Imperial Drag

by digby

Aimai at NMMNB thinks this is a big story. I think so too:

MILAN — An Italian court on Wednesday convicted 22 CIA operatives and a U.S. Air Force colonel of orchestrating the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt, where he said he was later tortured.

The judge in the case, Oscar Magi, said three other Americans, including the former Rome station chief for the CIA, were covered by diplomatic immunity.

The Americans were all tried in abstentia. A Milan prosecutor said his office would seek to have them extradited from the Untied States, but a formal decision will be made later by the Italian Justice Ministry…

Among the Americans charged in the case were Jeffrey Castelli, the former CIA station chief in Rome who allegedly oversaw the plot, and Robert Seldon Lady, the spy agency’s chief in Milan, who was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping. Prosecutors sought a 13-year prison term for Castelli and a 12-year sentence for Lady.

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.

Imagine what would happen here in the states if the Italians started kidnapping people off the streets of Detroit and sending them somewhere to be tortured. Would everyone think that was ok? (Probably, depending on the people …)

Whenever I read these stories I can’t help but imagine what this looks like from the perspective of the average Muslim around the world, much less out allies. Americans grab people off the streets and send them to be tortured at the direction of their government. And then they beat their chests and march around crowing about how great and generous they are. Would you not loathe and fear such people?

Aimai concludes:

I’d like to see more discussion of this and its implication for our country going forward. Its not, to me, a question of supporting Obama or being disappointed in him. Its just a question of whether our country will ever voluntarily stop raping, torturing, looting, and kidnapping for international gain and advantage. Or whether we will simply, like other once great powers, stop using our privileged position only once we’ve lost the privilege to other, stronger, powers.

I’m betting on the latter. When the main things you manufacture are weapons, and you’ve taken it upon yourself to police the entire planet virtually alone, it’s hard to argue that you aren’t an imperial military empire. History has some pretty good lessons for people who have the hubris to undertake such tasks.

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