US agents ‘kidnapped militant’ for torture in Egypt

[Tinoire]

February 06, 2005

US agents ‘kidnapped militant’ for torture in Egypt
Stephen Grey, Milan

ITALIAN police are investigating allegations that American intelligence agents kidnapped an Islamic militant in Milan and transported him to Egypt, where he was tortured. Osama Moustafa Nasr, an Egyptian dissident with alleged links to Al-Qaeda, disappeared in Milan on February 16, 2003, after eyewitnesses saw him being approached by three men as he walked to a mosque.

(snip)

Although details of the inquiry remain confidential, the Italians are thought to be investigating claims that Nasr was taken by US intelligence agents to Aviano airbase and flown to Egypt in an American plane.

If confirmed, the case would be one of the most controversial instances of the American policy of “rendition” — sending prisoners for imprisonment and questioning in other countries. Since September 11, 2001, dozens of prisoners have been transferred by America to countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia where interrogation techniques may be harsh.

As The Sunday Times disclosed last November, US agents have repeatedly used civilian executive jets to transport prisoners to the Middle East, including a Gulfstream that was a frequent visitor to British airports. The plane was sold two days after the Sunday Times article appeared.

(snip)

The CIA and other US government departments refuse to discuss rendition publicly, except to insist that all transfers are conducted legally. Privately officials say they have guarantees that prisoners sent to other countries are well treated.

(snip)


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1471913,00.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-1471913-524,00.html

[Robbien]

1. Since we now are officially a nation who tortures, there is no need

to send anyone to other nations. Rendition problem solved.

[brainshrub]

2. My thoughts exactly.

It's so sick to think that we torture people now.

The people who voted for Bush will one day bow their heads in shame for helping this monster get into power.

Oh, by the way, here's a nifty little quote for the lurkers:

"This so-called ill treatment and torture in detention centers, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people, and later by the prisoners who were freed ... were not, as some assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual prison guards, their deputies, and men who laid violent hands on the detainees."

-Rudolf Hoess, the SS commandant at Auschwitz-

[saigon68]

23. SS women in Belsen camp. Source: "The Belsen Trial"

[emad]

3. US agents ¡®kidnapped militant¡¯ for torture in Egypt

Sunday Times
Stephen Grey, Milan



ITALIAN police are investigating allegations that American intelligence agents kidnapped an Islamic militant in Milan and transported him to Egypt, where he was tortured.

Osama Moustafa Nasr, an Egyptian dissident with alleged links to Al-Qaeda, disappeared in Milan on February 16, 2003, after eyewitnesses saw him being approached by three men as he walked to a mosque.

A kidnap inquiry was opened in Italy after Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was temporarily released from custody in Egypt last year and telephoned his wife and friends to tell them what had happened.

He claimed he had been tortured so badly by secret police in Cairo that he had lost hearing in one ear. Italian officers who intercepted the call believe he has since been rearrested.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1471913,00.html

[oecher3]

4. bravo...

..the agents probably used their "finest" tactics of interrogations, they had learned and improved from the 1930s German Gestapo agents and the Stalinist KGB forces!
This is all okay in the name of war against terror, according to the Reqs. Sad! Maybe I am too soft, but what ever happened to international recognized human rights? Is that why the US won't accept the international criminal court in Den Haag? How dare we go in front of China's leaders again and call for upholding human rights China! Or is it, that since these crimes take place outside the US, they don't count against the American record of human rights offenses?
Na, might just be that this was written (no offense against the blogger who started the thread) by some anti-American non-patriotic sell-out that doesn't want to spread freedom and democracy in this day and age on this planet. Must be either a terrorist or a communist! After all this is taken from the foreign press!

(okay, I hope people realize this was SARCASM! at worst dark humor, although this has nothing to do with being funny or easy to laugh at, unless you revert to naivety and ignorance)

[Judi Lynn]

5. The CIA admits to 100 renditions, according to your link. Admits...

Wouldn't you imagine we could take that to mean far, far more? I would surely think so. More from the article:

Michael Scheuer, a former senior CIA official who once played a leading role in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, has confirmed that the agency has been involved in the rendition of close to 100 terror suspects.

