Reuters: CIA sounded-out Italy about "renditions" in 2001

[Eugene]

CIA sounded-out Italy about "renditions" in 2001

By Phil Stewart

17 minutes ago

ROME (Reuters) - The CIA spoke with Italy's spy chief about kidnapping terrorism suspects
in Italy and flying them abroad days after the September 11 attacks, according to testimony
being used to prosecute U.S. and Italian agents.

A former Italian intelligence chief's testimony obtained by Reuters records this conversation
taking place about 16 months before prosecutors say the CIA grabbed a radical Muslim cleric
in Milan and flew him to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

A Milan judge is expected to decide on Friday whether to indict 26 Americans, most of them
believed to be CIA agents, and six Italians for kidnapping. Washington and Rome have never
acknowledged any role in the affair.

"(The CIA station chief in Rome) asked my opinion, 'What do you think' about the hypothesis
of carrying out the strategy of so-called renditions," Gianfranco Battelli, head of military
intelligence agency SISMI back in 2001, told prosecutors.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070215/ts_nm/italy_usa_kidnap_dc

[Judi Lynn]

1. Italian Judge Set to Rule If CIA-Kidnapping Case Goes to Trial

Italian Judge Set to Rule If CIA-Kidnapping Case Goes to Trial

By Anthony DiPaola and Gregory Viscusi

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- An Italian judge may decide today if U.S. and Italian intelligence agents must stand trial for abducting an Egyptian cleric in 2003, potentially setting up the first public trial over the U.S. policy of so-called ``extraordinary rendition.''

Judge Caterina Interlandi may indict 25 alleged Central Intelligence Agency agents, including former Milan station chief Robert Lady, as well as Italy's former intelligence chief Nicolo Pollari and his deputy, Marco Mancini. Interlandi, who presided over 5 hearings starting last month, may announce the decision around midday, lawyers say.

``The case will most likely go to trial,'' said Arianna Barbazza, a court-appointed attorney representing 13 of the alleged CIA operatives.

Prosecutors in Milan say CIA and Italian agents kidnapped Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr in February 2003 and flew him to Egypt, where he was tortured during questioning about alleged terrorist links. Human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, say U.S. forces have captured about 70,000 people both in combat and through renditions in the past five years and that many have been tortured in prisons outside the U.S.
(snip/...)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aQkcyekZCIYo&refer=us

[Doondoo]

2. KOOL, shrub knows how to PLAN his torture parties!