Today the Republican Whitehouse (Scott McClellan) refused to address a reporters question about the Italian Government seeking extradition of 22 CIA agents in connection with the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan, who was then flown to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured.

A radical Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar was walking to a Milan mosque for noon prayers in February 2003 when he was grabbed on the sidewalk by two men, sprayed in the face with chemicals and stuffed into a van. He hasn’t been seen since.

Italian authorities suspect the Egyptian was the target of a CIA-sponsored operation known as rendition, in which terrorism suspects are forcibly taken for interrogation to countries where torture is practiced.  The Bush administration has received backing for renditions from governments that have been criticized for their human rights records, including Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, where many of the suspects are taken for interrogation.

 In contrast Eupropean governmenets are questioning whether the practice is a blatant violation of local sovereignty and human rights and are beginning to file charges against the CIA, but it’s not easy to file charges against a US agent. 

The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has denied that America is transporting terror suspects to secret jails around the world to be tortured.   We don’t fly people from your airports to distant places to be tortured - so says Condoleeza Rice as she heads to Europe and straight into increasing anger in Europe’s capitals.

This is another lie that will come back to bite the Bush Crime Family and all who follow.