We broke the law, admits CIA agent convicted of rendition
By David Usborne, US Editor
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One of the Americans convicted in absentia by an Italian court for her part in the 2003 abduction of a Muslim cleric by CIA operatives has acknowledged they "broke the law" and complained she was given insufficient protection by her superiors in Washington.
Sabrina deSousa, employed in the US consulate offices in Milan at the time of the abduction, made clear in an interview with ABC News that she was disgruntled that she and the other 22 Americans who were convicted by a Milan court on Wednesday had been left to fend for themselves by their country.
Ms deSousa, who has not explicitly said she was working for the CIA, was sentenced to five years by the judge in the case. Indeed on the day that the cleric, known as Abu Omar, was taken from the street and whisked first to Germany and thereafter to Egypt, she was out of the city on a skiing break.
The longest sentence, of eight years, was given to the former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady. There seems little likelihood that the convicted Americans will serve their terms, not least because Italy has declined to seek their extradition from the US, partly in the interest of US-Italian relations. It is probably true, however, that the 22 will always run the risk of arrest if they leave the US territory.
Saying she felt "abandoned and betrayed" as the trial unfolded over three years, Ms deSousa said "everything I did was approved by Washington... and we are paying for the mistakes right now, whoever authorised this."
That so many former and current CIA operatives should have been dragged through a foreign court has begun to rankle Capitol Hill. "I think these people have been hung out to dry," complained Republican congressman Pete Hoekstra of the House Intelligence Committee. "They're taking the fall for a decision that was made by their superiors." The CIA will not comment on the case, which is seen as a rebuke to the administration of George W Bush.
In an interview earlier this year with an Italian newspaper, Mr Lady was candid about the seizure of the cleric. "Of course it was an illegal operation," the newspaper quoted him. "But that's our job. We're at war against terrorism".
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Comments
So you were surprised that the CIA denied you existed.
How did you get the job?
Seems to me if we went to another country and kidnapped Americans and then tortured them Do you suppose the American Government might think it was OK? Now we all know they would freak. If the shoe was on the other foot they would be screaming terrorists. They might even start a war. Such hypocrites they are.
So why should we tolerate their kidnapping of people and their torturing.
It's just a shame they weren't in jail and it's a shame their bosses aren't charged and jailed as well. Anyone authorities such things should be imprisoned.
Guess these 22 will not be stepping outside of the US any time soon... it may be they might have to be rendered, now wouldn't that be ironic...
I supose when the Don tells you, it's okay to wack the raghead and you get caught, you expect them to be good gangsters and say they know you and they were with you all night.
This only works in the movies and the old ones at that.
She should be happy they didn't kill her.
Shame on us when Italians do justice better than we do.
Why, we even made reading out the names of the dead at the Cenotaph a crime.
In the common parlance, this principle could be paraphrased as follows: "It is not an acceptable excuse to say "I was just following my Superior's orders"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_
There is really no need for any other commentary apart from the fact that the CIA is a terrorist organisation and should be placed on the the EU list.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/sit
RT
www.private-web.se.tc
Suppose a team of Italians -- acting on orders from their government -- came to this country and kidnapped a Catholic priest. Snuck him out of the country to be tortured in a prison for a year?
Would our government apologize to the kidnappers if a US court convicted them of kidnapping?
Last time I looked, the "I was acting on orders" defense isn't a defense. Didn't work at Nuremburg in 46 and should not work now. Basically, if you are given an order to commit a crime, you have an obligation to just say no. Then you don't have to worry about being prosecuted as a criminal. Seems simple to me and is the rules that our military has followed forever.