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ITALY News:
20090325
Italy
-  Swiss
-  Glaciers
-  Land
-  Atmosphere
-  Global
-  Climate
-  Politics
-  History
-  France
-  Austria
"Melting
glaciers force Italy, Swiss to redraw border." ...
"Melting glaciers in the Alps may prompt Italy and Switzerland to redraw
their borders near the Matterhorn, according to parliamentary draft legislation
being readied in Rome [Italy's capital]." ... "The Italian Military Geographic
Institute says climate change is responsible for the Alpine glaciers melting."
... ""This draft law is born out the necessity to revise and verify the
frontiers given the changes in climate and atmosphere," [Italy's Democratic
Party member Franco] Narducci said. "The 1941 convention between Italy
and Switzerland established as criteria [for border revisions] the ridge
[crest] of the glaciers. Following the withdrawal of the glaciers in the
Alps, a new criterion has been proposed so that the new border coincides
with the rock."" ... "Narducci said the same negotiation will be proposed
to France and Austria[.]" -CNN
20090207
 Nuclear
-  Science
-  Secrets
-  Investigation
-  Military
-  Intelligence
- History
-  Legal
- Politics
-  Pakistan
-  Iran
-  Libya
-  North
Korea -  US
-  British
- Italian
- Switzerland
- 
- International
"Nuclear
Scientist A.Q. Khan Is Freed From House Arrest."
... "Early yesterday, the Pakistani scientist at the center of one of history's
worst nuclear scandals walked out of his Islamabad [Pakistan's capital]
villa to declare his vindication after five years of house arrest. "The
judgment, by the grace of God, is good," a smiling Abdul Qadeer Khan told
a throng of reporters and TV crews." ... "Moments earlier, a Pakistani
court had ordered the release of the metallurgist who had famously admitted
selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Through years of
legal limbo, Khan, 72, had never been charged, and now he never will be.
"The so-called A.Q. Khan affair is a closed chapter," a Pakistani government
spokesman said." ... "Nearly five years after Khan's smuggling operation
came to light, the international effort to prosecute its leaders is largely
in shambles, yielding convictions of only a few minor participants and
no significant prison time for any of them." ... "Khan's international
network collapsed in 2003 after U.S. [United States], British and Italian
officials halted a Libya-bound ship in the Mediterranean loaded with machine
parts used to make enriched uranium." ... "That discovery was the culmination
of more than a decade of secret investigation by the CIA [Central Intelligence
Agency] and other agencies of the business dealings of Khan, one of Pakistan's
best-known scientists and the father of the country's nuclear weapons program."
... "U.S. and U.N. [United Nations] investigators ultimately accused Khan
of heading a sophisticated network of businesses and front companies that
manufactured and sold components needed to make nuclear bombs. But while
the factories and shipping offices were dismantled, Khan proved to be beyond
Washington's reach. Pakistan's then-President Pervez Musharraf, confronted
with evidence of Khan's deeds, persuaded the scientist to make a public
confession but then officially pardoned him. Khan would remain under house
arrest, but Pakistani officials refused to allow him to be questioned by
U.S. officials or investigators of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
the U.N. nuclear watchdog." ... "Efforts to prosecute alleged members of
the network in Switzerland touched off a series of squabbles between Swiss
and U.S. officials. Swiss prosecutors accused the [Republican President]
Bush administration of withholding critical evidence needed to put three
Swiss businessmen -- a father and two brothers who worked with Khan in
the 1980s and 1990s -- behind bars." ... "Last month, one of the brothers
confirmed in a Swiss television interview that he had been working undercover
for the CIA, prompting the Swiss parliament to ask why Switzerland had
not been informed about covert action inside its territory. " -By
Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
20080605
 Dick
Cheney -  Stephen
A Cambone - Larry
Franklin - Noteworthy
- US
- Italy
-  Iraq
- Iran
- Military
- Politics
- Investigation
"Did
Iranian agents dupe Pentagon officials?" ... "Defense
Department counterintelligence investigators suspected that Iranian exiles
who provided dubious intelligence on Iraq and Iran to a small group of
Pentagon officials might have "been used as agents of a foreign intelligence
service ... to reach into and influence the highest levels of the [United
States] U.S. government," a Senate Intelligence Committee report said Thursday."
