Arrest warrants issued for CIA agents in Germany - another government responsive to its citizens

.


A CIA jet takes off at Palma de Mallorca

i've posted twice since february (here and here) on the trial that began on june 8 in italy for the 26 cia agents accused in the extraordinary rendition of abu omar...

[A] Milan court opened the trial of a group of CIA agents accused of kidnapping a radical Egyptian cleric — the first legal prosecution of one of the administration's most controversial counter-terrorism tactics.

Twenty-six American defendants, including two CIA station chiefs and an Air Force colonel, are being tried in absentia in the 2003 abduction from a Milan sidewalk of the cleric known as Abu Omar.

you might remember that the opening of the trial in milan coincided with bush's recent visit to that country...

In an uncomfortable coincidence for American officials that highlighted the ongoing strain in U.S.-Italian relations, the trial started just hours before Bush arrived in Italy for a day-and-a-half visit following the Group of 8 summit in Germany.

now, germany's gotten in the act, issuing arrest warrants for the cia agents suspected of kidnapping Khaled el-Masri, a Lebanese-born German citizen, in Macedonia in January 2004, which i posted about this past march...

from der spiegel online...

The district attorney's office in Munich has filed international warrants with Interpol for the arrest of Lyle L., 51, and nine other CIA employees. Lyle L., also known as "Uncle Bud," a former member of the elite Green Berets combat unit, is alleged to have been part of a group of agents who kidnapped Khaled el-Masri, a Lebanese-born German citizen, in Macedonia in January 2004 and flew him to Afghanistan via the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. A trained medic, Lyle L. was probably the one who administered sedatives to Masri on board the Boeing 737.

and, as you would expect from the germans, they're dead serious...

Officials in Washington have since realized that the German investigation is more than just a symbolic act. This week in Berlin, a group of senior officials from the interior, foreign and justice ministries will meet to discuss the sensitive issue of how the German government should handle the Munich petition for "arrest for the purposes of extradition." There is general agreement within the government in Berlin that the request should be promptly delivered to the Bush administration, which would be tantamount to an official request for the arrest of the men being sought.

meanwhile, official washington is whining...

At a recent lunch in the German Embassy in Washington, Michael Hayden, the new CIA director, complained about the "bottomless criticism" from Europe that the US government faces for abducting suspicious Islamists. One US diplomat calls Germany's approach the "German double standard."

as spiegel notes, germany could have stopped the issuance of the warrants, but they didn't because, unlike our government here in the u.s., they were concerned about the resulting public outcry...

The German government could have put a stop to the arrest warrants in the first stage. It would simply have had to refer to Paragraph 153c of the German Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that a legal proceeding can be terminated by official decree if this is in the "prevailing public interest." But a group of senior officials meeting at the Justice Ministry rejected a government veto, arguing that any government efforts to apply the brakes on the investigation would be too difficult for the public to swallow.

imagine that...! a government responsive to its citizens...! that makes two countries in one week... (see story about mexico's supreme court defending that country's constitution here...) what's the world coming to...?

Submit To Propeller
Tweet