Reuters: Italian, U.S. agents urge govts to stop CIA trial

[Eugene]

Italian, U.S. agents urge govts to stop CIA trial

By Phil Stewart
Reuters
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; 7:17 AM

MILAN (Reuters) - U.S. and Italian spies urged their governments on Tuesday to prevent
them going on trial over the 2003 kidnapping of a terrorism suspect, as an Italian judge
began hearing arguments on whether to indict them.

Judge Caterina Interlandi must decide if there is enough evidence for a trial. If so,
it would be the first criminal procedure over renditions, one of the most controversial
aspects of the U.S. global "war on terrorism."

-snip-

The suspects include 26 Americans, most believed to be CIA agents, and six Italians.
None of the suspects attended Tuesday's closed-door courtroom hearing, lawyers said.

-snip-

Lawyers for two key suspects said their clients wanted Washington and Rome to resolve
the matter.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010900337.html

[leesa]

1. Please bring it to trial, Ms Judge.

[luckyleftyme2]

2. WE CAN NOT BE ABOVE THE LAW

TO IGNORE THE LAW IS TO BE A LAWLESS NATION. IS THIS NOT WHAT MOST OF THE WORLD THINKS OF US NOW?

[Peace Patriot]

3. This MUST go to trial! This case is a Pandora's Box that may reveal much more

than the secret torture dungeons, secret "renditions" and the Bush Junta's out-of-control sadism. It may be the lid that needs opening on WHY the Bush Junta needs to torture, hide, detain and 'disappear' prisoners. (My guess: They are targeting witnesses to their other crimes, potential whistleblowers, former assets, people who know things about them--perhaps connected to Bushite arms dealings, funding of "terrorists," controlling "terrorist" networks, and other monumental scandals--and they are using random "terrorist" roundups as the cover.) (You think they're torturing people to "keep America safe"? I don't.)

Also, Rome is where the Niger/Iraq nuke forgeries were likely hatched--way back in 2001, at a meeting of Pentagon-payroll NeoCons Michael Ladeen and others, notorious Iran-Contra arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, and the head of Italian intelligence. The connection of the Italian intelligence agency to the origins of the war needs to be explored and exposed, especially regarding the lies that Bush and Blair were telling, but also possibly involving something worse than concocted evidence of WMDs--that is, a plot to PLANT nukes in Iraq, that went awry, or was foiled, and that may have resulted in the deaths of our counter-proliferation agents and contacts (the Valerie Plame and Brewster-Jennings outings), and the death of David Kelly in England (four days after Plame was outed). (Kelly--one of the Brits' chief WMD experts--was whistleblowing about the "sexed up" prewar intel to the BBC, was interrogated at a "safe house" in early July, and was found dead under highly suspicious circumstances, four days after Robert Novak outed Valerie Plame. Kelly's offices and computers were searched, and, four days later, Novak ADDITIONALLY outed the entire CIA Brewster-Jennings counter-proliferation network, putting all of its covert agents/contacts at risk of getting killed, and disabling all projects. One result of this act of treason may be the lack of monitoring of Russian polonium-210, recently in the news.)

Italian intelligence was in the middle of it all--in the planning stages of the war. And now that the Italian voters have put a good leftist government in charge, let's hope that some of the skeletons are dragged out of the closet, so that we can begin to get a clearer picture of a number of things--among them, why the Bushites destroyed our counter-proliferation network (I mean, why really), and the full story on Rumsfeld's "cooking" of intelligence, why our Bushite-purged intelligence agencies have been messing up other countries' "terrorist" investigations, and what the torture and "rendition" are really all about

[Eugene]

4. AP: Italian Lawyer in CIA Case Withdraws

Italian Lawyer in CIA Case Withdraws


Tuesday January 9, 2007 2:46 PM

AP Photo NY111

By COLLEEN BARRY

Associated Press Writer

MILAN, Italy (AP) - A lawyer for a CIA agent accused in the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian
cleric in Milan withdrew from the case shortly after a court opened hearings Tuesday on
whether to indict him and 25 other Americans.

-snip-

Shortly after the proceedings began the lawyer for Robert Seldon Lady withdrew from the
case, saying the former CIA station chief did not want to cooperate.

"Robert Seldon Lady says that this case should have had a political solution and not a judicial
solution," lawyer Daria Pesce said. "The Italian government could have decided it was a state
secret - remember, this was a terror suspect. It would have been possible if the Italian
government had had the courage to reach an agreement with the U.S. government."

-snip-

Asked whether Pesce's withdrawal signaled the CIA's attempt to dissociate itself from the case,
prosecutor Armando Spataro, who requested the indictments, said her statements were
reminiscent of an era when terror groups tried to discredit Italian justice.

"I heard the same thing from the Red Brigades during the terror trials in the 1970s," Spataro
said.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6333031,00.html

[Nihil]

6. Ouch!

> prosecutor Armando Spataro, who requested the indictments, said her
> statements were reminiscent of an era when terror groups tried to
> discredit Italian justice.
>
> "I heard the same thing from the Red Brigades during the terror trials
> in the 1970s," Spataro said.

How *dare* she speak the truth when it involves the US Terrorist Corps?

[John Q. Citizen]

5. Who's license to kill is it, anyway? I think Italy is a little bit upset

that it's securiy apparatus appears to be a subsiderary of the US. DOD.

They have a right to be pissed.

[primavera]

7. Glad to see they brought up the sovereignty issue

"Prosecutors say the operation was a breach of Italian sovereignty that compromised their own anti-terrorism efforts."

It always surprises me that there isn't more outcry over the seemingly free movement of US military and security forces across borders. We supposedly have Special Forces now operating in Iran and, given the contemptuous disregard for the rule of law our current administration holds, I'd be surprised if we didn't. But no one seems to notice that sending military forces into another country without that country's express permission and invitation is called "invasion" and it violates the most basic, foundational principles of international law.