... "A top aide to [Republican President Bush's] then-secretary of defense
Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, shut down the 2003 investigation into the
Pentagon officials' activities after only a month, and the Defense Department's
top brass never followed up on the investigators' recommendation for a
more thorough investigation, the Senate report said." ... "The revelation
raises questions about whether Iran may have used a small cabal of officials
in the Pentagon and in [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's office
to feed bogus intelligence on Iraq and Iran to senior policymakers in the
[Republican President] Bush administration who were eager to oust the Iraqi
dictator." ... "Iran, which was a mortal enemy of Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein and fought a bloody eight-year war with Iraq during his reign,
has been the primary beneficiary of U.S. policy in Iraq, where Iranian-backed
groups now run much of the government and the security forces." ... "The
aborted counterintelligence investigation probed some Pentagon officials'
contacts with Iranian exile Manucher Ghorbanifar, whom the CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] had labeled a "fabricator" in 1984. Those contacts
were brokered by an American civilian, Michael Ledeen, a former Pentagon
and National Security Council consultant and a leading advocate of invading
Iraq and overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime." ... "Stephen Cambone, then
the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, shut down the counterintelligence
investigation after only a month, the Senate report said." ... "The Senate
committee also found that Pentagon officials concealed the contacts with
Ghorbanifar from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State
Department. Pentagon officials also provided Senate investigators with
an inaccurate account of events and, with support from two unnamed officials
in Cheney's office, continued meeting with Ghorbanifar after contact with
him was officially ordered to stop." ... "The first meetings with Ghorbanifar,
which were disclosed in August 2003 by the Long Island, N.Y. [New York],
newspaper Newsday, took place in Rome [Italy's capital] in December 2001.
They were attended by two Pentagon Iran experts, Harold Rhode and Larry
Franklin; by an Italian military intelligence official, and by Ledeen."
-By John
Walcott -McClatchyDC.com
20070817
-
US
- World
- Italy
- Iraq
-
 Terrorism
- Construction
-  Money
-  Accounting
- Politics
- "Construction
Woes Plague U.S. Embassies: Shoddy Work, Contract
Choices Cited." ... "The new air-conditioning system in the $66 million
U.S. Embassy in Mali broke down in June, sending office temperatures soaring
to 100 degrees. An electrical fire erupted in the rehabilitated annex to
the embassy in Rome [Italy's capital]. And the U.S. ambassador in Belize
had to personally help workers sand the floors for new housing." ... "As
the United States seeks to rapidly modernize and fortify its diplomatic
missions around the world because of terrorism and other security concerns,
the State Department's $5 billion construction efforts abroad have come
under increasing strain. In a series of cables sent to Washington this
summer, U.S. diplomats complained of building delays and shoddy workmanship,
underscoring problems with State's one-size-fits-all approach to building
that results in the same air-conditioning system being shipped to embassies
in Africa and in Europe." ... "Concerns have focused in particular on the
ongoing construction of the largest U.S. Embassy in the world -- the $592
million complex in Baghdad. The State Department inspector general is probing
the awarding of sole-source contracts in the sprawling project, including
whether they are unjustifiably expensive and whether top officials in State's
Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) short-circuited the process
to favor particular contractors, according to sources familiar with the
probe." ... "At the center of the controversy is the man who has run the
OBO since the start of the [Republican President] Bush administration --
Charles E. Williams, a retired major general in the Army Corps of Engineers,
who quit under fire as chief operating officer of the D.C. public schools
in 1998 when a botched roof repair project delayed the opening of District
schools by three weeks. State Department officials who have worked with
Williams assert that the serious construction problems now coming to light
flow directly from Williams's mercurial management style.-" -By
Glenn Kessler -WashingtonPost
20070812
-
Italy
- Iraq
- US
-
 Russia
- Secretive
- Military
- Money
- Intelligence
- Politics
- "Italy
probe unearths huge Iraq arms deal." ... "In a hidden
corner of [Italy's capital] Rome's busy Fiumicino Airport, police dug quietly
through a traveler's checked baggage, looking for smuggled drugs. What
they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger."
