13 CIA agents wanted in Italy for kidnapping

Fascinating article. I don't know what bothers me more, that they went in and did this all possibly without the knowledge of the Italian government, or that they spent $144k on HOTELS.

The suspects stayed in five-star Milan hotels, including the Hilton, the Sheraton, the Galia and Principe di Savoia, in the week before the operation, at a cost of $144,984, the warrant says, adding that after Mr. Nasr was flown to Egypt, two of the officers took a few days' holiday at five-star hotels in Venice, Tuscany and South Tyrol.

www.theledger.com.../20050625/ZNYT03/506250416

Published Saturday, June 25, 2005

Thirteen With the C.I.A. Sought by Italy in a Kidnapping

By STEPHEN GREY and DON VAN NATTA
New York Times

MILAN, June 24 - An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 officers and operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency on charges that they seized an Egyptian cleric on a Milan street two years ago and flew him to Egypt for questioning, Italian prosecutors and investigators said Friday.

The judge, Chiara Nobili of Milan, signed the arrest warrants on Wednesday for 13 C.I.A. operatives who are suspected of seizing an imam named Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, as he walked to his mosque here for noon prayers on Feb. 17, 2003.

It is unclear what prompted the issuance of the warrants, but Judge Guido Salvini said in May that it was "certain" that Mr. Nasr had been seized by "people belonging to foreign intelligence networks interested in interrogating him and neutralizing him, to then hand him over to Egyptian authorities."

Mr. Nasr, who was under investigation before his disappearance for possible links to Al Qaeda, is still missing, and his family and friends say he was tortured repeatedly by Egyptian jailers.

we were ballsy enough to do this over in italy but in britain when we demanded the arrest of the 7/7 mastermind we failed to take such actions?

makes you wonder