinpointed by a prisoner held by the CIA.

Read more ....

My Comment: The CIA rendition program involved numerous countries .... I am not surprised by this report.

Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Wants Info On CIA 'Black Sites'

Photo: Thomas Hammarberg, the human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe.

Council Of Europe Demands Truth On CIA 'Black Sites' -- CNN

Paris (CNN) -- The human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe urged countries that have hosted secret CIA prisons to come clean Monday, as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches.

Thomas Hammarberg said Poland, Romania and Lithuania were among at least seven countries that hosted "black sites" for "enhanced interrogation" during the "war on terror."

"Darkness still enshrouds those who authorized and ran the black sites on European territories," he said. "The full truth must now be established and guarantees given that such forms of co-operation will never be repeated."

Read more ....

My Comment: This is going to go nowhere .... especially in the U.S.

Cost Of CIA Rendition Flights Made Public

Gulfstream IV

N.Y. Billing Dispute Reveals Details Of Secret CIA Rendition Flights -- Washington Post

On Aug. 12, 2003, a Gulfstream IV aircraft carrying six passengers took off from Dulles International Airport and flew to Bangkok with fueling stops in Cold Bay, Alaska, and Osaka, Japan.

Before it returned four days later, the plane also touched down in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and Ireland. As these unusual flights happened, U.S. officials took custody of an Indonesian terrorist, Riduan Isamuddin, who had been captured in Thailand and would spend the next three years being shuttled among secret prisons operated by the CIA.

Read more ....

More News On What The CIA's Rendition Flights Cost

US case lifts lid on secret post Sept. 11 flights -- Wall Street Journal
Mundane bills bring CIA's rendition network into sharper focus -- The Guardian
How US firms profited from torture flights -- The Guardian
Court case lifts lid on secret post 9/11 flights -- Kansas City/AP
Court case lifts lid on secret post 9/11 flights -- Daily Caller/AP

My Comment: $339,228.05 for using a Gulfstream IV aircraft for four days .... not cheap if you ask me.

U.S. Court Rules In Favor Of The CIA And Its Practice Of Renditioning Terror Suspects

Court Sides With C.I.A. On Seizure Of Terror Suspects -- New York Times

WASHINGTON – A sharply divided federal appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit involving the Central Intelligence Agency’s practice of seizing terrorism suspects and transferring them to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation. The ruling handed a major victory to the Obama administration in its effort to advance a sweeping view of executive secrecy power.

Read more ....

More News On The US Courts Ruling In Favor Of the CIA And Rendition

9th Circuit throws out CIA torture lawsuit for national security reasons -- L.A. Times
Appeals court lets government halt torture lawsuit -- AP
US court dismisses CIA rendition lawsuit against Boeing unit -- AFP
Ninth Circuit Rules 6-5 to Toss Rendition Case Against Boeing -- Wall Street Journal
9th Circuit Shuts The Door On CIA Torture Cases -- Forbes
CIA rendition: US court throws out torture case, citing state secrets -- Christian Science Monitor
CIA-Rendition Suit Against Boeing Dismissed By Court -- NPR
U.S. appeals court dismisses suit against firm in 'extraordinary rendition' case -- Washington Post
Citing Obama’s State Secrets Privilege, Court Tosses Torture Case -- Threat Level
Boeing subsidiary wins appeal over CIA flights -- Reuters
Ninth Circuit: Feds can use “state secrets privilege” to block lawsuits over terrorist renditions -- Hot Air

Britain Had It's Own Secret Rendition Program

Uncovered: Britain's Secret Rendition Programme -- The Independent

Until now, this country has been guilty only by association in the illegal transfer of prisoners. But the covert rendition of a Moroccan man by MI5 agents suggests that the practice was central to Britain's 'war on terror'.

MI5 was directly involved in the rendition of a Moroccan national, illegally taken from a Belgian prison to work for Britain's Security Services in London, an investigation by The Independent has discovered.

The man, now aged 29 and who cannot be named for his own safety, was secretly transferred from a Brussels jail in April 2004 and then further held and interrogated by senior MI5 officers at a secret base near London.

Read more ....

My Comment: This is only one case, but one wonders if there are more cases that are waiting to be exposed.

Did CIA Operatives Used Fake British Passports

One source in the Spanish prosecutor?s office says that passports used in an American 'extraordinary rendition' were fake British ones Photo: ALAMY

Fake British Passports 'Used By CIA' In Terror Abductions - Claim -- The Telegraph

The Foreign Office is investigating claims that CIA operatives used fake British passports to carry out the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects in Europe.

The allegations were made by a senior source close to a Spanish inquiry into the role of the US security services in the alleged abduction and torture of a terror suspect, who was taken on a secret flight to a military base in Afghanistan.

The Spanish authorities are considering issuing arrest warrants for 13 CIA agents over the rendition of Jaled el Masri, a Syrian-born suspect who was taken from Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, to Afghanistan where he was allegedly tortured.

Read more ....

My Comment: I can understand why Israel would want to use fake passports when entering Arab nations that are hostile to Israel .... but U.S. nationals using fake British passports in U.S. friendly Europe .... hmmmm .... something does not compute.

CIA Agents Convicted For Renditions In Italy

Judge Oscar Magi convicted 23 Americans of kidnapping in the 2003 abduction of a Muslim cleric on Wednesday in Milan. Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions -- New York Times

MILAN — In a landmark ruling on Wednesday, an Italian judge convicted a C.I.A. station chief and 22 other Americans accused of being C.I.A. agents of kidnapping in the 2003 abduction of a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan.

An enormous symbolic victory for Italian prosecutors, the case was the first ever to contest the United States practice of rendition, in which terrorism suspects are captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, presumably one more open to coercive interrogation techniques. The case was widely seen as an implicit indictment of the measures the Bush administration relied on to fight terrorism.

Read more ....

More News On These CIA Convictions

Italian Judge Convicts 23 in CIA Kidnap Case -- Voice of America
CIA agents guilty of Italy kidnap -- BBC
Italy convicts 'U.S. agents' in CIA kidnap trial -- CNN
Judge in Italy convicts 23 Americans in 2003 CIA kidnapping of Egyptian cleric -- L.A. Times
Rendition trial ends with Milan CIA chief given eight years -- The Guardian
Italian court sentences 23 CIA agents over rendition flight -- Times Online
US 'disappointed' at Italy verdict in CIA case -- AFP
US disappointed in Italian verdict on CIA kidnap -- AP
U.S. 'disappointed' over rendition convictions -- Reuters
Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case -- Huffington Post
Italy, the CIA and rendition -- Global Post

My Comment: The problem still sits with the reluctance of many countries in Europe to appreciate the fact that some of their citizens are very dangerous. While the mass majority of Europeans are law abiding citizens, there are some who are not. If the CIA should retrieve evidence that indicates terror connections among some of these targets (for example) in Italy, the blow back from this recent trial will be a reluctance among many in the CIA to work with intelligence agencies from Europe .... Italy included.

Does this make us safe .... no. Does this make countries like Italy safe .... no. Should these CIA agents be punished for exceeding their authority .... if that is the case the answer is yes. But where we are right now is in a no mans land in which what was OK 7 years ago .... it is not OK today. As a CIA officer .... this is the worse position to be in. But unfortunately .... this is where our politicians want our intelligence agencies to be in.