... "Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail
of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market
transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than
100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq." ...
"As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities
moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered."
... "For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government
officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of
the U.S. Baghdad command — a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen
arms purchases." ... "Why these officials resorted to "black" channels
and where the weapons were headed is unclear." ... "The purchase would
merely have been the most spectacular example of how Iraq has become a
magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles
and uncontrolled gun markets since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the onset
of civil war." -By Charles J. Hanley and Ariel David
-AP via -Yahoo
20070803
-
US
-
 Saudi
Arabia - Military
- Terrorism
-  Oil
- Politics
-  Japan
- Italy
-  Germany
-  Georgia
- History
- "Gingrich
says war on terror 'phony': Former speaker says energy
independence is key." ... "Former House Speaker [Republican] Newt Gingrich
said Thursday the [Republican President] Bush administration is waging
a "phony war" on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against
the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001."
... "A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national
energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported
oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support." ... ""None of
you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we
are winning this war," the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students
attending a conference for collegiate conservatives." ... "He was unstinting
in his criticism of his fellow Republicans, in the White House and on Capitol
Hill." ... ""We were in charge for six years," he said, referring to the
period between 2001 and early 2007, when the GOP controlled the White House
and both houses of Congress. "I don't think you can look and say that was
a great success."" ... "He reserved his most pointed criticism for the
administration's handling of the global campaign against terrorist groups."
... ""We've been engaged in a phony war," said Gingrich. "The only people
who have been taking this seriously are the combat military."" ... ""We
used to be a serious country. When we got attacked at Pearl Harbor, we
took on Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany," he said, referring
to World War II." ... ""We beat all three in less than four years. We're
about to enter the seventh year of this phony war against ... [terrorist
groups], and we're losing."" ... ""First of all, we have to have a national
energy strategy, which basically says to the Saudis, 'We're not going to
rely on you,' " he said." ... "The United States imports about 14 million
barrels of oil a day, making up two-thirds of its total consumption." -By
Bob Deans -AJC
20070608
-
Secret
- US
-
 Poland
-  Romania
- Germany
- Italy
-  Egypt
- Military
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Torture
- Prisons
- Human
Rights - Law
- Politics
- "CIA
jails in Europe 'confirmed'." ... "A Council of Europe
investigator says he has evidence to prove the CIA ran secret jails in
Poland and Romania to interrogate "war on terror" suspects." ... "Dick
Marty, a Swiss senator, has been investigating CIA operations on behalf
of the European human rights body." ... "In his new report, released on
Friday, Mr Marty says secret CIA prisons "did exist in Europe from 2003
to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania"." ... "The governments of
both countries have strongly denied any involvement. A spokesman for the
CIA told the BBC that "the CIA's counter-terror operations have been lawful,
effective, closely reviewed, and of benefit to many people -including Europeans
- by disrupting plots and saving lives"." ... "Mr Marty says he drew on
multiple sources and used his own intelligence methods to investigate the
CIA's "extraordinary renditions", the process under which terror suspects
were transported around the world for interrogation." ... ""Some European
governments have obstructed the search for the truth and are continuing
to do so by invoking the concept of 'state secrets'.... This criticism
applies to Germany and Italy, in particular," he said." ... "His report
came as the first criminal trial over the CIA "extraordinary renditions"
opened in Italy. Twenty-five CIA agents and a US Air Force colonel are
on trial in their absence, accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect
and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured."
