AP: Italian Judge Orders Arrest Of 13 CIA Agents

Click on the title for a link to an AP article about the Italian judge that has ordered the arrests of 13 CIA agents, for whisking away a Muslim cleric that had stationed his base of operation, in Italy.

It seems a bit ironic that activist, ultra-left wing, anti-American judges don't just live in California and Taxachusetts. It comforts me to know that we don't have them all within the confines of this nation. I would feel so guilty.

The 13 are accused of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt, where he reportedly was tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale said in a statement.

I guess he had his Cheetos taken away.

Corriere said Italian police picked up details, including cover names, photos, credit card information and U.S. addresses the agents gave to five-star hotels in Milan around the time of Nasr's alleged abduction. It said investigators also found the prepaid highway passes the agents used for the journey from Milan to the air base.

The report said investigations showed the agents incurred $144,984 in hotel bills in Milan, and that two pairs of agents took holidays in northern Italy after delivering Nasr to Aviano.

We can't fool these people, can we?

Now, correct me if I am wrong. If I am a spy for the CIA that supposedly wants to kidnap a person of high interest and turn him over to another government, would I be inclined to use my real name?

But they think they are onto something, so let them practice playing law enforcement. Practice makes perfect, you know.

Italian-U.S. relations were strained after American soldiers killed an Italian intelligence agent near Baghdad airport in March. He was escorting a kidnapped Italian journalist after he had secured her release from Iraqi captors.

Now the truth comes out. The Italians are brown-bagging resentment. They are hurt and they are purposely lashing out as means of getting our attention. They desperately want to make a statement and hurt our feelings back. I feel so bad for them and their pain.

Hey, knock, knock! It was an accident, we are sorry. You have to get past this and move on. You can't keep beating a dead horse.

Germano Dottori, a political analyst at the Center for Strategic Studies in Rome, said it is not unusual for intelligence agencies to have squabbles with allied countries but that he could not recall prosecutors directly involved in investigating or apprehending agents involved.

"At some point the Americans will begin to think they can't trust the Italians," Dottori said.

At some point? It's beginning to look like that point is already here. I mean here we have a tit for tat game, similar to the old games we played with the Soviet Union. Remember when we would expel some of their spies and they would follow by expelling some of ours, a couple of days later?