The policy of “capturing people and taking them to second or third countries” was developed after the CIA was told to dismantle terrorist cells across the world, said Scheuer, who resigned last November.

Barbara Olshansky, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, said the rendition policy was a clear violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which is incorporated into American law and bans the transfer of prisoners to countries where torture is likely.

Official documents released recently in Sweden revealed that the CIA provided a Gulfstream jet that took two Egyptian terrorist suspects from Sweden to Cairo in December 2001. Both claimed they were brutally tortured.
(snip/)

I wonder if the American public can petition Congress to officially put an end to torture. Is it possible this could be accomplished? It might go down really hard with Republicans (and the occassional defective person masquerading as a Democrat), thinking of walking away from torture, but maybe they can do it if they think in terms of "one day at a time!"

[Tinoire]

6. Nope. Jan 14 2005 Congress killed measures to ban U.S. use of torture

Congress killed measures to ban U.S. use of torture

By Douglas Jehl and David Johnston The New York Times Friday, January 14, 2005

White House opposed including restrictions

WASHINGTON At the urging of the White House, congressional leaders scrapped a legislative measure last month that would have imposed new restrictions on the use of extreme interrogation measures by U.S. intelligence officers, congressional officials say.
.
The defeat of the proposal affects one of the most shadowy arenas of the war on terrorism, involving the CIA's secret detention and interrogation of top terror leaders like Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks, and about three dozen other senior members of Al Qaeda and its offshoots.
.
The Senate had approved the new restrictions, by a 96-2 vote, as part of the intelligence reform legislation. The restrictions would have explicitly extended to intelligence officers a prohibition against the use of torture or inhumane treatment, and it would have required the CIA as well as the Pentagon to report to Congress about the methods they were using.
.
But in intense, closed-door negotiations, according to congressional officials, four senior lawmakers from the House and Senate deleted the restrictions from the final bill after the White House expressed opposition to the measure. Two congressional negotiators said in interviews that lawmakers had ultimately decided that the question of whether to extend the restrictions to intelligence officers was too complex to be included in the legislation.
.
In a letter to members of Congress, sent in October and made available by the White House on Wednesday, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, expressed opposition to the measure on the ground that it "provides legal protections to foreign prisoners to which they are not now entitled under applicable law and policy."
.
(snip)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/13/news/ban.html


(snip)

In addition to Collins and Harman, the lawmakers involved in the conference committee negotiations were Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.

(snip)

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/10643525.htm

In interviews on Wednesday, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican negotiator, and Rep. Jane Harman of California, a Democratic negotiator, both said the lawmakers had ultimately decided that the question of whether to extend the restrictions to intelligence officers was too complex to be included in the legislation

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=62671

At times, their discussion included an assessment of whether specific measures, on a detainee-by-detainee basis, would cause such pain to be considered torture. In addition to Collins and Harman, the lawmakers involved in the negotiations were Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/01/13/MNGGUAPER31.DTL

And to really ice the cake for is, our lawyer is Mr Torture-memo-Gonzalez himself... :mad:

Makes you really wonder why Charles Granier is in jail since torture is allowed.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Oh, God. I missed it the first time around. Unacceptable.

I would imagine there are a lot of messy heads of hair on Congresspeople who can no longer look at themselves in the mirror anymore.

Knowingly giving permission to _Bush to continue to torture. How do they justify it?

You're right. Why go to the trouble of pitching Graner in jail? What's the point, after all?

Thanks for the information, Tinoire. I'm glad I read it.

[Tinoire]

10. Totally unacceptable and you notice they made no noise about it

Just when you think it can't possibly get any worse!

[IndianaGreen]

7. This is the same old Nixon plan that G. Gordon Liddy concocted

Liddy's plan was to kidnap and drug antiwar activists and fly them to Mexico where they would be "iced" for the duration of the 1972 Republican Convention. I see the CIA has improved on that plan.

Where is Congress on all of this? Why aren't our representatives screaming about such a subversion of the Constitution?

We know the answer to that, don't we?

[0007]

21. It is the Christian way!

Where is Congress is a good question, but if we indeed look this is what we'll find;

Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th Congress earned 80 to 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score 100 percent with the Christian coalition was Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who recently quoted from the biblical book of Amos on the Senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land." He seemed to be relishing the thought.

