LANDMARK RULING! Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions

Photo; Luca Bruno/Associated Press European Pressphoto Agency

(Venice, Italy) Amazingly, so many people are unaware that Italy just convicted Americans in a precedent-setting case that I would like to draw it to your attention -- especially those of you who have been following the bizarre twist my life has taken since I was illegally evicted from my apartment.

This is from the New York Times article by RACHEL DONADIO, published November 4, 2009:

MILAN — In a landmark ruling, an Italian judge on Wednesday convicted a base chief for the Central Intelligence Agency and 22 other Americans, almost all C.I.A. operatives, of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003.
The case was a huge symbolic victory for Italian prosecutors, who drew the first convictions involving the American practice of rendition, in which terrorism suspects are captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, often one more open to coercive interrogation techniques....
...Ian C. Kelly, a State Department spokesman, said the United States was “disappointed” by the verdicts in Milan....

To read the entire article, please click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/europe/05italy.html

Although I am grateful that the major press has finally started paying attention to what is going on over here, I see that even the New York Times has edited themselves. They changed the quote of Armando Spataro, the deputy public prosecutor in Milan. I am POSITIVE they changed the quote, because I quoted it myself when I commented on Michael Moore's website (found at the bottom of the page):


http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/italian-court-convicts-23-americans-cia-rendition-case
Here is what was originally written:

Armando Spataro, the deputy public prosecutor in Milan, said in his closing argument Wednesday that it was "unthinkable" that the U.S. policy of extraordinary rendition should trump Italian law, which forbids kidnapping.

"Here, Italian law rules, not American law or any other law," he said.

Here is how it reads today:

Armando Spataro, the counterterrorism prosecutor who brought the case, said he was considering asking the Italian government for an international arrest warrant for the fugitive Americans.

Mr. Spataro said he was pleased with what he called “very courageous” verdicts. He said it was a victory that “we brought the trial to an end, and the facts were shown to be what they were.”

In any event, ARMANDO SPATARO IS MY NEW HERO!!!

And... more amazing news. It seems that the United States Consulate in Milan is crawling with CIA agents posing as -- you guessed it -- diplomats! Paging Mr. William Gill, Mr. William Gill, Mr. William Gill, come in Mr. William Gill...

On June 8, 2009, I called the cell phone of A. Daniel Weygandt, the US Consul in Milan and got a voice recording. I hung up, and called the local Venice Consul, Megan Jones. A voice recording said she was on vacation and to call the US Consul in Milan, so I called the main number, 02-29-0351. That was when I first discovered that Dan Weygandt was no longer the consul, but that Carol Z. Perez was. I left my name and number with a woman named Angela, who said the Consul would call me back. About 1:55pm, my cell phone rang. A woman's voice asked who I was, implying that she had seen my number and was returning the call. I said, "I'm sorry?" and she hung up without another word.

About a half hour later, William R. Gill called me from the US Consul office in Milano. He later sent me an email confirming the call. The strange thing is the way he signed his name:

Sincerely,

William R. Gill
American Consul
U. S. Consulate General Milan
Internet: http://milan.usconsulate.gov
 

To read the entire letter, click over to the Cat Bauer - Eviction Documents:

William R. Gill - June 8th Letter to Catherine Bauuer

Michael Moore has got more of the CIA the story from ABC news over on his site:

Convicted CIA Spy Says "We Broke the Law"

By Matthew Cole, Avni Patel, and Brian Ross

..."And we are paying for the mistakes right now, whoever authorized and approved this," said former CIA officer Sabrina deSousa in an interview to be broadcast tonight on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson.

DeSousa says the U.S. "abandoned and betrayed" her and the others who were put on trial for the kidnapping. She was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison....

...Italian prosecutors said deSousa was a CIA officer who helped organized the kidnapping using her diplomat cover at the U.S. Consulate in Milan. Several former U.S. intelligence officials confirm to ABC News deSousa's role in the operation...

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/convicted-cia-spy-says-we-broke-law
Are you reading this blog, MEGAN JONES, the local US Consul here in Venice? Remember when you told the police here in Venice that if I didn't leave the police station while I was attempting to make a perfectly valid denuncia that they were to force me into the hospital? Sue me for slander and libel if that is not true. You KNOW they are going to abandon you, too.


Ciao from Venice,
Cat

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog
http://venetiancat.blogspot.com