CIA Kidnapping, Pt. II

--Freedom for Sale,
Pavel Constantin (Romania)

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[continuation ... ]

Would it not be more correct to arrest with police powers after an investigation, and subsequent extradition of the subject for a transparent and correct trial by jury?  Isn't this why there is a United States Department of Justice?

Doing this operation within the parameters of international law would be a slower but surer method of conducting a counter-terror operation, that is, if it is a legitimate operation.

Immunity was conferred upon some members of the snatch-team, "like Col. Joseph L. Romano III, a former Air Force commander who allegedly helped smuggle the kidnapping team onto Aviano Air Base, from which Omar was flown out of Italy," but not for De Sousa.

"Well before her conviction, she lobbied hard for immunity. In May 2008, Jonathan C. Rose, now the chief of the rules support office in the U.S. court system, wrote an angry letter on her behalf to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rose called Rice out for allegedly approving Omar’s rendition at the CIA’s behest. ..."

Curious that Secretary Rice gave State Department approval to execute a kidnapping; can you spell "failed state"?  This should not be State Department function; no one in the U.S. system should be authorized to allow or to conduct criminal activity for any purpose (this includes President Obama's kill lists.) The CIA told De Sousa in '08 that “intelligence activities are not covered by diplomatic immunity.”  If Col. Romano was military operating with the CIA, how then did he invoke diplomatic immunity?

"[De Sousa] is fully aware that some in the Foreign Service believe she is unwilling to deal with the natural perils of their profession. With a mother in India and sisters in Germany and Canada, she says she never would have taken on any assignment that could have jeopardized her ability to travel freely. Her critics, she says, cannot understand what it’s like for an immigrant to be stuck in the United States and barred from visiting family abroad"

Criminal behavior is not a natural peril of intel service.  The U.S. is not Nazi Germany or the Stasi or Bulgarian assassins. How does De Sousa claim to be "stuck in the U.S."?  Apparently the irony of her participation in the deprivation of a man's liberty is lost upon her.  Such a mama's girl for someone willing to aid in a man's kidnapping and certain torture.

Criminal behavior is criminal, even for U.S. diplomats and intel functionaries.

A Faceless Man

In war, as it is waged now, 
with the enormous losses on both sides,
both sides will lose.
It is a form of mutual suicide 
--General Douglas MacArthur 

Who is strong? 
One who turns an enemy 
into a friend  
--Avot de Rabbi Natan 
_______________________ 

The first court case successfully challenging the U.S. practice of rendition ended in September '12 with an Italian supreme court decision upholding the convictions of 23 Americans in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian cleric in Milan. 

Milanese lead prosecutor Armando Spataro said, “It confirms that what happened was incompatible with democracy” (High Court in Italy Backs Convictions for Rendition.)  The money graph: 

"Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was abducted on Feb. 17, 2003, as he was walking to his mosque. Prosecutors said he had been taken to an American air base in Italy and flown to Germany and then on to Egypt, where Mr. Nasr says he was tortured. He has since been released." 

After all of the money, intelligence and effort expended by the United States, Nasr (Abu Omar) was acquitted by an Egyptian court following his rendition from the country, and he has since been released.  This shows the meaningless nature of kidnapping people based upon hearsay or the American fear of terrorism.  How many people like Nasr have been wrongfully kidnapped, both in our peak terrorism years and now? 

"Wrongfully kidnapped" ... Ranger is woefully bemused by his neologism.  Putting aside legal concerns, it is foolhardy to train agents on their prey while allowing them to ignore standards of democratic action.  Kidnapping is not the hallmark of a great nation, nor is assassination.  A nation may not claim to be democratic if it may kill a person who cannot be proven guilty in a court of law. 

Nasr may not be lily white, but if he is guilty of a crime, then the American way is to bring him to trial.  Since when did it become legal protocol to kidnap and incarcerate a suspect, just because the authorities feel they do not have enough evidence to detain and try? Resorting to such extra legal tactics suggests moral bankruptcy and the strategic impotence of U.S. doctrine.  Does the Central Intelligence Agency have adult leadership, and does anyone in the ntaional Command Authority think beyond his nose?

How many people has the United States killed with cruise missiles who ought not have been, just as this man should not have been kidnapped.