A Victory for Justice

Twenty-three Americans were convicted in Italy for kidnapping an Imam on orders of the CIA. The ruling applies to former President George W. Bush’s administration.

They still have judges in Italy. Six years ago, 23 Americans under contract to the CIA kidnapped a radical Imam in the Italian city of Milan and spirited him away to Egypt where he was then tortured. The sentencing is a victory for justice. The Americans were all sentenced to five years in prison, but the sentence is more symbolic than anything else: there is virtually no chance that any of those sentenced in absentia will ever return to Italy.

The sentence is also a sentence against the government of former President George W. Bush, who sacrificed the rights of Americans in his war on terror and thereby betrayed Western principles. The verdict also demonstrates that Europe isn’t a backyard for America’s security agencies.

Far too often, U.S. security agents took it for granted that they were allowed free rein in friendly countries. The official government kidnapping gang left as many traces in its wake as a herd of elephants. It remains a scandal that the secret CIA prison network in Eastern Europe hasn’t yet been entirely exposed.

Milan Vice-General State Attorney Armando Spataro, who has been relentlessly going after the Mafia and Red Brigades, also showed no fear in turning his investigation towards the mighty in politics. He demanded the kidnappers be extradited and then stuck to his guns. Spataro was also careful not to allow his files to fall into the hands of the Berlusconi government. Barely four years ago, Berlusconi expressed doubt that the accusations resulting from Spatero’s investigations had any merit; he remarked: “You can’t tackle terrorism with a law book in your hand.”

That sort of thinking and behavior is the fertilizer that prepares the ground on which terrorism thrives.