Italy indicts CIA agents

Today, Italy showed the world their support of the United States and the War on Terrorism by indicting 26 Americans, most of whom are CIA agents. Italian prosecutors allege that in February of 2003, CIA agents kidnapped Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from Italy. They further allege that Nasr was taken to Egypt, tortured and held captive for 4 years.

Italian prosecutors are basing their indictment on circumstantial information gathered from telephone calls and that fact that these CIA agent were conducting authorized operations in Italy at the time. Also included in the indictment were the CIA station chiefs from Milan and Rome, as well as members of the Italian military intelligence.

Nasr is suspected of being a terrorist and fighting for Islamic radicals in Afghanistan and Bosnia. He is also suspected of recruiting radicals to fight with other Islamic radicals engaged in conflicts within the region. Italy itself issued a warrant for the arrest of Nasr while he was allegedly in Egypt.

If Nasr's terrorist operations are known so well that Italy and the United States both know and Italy issued it's own arrest warrant then what is the issue here? To win the War on Terrorism we must be willing to conduct clandestine operations such as this. By maintaining custody over terrorist, such as alleged in the case, then important time sensitive information can be obtained and save lives of many Americans. "Allied" countries must be willing to allow the US to conduct operations without claiming that we violated their sovereignty.