Italy Indicts 26 Suspected CIA Agents for "Extraordinary Rendition" Operation

Interview with Mel Goodman, former CIA analyst and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, conducted by Scott Harris

On Feb. 16, an Italian judge ordered 26 Americans, believed to be CIA operatives, and 7 Italians to stand trial for the February 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian Muslim cleric, Osama Mustafa Hassan. The abductee says he was seized by the CIA in Milan and flown to Egypt, where he was tortured for the past four years. Hassan was released from detention on Feb. 11.

The trial in Italy will be the first judicial examination of the Bush administration's extraordinary rendition program. The controversial covert operation has employed the CIA to seize an unknown number of people around the world suspected of involvement in terrorist activities and secretly transferred them to prisons in nation's with abysmal human rights records. Many of those who were kidnapped, and later released, report they had undergone abuse and torture.

Although the U.S. is unlikely to extradite the CIA agents to stand trial in Italy, many legal observers believe that the Italian proceeding will persuade prosecutors in other European nations to take legal action in similar cases. A German court has recently issued warrants for the arrest of 13 people allegedly involved in the kidnapping of a German citizen. The European Parliament voted to accept a resolution condemning EU member states that cooperated with over 1,200 secret CIA rendition flights. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Mel Goodman, a former CIA analyst who is now a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. Goodman examines the significance of the coming Italian trial and the consequences for U.S.-European relations.

Contact the Center for International Policy by calling (202) 232-3317 or visit their website at: www.ciponline.org. Goodman's book, "Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neo-Conservatives are Putting the World at Risk," is published by Prometheus.

Related links:

"Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial,"BBC, Feb. 16, 2007

Center for International Policy's National Security webpage at: www.ciponline.org/nationalsecurity

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