It’s getting thornier for CIA agents overseas due to some countries prosecuting us for some of the techniques being employed in the war on terror — and this must-read article from Italy’s Corriere Della Sera carried on the great site Watching America is truly dramatic. A small part:
The date is January 14, 2003. A man with a long beard wearing a light-colored djellaba [a long loose garment with long sleeves and a hood ] is walking in the street next to the pavement. The man is Abu Omar, a Muslim fundamentalist and former imam of a mosque on Milan’s Via Quaranta [Quaranta St.], and is suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. The Egyptian doesn’t realize that he is being tailed by a CIA unit. Agents photographed him outside a medical centre, at precisely the spot where he would be abducted by another CIA unit on February 17.
The photograph, crucial to investigators, was found by DIGOS [Italy’s political crime unit] special branch investigators on the computer used by Robert Seldon Lady, the CIA’s Milan station chief until 2003, and now accused by legal officials of organizing Abu Omar’s abduction. The image had been deleted from the computer’s memory, but using techniques employed in the struggle against terrorism, police have recovered it, adding another piece to the puzzle of the investigation, which is coordinated by Deputy Public Prosecutor Armando Spataro.
Italy has now issued European warrants for the arrest of 22 CIA agents allegedly involved in this operation. Go to the site to see the recovered photograph and read the rest of the article. Compelling reading.
The issue of “renditions” is again a thorny one. Some will argue it’s outrageous. Others will argue that it’s a necessity in the war on terror, given the stakes. There will be black-and-white views on each end of the spectrum, but there are some meaty issues involved. A non-emotional debate (where the issues would be discussed sans hurling name-calling political adjectives by each side) would find some conflicts between traditional morality, geopolitical realities, perceived traditional American values, long range strategical interests and national security considerations.
This article, with its picture, draws the issue into focus for people on both sides.