"Extraordinary Renditions": What happened in Milan?

Milan's Botched CIA Caper and the War on Terrorism

Condoleeza Rice, CIA higher-ups, and maybe even George W. Bush all had sign-off on a 2003 rendition that was later prosecuted

November 11, 2010 - In 2003, CIA agents grabbed radical cleric Abu Omar off the streets of Milan and sent him to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. The government called such abductions "extraordinary renditions." In 2009, an Italian court convicted in absentia 21 CIA agents and a U.S. Air Force officer on kidnapping charges related to the incident. Freelance investigative reporter and author Steve Hendricks's "A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial" traces this chapter in the war on terrorism.

Excerpts:

What happened in Milan?

In a nutshell, the Italian counterterrorism police had a radical imam, Abu Omar, under very tight surveillance and were about to arrest him. The CIA swooped in [and] grabbed Abu Omar off the streets, without telling the Italians. The CIA gagged and bound him, roughed him up, drove him across Italy to the Aviano Air Base and flew him to Cairo, where he was tortured savagely.

Why did they render him? {read rest}