-BBC/News
20070216
-
Italy
- US
- Egypt
- Secret
- Torture
- Prisons
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- "Italy
orders CIA kidnapping trial: An Italian judge has
ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over
the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003." ... "Osama Mustafa
Hassan was allegedly seized by the CIA and flown to Egypt, where he says
he was tortured." ... "Five Italians were also indicted by the judge, including
Italy's ex-military intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari." ... "The case
would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as
"extraordinary rendition"." ... "During rendition, people suspected of
involvement in terror activities are taken from one country and flown to
another, where many claim they are tortured." ... "Most of the indicted
US citizens are believed to have returned home from Italy." ... "The Italian
government has yet to decide whether or not it wishes to request their
extradition." -BBC
/News
20061031
-
US
- Italy
-
 Weldon
-  Government
- Military
- Money
-  Pennsylvania
- "Italian
Arms Contractor and a Pennsylvania Congressman Share Close Ties."
... "In November at the five-star Hotel Splendido overlooking the harbor
in Portofino, a playground of the Italian rich, [Pennsylvania Republican]
Representative Curt Weldon was the center of attention." ... "The second-ranking
Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Weldon was a main
speaker at a conference sponsored in part by the Italian military giant
Finmeccanica. At the gathering of Italian, British and American political
leaders, Mr. Weldon, of Pennsylvania, spoke on behalf of Italian arms makers
who were seeking a bigger share of Pentagon contracts." ... "Taxpayers
paid for Mr. Weldon’s stay. He received a $1,153 daily expense allowance
from the federal government and flew over on a military jet." ... "For
Mr. Weldon, the conference was a victory lap. After several years of promoting
Italian military contractors, the Italians had scored some big victories
at the Pentagon. But Mr. Weldon’s efforts were equally beneficial for his
district, his family, his friends and his campaign coffers." ... "His daughter
Kim, 29, a former social worker, was hired by AgustaWestland, the Finmeccanica
subsidiary that won the Marine One contract, shortly after her father’s
speech in Portofino. Kim Weldon’s work is to set up booths at trade shows
and perform public relations." ... "More than 10 Americans at Finmeccanica
subsidiaries in the United States, along with their spouses, were among
the biggest contributors to Mr. Weldon’s campaign in 2006. Their combined
donations of $20,400 edged out donations from American giants like Boeing
and Lockheed Martin." -By Leslie Wayne with contributions
by David Johnston -NYTimes
20061015
-
 Afghanistan
-  Canada
- Italian
- Photographer
- "Surge
Of Violent Clashes In Afghanistan: NATO Soldiers
Killed In Ambush; Photographer And Assistant Kidnapped." ... "Two NATO
soldiers were killed Saturday in southern Afghanistan after militants ambushed
them with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, the alliance said." ...
"An Italian freelance photographer and his assistant, meanwhile, were abducted
by armed men in southern Helmand province, an Afghan official said." ...
"Canada's defense department identified the dead NATO sold[i]ers as Canadian
but did not release their names." ... "Counting the latest fatalities,
42 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since
2002." (1, 2)
-AP via
-CBSNews
20060705
-
Italy
- US
- Egypt
- Religion
- Intelligence
- Military
- Terrorism
- Prisons
- "2
Italians Arrested in Kidnapping of Radical Cleric."
... "Two officials with the Italian secret service were arrested today
in connection with the kidnapping of a radical Egyptian cleric here in
2003. This was the first indication that the Italian government may have
helped American intelligence agents detain the imam, who was then sent
to Egypt, where his relatives claim he was tortured while being interrogated."
