| We'll just let the LA Times handle it. |
Washington would refuse any demand by Rome to give up alleged Central Intelligence Agency operatives to face criminal trial on charges that the agency abducted terror suspects, a leading US official said. John Bellinger, legal adviser to the US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, said in Brussels: “We have not gotten that extradition request from Italy. If we got an extradition request from Italy, we would not extradite US officials to Italy.”| We could, however, punish them ourselves. For incompetent trade-craft. |
Mr Bellinger, who was in Brussels to meet European legal advisers, is the first senior US official to say publicly that CIA agents would not be sent for trial abroad. Mr Bellinger did not address details of the Italian case. Romano Prodi, ItalyÂ’s prime minister, is unwilling to agree to prosecutorsÂ’ demands to seek extradition of the Americans.
Last month the European parliament accused some European governments of turning a blind eye to the illegal transportation of alleged terrorists through their countries to face possible torture. The Strasbourg chamber said that the UK, Germany, Poland and some other member states allowed CIA flights to stop over without proper controls. Mr Bellinger branded that study