Ex-Milan CIA Chief On The Run From Italian Arrest Warrant

German newspaper Der Spiegel has an update on those arrest warrants issued in Italy for 25 CIA agents allegedly involved in the illegal abduction and rendition for torture of a suspected terrorist from the streets of Milan in 2003.

Robert Lady, the former CIA chief in Milan, has gone into hiding. He is the subject of an extradition order from Italian authorities for the role he played in the kidnapping of radical Muslim cleric Abu Omar in Milan. Washington is seeking to derail the trial -- perhaps because Condoleezza Rice may have given the operation the green light.

...The only place the former agent can feel truly safe is the United States, now that an Italian court has issued an arrest warrant for him -- just as it has done for 25 of his colleagues, who are said to have been involved in the Feb. 17, 2003 abduction of radical Muslim cleric Abu Omar along Via Guerzoni in downtown Milan.

The suspects are expected to be tried, in absentia, in June at Milan's Palace of Justice in what will amount to the world's first-ever trial against CIA agents accused of kidnapping. Until very recently, it seemed certain that the case would move ahead. But last week the Italian government asked the country's highest justices at the constitutional court to determine whether the trial could proceed. This has fueled hope for Seldon and, indeed, the entire US administration, that a legal drama might still be prevented.

...Lady's Italian lawyer already suggested declaring the case a matter of national security, thereby burying it for good. And such a decision would suit the Bush administration perfectly. The White House has used all available diplomatic channels to pressure Rome into preventing a public trial. State Department legal advisor John Bellinger, known for his engaging manner, even admonished the Italians that such legal investigations threatened to seriously damage cooperation between US and European intelligence agencies. Besides, Bellinger added, the accused CIA agents would never be extradited.

But according to recent findings brought to light by American journalist Matthew Cole, writing in the March issue of GQ, it's not just the agents involved in the abduction who need to be protected. Those truly responsible are to be found in the higher echelons of the US administration, according to Cole, who claims that current US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice personally approved the operation when she served as President George W. Bush's National Security Advisor. She apparently OKed Abu Omar's abduction and then, according to Cole's report, "fretted" during her meeting with the CIA over how she would inform Bush about the operation.

The Spiegel article goes on to say that Lady is angry with his superiors in the CIA and the Bush administration for what he sees as a lack of support for him, instead seeing only CYA moves on behalf of those higher up who gave the orders. If convicted in absentia, he will never be able to return to the place he calls home, his farm in Italy...unless he turns on his superiors in return for a deal. Lady told Matthew Cole " "No one's called me for support. No one has helped. I keep thinking, Fuck it, I've got nothing to lose."

No wonder Condi Rice is on her way to Italy for an off-the-record dinner with her Italian counterpart Massimo Alema. She's going to want this trial, and the possible fallout, safely buried.