...and we wonder why were the most hated people on this plant.

[struggle4progress]

9. kick

[Moderator]

11. kick

[struggle4progress]

12. CIA renditions of terror suspects are 'out of control:' report

The Central Intelligence Agency's 'rendition' of suspected terrorists has spiralled 'out of control,' according to a former FBI agent cited in a report which examined how CIA detainees are spirited to states suspected of using torture.

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA counter terrorism agent, told The New Yorker magazine "all we've done is create a nightmare," with regard to the top secret practice of renditions.

In an article titled 'Outsourcing Torture' due to hit newsstands this week, the magazine claims suspects, sometimes picked up by the CIA, are often flown to Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Jordan, "each of which is known to use torture in interrogations. <snip>

Despite US laws that ban America from expelling or extraditing individuals to countries where torture occurs, Scott Horton -- an expert on international law who has examined CIA renditions -- estimates that 150 people have been picked up in the CIA net since 2001. <snip>

http://us-politics.news.designerz.com/cia-renditions-of-terror-suspects-are-out-of-control-report.html?d20050206

[NNN0LHI]

13. Sometimes I wonder if Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman were picked up...

...and sent to Jordan or Egypt for a few days of rendering to get them to see things more clearly, if you know what I mean?

Don

[Just Me]

14. BUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! haaaaaa,...yup,...ugh,... eom

[Moderator]

15. kick

[cascadiance]

16. News24.com: CIA 'outsourcing torture'

- snip -

Washington - The Central Intelligence Agency's "rendition" of suspected terrorists has spiralled "out of control" according to a former FBI agent cited in a report by The New Yorker magazine, which examined how CIA detainees are spirited to states suspected of using torture. The CIA uses the word "rendition" to mean the transport of suspected terrorists to other countries for interrogation.

Michael Scheuer a former CIA agent, said "all we've done is create a nightmare," with regard to the top secret practice.

In a forthcoming article titled "Outsourcing Torture" the magazine claims suspects, sometimes picked up by the CIA, are often flown to Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Jordan, "each of which is known to use torture in interrogations".

- snip -

According to one suspect, Maher Ayar, who was arrested in 2002 by US officials and then claims he was tortured in Syria before being released, crew onboard the Gulfstream identified themselves as "the Special Removal Unit" during radio communications.

- snip -

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,6119,2-10-1462_1658564,00.html


An earlier article last Friday from Znet discusses how "states secret privilege" (earlier used to keep FBI translator Sibel Edmonds quiet) is being used to try to dismiss a lawsuit by someone who'd been allegedly tortured in Syria (mentioned in the above article) at:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=104&ItemID=7171

- snip -

New York - The Justice Department has again asserted “state secrets privilege” in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was detained in the United States in 2002 and sent against his will to Syria, where he says he was tortured until his release a year later.

- snip -

This is the third time the Department of Justice has invoked the “state secrets privilege” in recent years.

In 2003, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) successfully used the statute to move for dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer who alleged that he was the victim of racial discrimination by the agency. That case is on appeal.

The state secrets privilege was invoked again in 2004 to block a lawsuit brought by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whistleblower Sibel Edmonds.

- snip -

[SpiralHawk]

17. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of BushCo?

The Shadow knows.

DU knows, too.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000. CNN transcript

[SpiralHawk]

18. But on the bright side...

The torture outsourcing is sure to be providing a tidy little profit for some corporation somewhere. So think about the extra jobs added to the economy by virtue of outsourcing our 'torture needs." Pretty encouraging after all. Those Republicans are good at spotting opportunities to make a profit. You've got to give them that.

[Supersedeas]

19. Alberto Gonzo can not 'invoke' the state secrets privilege, glowingly

[Azathoth]

20. We've been doing this for years

letting countries like Egypt -- who have no moral hangups with the use of torture -- interrogate prisoners for us. It's a little surprising that we're still doing it though, since we have our own in-house torture camps set up now...

[Bridget Burke]

22. I'll bet we're outsourcing REAL torture...

Not just the so-called "fraternity pranks" carried out by those bad apples.