Rendition Trials

With all of the Paris-gate coverage, little has been made of the commencemt of the CIA rendition trials in Milan, Italy. Twenty-six Americans - most of whom are believed to be CIA agents - and six Italians are accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect and allegedly torturing him in Cairo. Look here for BBC coverage, or here for NY Times coverage.

The NY Times points out that if allowed to persue the claim, the trial may uncover teh "darker side" of our War on Terror - aside from the war and deaths of innocent civilians, of course. It will be interesting to see what happens in the Italian Constitutional court with respect to this case. Both the US and Italy fear international embarassment and the leaking of state secrets. There is no mention if the Hoss is worried about being connected to the secreting away of an imam and alledged torture in one of his Cairo prisons.

I would like to point out that the most important fact from these articles isn't the focus on torture, the War on Terror, or alledged illegal actions by CIA or Italian operatives. The most important fact is that this case might yet prove that it is not the NY Yankees that are the evil empire but the Boston Red Sox. Philip Morse, a minority owner of the Sox, will be a witness in the case. "It is alleged that his Gulfstream jet was used by the CIA to fly Abu Omar out of Italy."