Shadowland: The Road to Rendition

Last week, I passed through Milan and decided to visit the scene of the crime. As I walked the quiet roads between Abu Omar's apartment and that lonely stretch of Via Guerzoni where he was kidnapped, I kept thinking of something he was told by the mysterious visitor from Germany in that conversation tape recorded back in the summer of 2002. In the Italian transcript, which I have, they talked about reorganizing the Hizb Al Tahrir group after the post-9/11 arrests in Europe. They talked about money: where to get it (from Saudis); how to use it (to make more money). They talked about "the youth" who could be used as martyrs. And toward the end of the chat, the Unidentified Man warned Abu Omar, as if from nowhere, "You need to study the street, because war ought to be studied ..." In the shadow world of terror and counterterror, even a quiet street like Via Guerzoni can be a battlefront.

UPDATE: An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for allegedly helping to seize Abu Omar, The Associated Press reported on June 24. The operatives--all Americans--were reportedly traced through check-in details at Milan hotels and their use of Italian cell phones during the operation.

© 2005