CIA fingered for kidnapping in Italy

The latest blow to the Bush administration’s “war on terror” came from an unexpected source: a judge in Italy, a key European ally of the U.S. war on Iraq.

On June 24, Judge Chiara Nobili issued a warrant for the arrest of 13 CIA operatives in Italy in connection to the kidnapping of Islamic cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. Nasr, an Egyptian national living as a political refugee in Milan, was “disappeared” by U.S. agents on Feb. 17, 2003, in blatant violation of Italian sovereignty.

Accused of recruiting fighters against the Iraq occupation, Nasr was flown to Egypt, where he was reportedly tortured. He was released in 2004 for medical treatment, then rearrested, and hasn’t been heard from since. (Reuters, June 24)

Opposition politicians in Italy are calling for a full investigation into the tactic known as “extraordinary rendition,” in which suspects are seized outside U.S. borders and taken to third countries where they can be more easily tortured. They also want to know if the right-wing government of Prime Minister Silvio Ber lusconi was involved. (The Inde pen dent, June 27)

Further warrants may be forthcoming against senior military officers at the U.S. air base in Aviano, where Nasr was held before being flown out of Italy.

But George W. Bush was already in the hot seat when word of the Italian arrest warrants leaked.

During a June 24 Washington photo-op with Ibrahim al-Jaafari, prime minister of the U.S.-dominated regime in Iraq, Bush again had to defend his refusal to present a timetable for a withdrawal of U.S. troops. He claimed he was “not giving up on the mission.” (New York Times, June 25)

Bush plans a prime-time televised speech from Ft. Bragg, N.C., June 28 to press his case. But while he could count on al-Jaafari to faithfully echo his sentiments, few others will.

Recent polls show a record high 60 percent of U.S. respondents opposed to continuing the Iraq occupation. Military recruitment is falling precipitously despite a media blitz aimed at young people. The occupation is in such crisis that an “Out of Iraq” legislative caucus has finally appeared in Congress, where until now only a handful of Democrats have opposed the war.

And inside Iraq, armed resistance fighters, backed by massive popular support, are daily showing that the U.S. occupiers cannot win.

Police station surrounded

On June 20, resistance forces mounted a daring early-morning assault on Bagh dad’s biggest police station, using mortars, rocket launchers, grenades, gunfire, and finally car bombs, surrounding the station with 80 cops inside. At least four police were killed.

A nearby barracks of the pro-occupation Iraqi military was also hit.

The Pentagon and Iraqi government refused to allow media access to the area for several days while they got their story straight. But no one could miss the true message: the resistance is not only alive, it is growing in size and sophistication, and can strike in the very heart of U.S.-controlled territory.

Rory Carroll, Baghdad correspondent of The Guardian of Britain, wrote on June 24: “The attackers retreated after two hours, leaving dozens dead and captured. But if the objective was to send a message of power and determination, it succeeded.”

Graffiti has spread throughout the Hi al-Elam district reading, “We will be back.”

The resistance stormed another police station in Ramadi June 25, killing 13 police. It simultaneously targeted military collaborators in Samarra, Reuters reported.

How has the Pentagon responded to this militant rejection of its occupation? In the only way it knows how: with more repression.

The military announced that it plans to “expand its prisons across Iraq to hold as many as 16,000 detainees.” (Associated Press, June 27) The prison population at three military complexes—Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Camp Cropper—has nearly doubled in the last year, to more than 10,000.