A Milan prosecutor is making the CIA nervous. Despite the opposition of his own government he wants to indict 26 US agents and five Italian secret agents for the kidnapping of a terror suspect. Rome and Washington would prefer that the embarrassing trial would just go away. The proceedings in Milan's historic Palace of Justice on Tuesday morning were kept under tight wraps. Judge Caterina Interlandi was holding court on the seventh floor, behind closed doors -- and only lawyers directly involved with the case were allowed to enter. The governments in Rome and Washington would have preferred if the hearing had not taken place at all. However they had not reckoned with Armando Spataro. Without the lively Milan prosecutor, who is balding and has a moustache, things would never have got quite so far. The case being heard behind the court's doors could turn out to be highly unpleasant for Washington and Rome. Judge Interlandi must determine whether 26 CIA agents and five Italian secret service agents are to be indicted for one of the boldest kidnappings of a terror suspect to happen yet. If the court takes the case, it would be the first time anyone has been tried in connection with the CIA's controversial "extraordinary renditions" program. Under the secret renditions program, suspected terrorists were kidnapped and interrogated at secret "black" sites. There was no immediate result after the hearing on Tuesday, except the announcement that the case was adjourned until the end of January. The statements afterwards were nevertheless revealing. For example, Daria Pesce, the lawyer representing former Milan CIA bureau chief Robert Seldon Lady said she was withdrawing from the case. "Robert Seldon Lady said that a political and not legal solution should be found." Her client, she said, would prefer "an agreement between Italy and the US" to a trial. Pesce described her client as "disappointed" by the Italian officers because they revealed details of the operation they had sworn to keep secret. "He feels betrayed because he is still convinced he did the right thing for the US and all the other countries fighting international Islamism," she said.
The proceedings in Milan's historic Palace of Justice on Tuesday morning were kept under tight wraps. Judge Caterina Interlandi was holding court on the seventh floor, behind closed doors -- and only lawyers directly involved with the case were allowed to enter. The governments in Rome and Washington would have preferred if the hearing had not taken place at all.
However they had not reckoned with Armando Spataro. Without the lively Milan prosecutor, who is balding and has a moustache, things would never have got quite so far.
The case being heard behind the court's doors could turn out to be highly unpleasant for Washington and Rome. Judge Interlandi must determine whether 26 CIA agents and five Italian secret service agents are to be indicted for one of the boldest kidnappings of a terror suspect to happen yet. If the court takes the case, it would be the first time anyone has been tried in connection with the CIA's controversial "extraordinary renditions" program. Under the secret renditions program, suspected terrorists were kidnapped and interrogated at secret "black" sites. There was no immediate result after the hearing on Tuesday, except the announcement that the case was adjourned until the end of January.
The statements afterwards were nevertheless revealing. For example, Daria Pesce, the lawyer representing former Milan CIA bureau chief Robert Seldon Lady said she was withdrawing from the case. "Robert Seldon Lady said that a political and not legal solution should be found." Her client, she said, would prefer "an agreement between Italy and the US" to a trial.
Pesce described her client as "disappointed" by the Italian officers because they revealed details of the operation they had sworn to keep secret. "He feels betrayed because he is still convinced he did the right thing for the US and all the other countries fighting international Islamism," she said.
The Oliver North defence.
North tells Poindexter that Noriega can assist with sabotage against the Sandinistas, and suggests paying Noriega a million dollars cash; from "Project Democracy" funds raised from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran - for the Panamanian leader's help in destroying Nicaraguan economic installations (see [1]).
North's mugshot, after his arrest
(I love that! It's the caption that goes with the pic in the wikipedia article.)
In November 1986 as the sale of weapons was made public, North was "fired" by President Reagan, and in July 1987 he was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint Congressional committee formed to investigate Iran-Contra.
During the hearings, North admitted that he had lied to Congress, for which he was later charged among other things.
He defended his illegal actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters, and said that he viewed the Iran-Contra scheme as a "neat idea"
From further down the page.
Pesce described her client as "disappointed" by the Italian officers because they revealed details of the operation they had sworn to keep secret. "He feels betrayed because he is still convinced h
