This Is What You Get For Torture

Whaaa...? Could it be that a CIA Operative is actually going to Prison for "Extraordinary Rendition"?

Sabrina De Sousa is one of 26 CIA employees convicted in absensia of kidnapping Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, aka Abu Omar off the streets of Milan, "The cleric was flown to Egypt, where he was beaten and subjected to electric shock but eventually released."

De Sousa’s extradition and potential imprisonment would be an astonishing turn of events for a case that raises major questions about how much diplomatic protection CIA case officers abroad possess when carrying out operations sanctioned by their superiors. During her CIA tenure, De Sousa was registered in Italy as a State Department officer at the U.S. Consulate in Milan. She did not work as an “NOC” — a nonofficial cover operative.

According to her and her attorneys. In fact she was a paid CIA Case Officer and did not report to the U.S. Counsel in Milan, the Ambassador to Italy, or the State Department. This is proven by the fact that when she resigned from U.S, government service in 2009 the CIA was her employer of record and the fact that when, after her conviction, she applied to the State Department to confirm her diplomatic status, they refused. Italy's Supreme Court upheld her conviction and De Sousa appealed the U.S. State Department's characterization of her employment. Non Official Cover operatives, NOCs, are paid employees of the CIA are are not entitled to diplomatic protections and courtesies.

The following statement, by her, is entirely a lie, except for this part- "This rendition was funded by Congress with approval of senior government officials in the U.S., Italy and Egypt."

“Those of us who were convicted were accredited diplomats and declared to the Italian government,” De Sousa said. “We instead find ourselves treated like NOCs with our U.S. government affiliation disavowed. I would have never joined the CIA if I was told there was a remote possibility that I would never see my mother in Goa again and not travel abroad. This has set a terrible precedent. This rendition was funded by Congress with approval of senior government officials in the U.S., Italy and Egypt."

Yup.

Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you joined the CIA and became complicit in torture.

She never bothers to deny that her employer was the CIA, just whines because the State Department won't pretend she was something she wasn't, and is filing FOIA requests to get proof that the United States lied to her about the level of protection there was for her war criminal activities. I feel no more sympathy for her than I do for Ilse Koch.

Portugal's Supreme Court has decided to extradite her but "also reiterated a condition set by the lower courts — and guaranteed by Italy in De Sousa’s European arrest warrant — that once she arrives in Italy, she must be given another trial or a chance to appeal with new evidence, and the ability to call Italian and U.S. witnesses, because she had been tried in absentia."

They are in fact under no obligation to do so.

She should be arrested on arrival at the Italian border, taken to prison, and serve every hour of her 4 year sentence grateful that it's not longer. I hope someday, in some way all the rest up and down the Chain of Command and their Accomplices after the Fact receive the same kind of justice.

Laura Pitter, a senior national security counsel at Human Rights Watch, did not want to comment on the merits of De Sousa’s case but said she does not think she should be the first and so far only person held accountable for the CIA’s rendition program, given her allegedly minor role. “It should be the senior officials and contractors involved in authorizing and implementing the program and those who actually inflicted the torture on individuals in U.S. custody,” she said.

All quotes from Ex-CIA officer faces extradition from Portugal to Italy for alleged role in cleric’s rendition By Ian Shapira, April 21 at 12:41 PM, Washington Post.

(Of course it's cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette and DocuDharma)

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detroitmechworks's picture

If what she's saying is true... BIG heads should roll for this shit.

It always seems the way that we go after the low level peons, rather than the slime that said this was ok. Whole rotten system is corrupt and trimming a few dead leaves isn't gonna fix it.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

BHO deserves the same.

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riverlover's picture

Poor innocent woman! /s But what did make her a target out of 26? Was she supervisory of field operatives?

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

I'll let that pass. I wish in fact that it had been someone higher up. BHO was in Europe, but he didn't have a conviction and outstanding warrant against him (though he should as an accessory after the fact).

If you read the WaPo article you will find she was visiting her mother and thought her conviction in Italy was a joke because she was Company bought and paid for and State would protect her.

Not so much it seems.

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riverlover's picture

there was a /s after that. I am just tired of every negative HC comment being mysogynist or Republican trolling.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

People react the way they do. My art is mine, it is what it is. I don't take things personally.

No apologies required.

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Given the proven falsehood of her other claims that is highly suspect.

The Italian court didn't buy it based on the evidence and neither do I.

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featheredsprite's picture

But perhaps this is the start of the US admitting to itself that it did awful things.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

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Hillbilly Dem's picture

by American soldiers and U. S. operatives abroad is part of the reason that our police in this country do some of the despicable things that they do. I believe that the type of activity that is tolerated and even encouraged at the outer reaches of an empire will eventually make their way home and be visited upon its own citizenry.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

Google Jon Burge and Homan Square.

Thank you Rahm Emanuel, hope you get a nice cozy cell next to Sabrina.

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But perhaps this is the start of the US admitting to itself that it did awful thing

Until the govt of this country turns EVERYONE INVOLVED, TOP TO BOTTOM over in cuffs for trial at the Hague.... there's no acknowledgement at all.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

tapu dali's picture

The superiors will never be charged.

If sending some minor operative to prison for years whilst her superior gets a lifetime well-paid gig writing editorials for the WaPo makes you feel good ... I have little to say.

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There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

tapu dali's picture

Apologies!

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There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

The superiors will never be charged.

As we're a rogue nation, any other nation may attack us or poison us or cheat us WITH MORAL IMPUNITY.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

lunachickie's picture

bunch would permit such things to go on. But the cynic in me says this is just another put-on, so they can say "See? We're Doing Something About That Awful Time in Our History" and hope the People buy it...

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abuse of diplomatic immunity.

The bizarre idea that it's "okay" for your government's "diplomats" to run lawless through the streets of their host country, provided they're doing it on officially sanctioned business is one of the most egregious FAILs of Institutionalism (which is a way of thinking and operating that I just made up, though I'm sure others must have been discussing it for a long time).

As I have noted elsewhere, nothing in the US constitution suggests that the constraints placed on the government's exercise of power are limited to its behavior within the geographic boundaries of the US, or with respect to human beings who happen to be US citizens.

These CIA operatives are criminals -- as indeed are most CIA operatives.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

but diplomats have been considered spies for centuries (and have served in that role for an equal amount of time, the idea of a specialized service of only spies is relatively new).

Frequently their heads were repatriated as a warning if their actions were too egregious.

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husbands (or their fathers, were they unmarried).

it's a way of thinking that needs to end.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

When Barack Obama said "We tortured some folks," he forgot to add "And I helped."
It certainly explains why he is so reluctant to actually do something about it, as required by law.

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They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

tapu dali's picture

"Get over it", and vote for more-of-the-same Hillary!

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There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

Knucklehead's picture

Hey Ek,
Very good post.

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I`m already against the next war