... "Prosecutors also sought the arrest of three operatives of the Central
Intelligence Agency and an employee of the American military airbase at
Aviano, in addition to 22 other Americans whom Italian prosecutors said
last year they were seeking as part of the investigation into the abduction
of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar." ... "The practice
of "extraordinary rendition" — which involves seizing terrorism suspects
and then transferring them to other countries for interrogation — has caused
a popular furor in Europe." -By Stephen Grey and Elisabetta
Povoledo -NYTimes
20060607
-
US
-
 EU
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Law
Enforcement - Prisons
- Transport
- Human
Rights - Politics
- Britain
- Germany
- Italy
-  Sweden
-  Turkey
-  Spain
- Romania
- Poland
- "Probe
of CIA Prisons Implicates EU Nations." ... "Fourteen
European nations colluded with U.S. intelligence in a "spider's web" of
human rights abuses to help the CIA spirit terror suspects to illegal detention
facilities, a European investigator said Wednesday." ... "Swiss senator
Dick Marty's report to Europe's top human rights body was thin on evidence
but raises the possibility of a cover-up involving both friends and critics
of Washington's war on terror. It says European governments "did not seem
particularly eager to establish" the facts." ... "He listed 14 European
countries - Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Bosnia, Macedonia, Turkey,
Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Poland - as being
complicit in "unlawful interstate transfers" of people." -By
Jan Sliva -AP
via -Forbes
20051223
-
Italy
- EU
- US
- Egypt
-Intelligence
- "Italy
court issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team." ...
"A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected
of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003,
Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday." ... "Milan magistrates suspect
a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew
him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured."
-Reuters
20050430
-
-
-
-
- "U.S.
Clears GIs In Italian Death." ... "A U.S. Army investigation
concluded American soldiers were not at fault in the death of an Italian
[intelligence] agent in Iraq and recommended no disciplinary action, according
to a report released Saturday." ... "The Italian government announced Friday
it was not signing off on the U.S. reconstruction of events; Italy has
launched a criminal inquiry into Calipari's death."
-AP with-CBSNews
20050426
-
-
-
-
-
- "Italian
Opposition Slams Iraq Killing Findings." ... "An
angry opposition branded a report that clears U.S. soldiers of blame for
killing an Italian agent in Iraq an insult to Italy Tuesday, but Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi rejected a call to discuss it in parliament."
... "Military intelligence officer Nicola Calipari died when troops at
a U.S. checkpoint opened fire late on March 4 as he was driving to Baghdad
airport with Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena after obtaining her release
from insurgent kidnappers." (1, 2)
-By Paul Holmes -Reuters
20050417
-
-
-
-
- Languages
- Secrets
- "Decoded
at last: the 'classical holy grail' that may rewrite the history of the
world: Scientists begin to unlock the secrets of
papyrus scraps bearing long-lost words by the literary giants of Greece
and Rome." ... "For more than a century, it has caused excitement and frustration
in equal measure - a collection of Greek and Roman writings so vast it
could redraw the map of classical civilisation. If only it was legible."
... "Now, in a breakthrough described as the classical equivalent of finding
the holy grail, Oxford University scientists have employed infra-red technology
to open up the hoard, known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and with it the
prospect that hundreds of lost Greek comedies, tragedies and epic poems
will soon be revealed." ... "In the past four days alone, Oxford's classicists
have used it to make a series of astonishing discoveries, including writing
by Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and other literary giants of the ancient
world, lost for millennia. They even believe they are likely to find lost
Christian gospels, the originals of which were written around the time
of the earliest books of the New Testament." -By David
Keys and Nicholas Pyke -Independent.co.uk
20050331
-
"Ailing
Pope is no longer actively running Catholic Church, spokesman indicates."
... "The Vatican indicated for the first time yesterday that Pope John
Paul was no longer actively running the Catholic Church. In a statement
announcing that the ailing pontiff was now being fed through a tube in
his nose, his spokesman said merely that the pontiff was "following" the
church's activities." -By John Hooper -Guardian.co.uk
20050315
-
-
- "Italy
to Reduce Troops in Iraq in Sept." ... "Premier Silvio
Berlusconi, facing rising opposition to the war in Iraq and public outcry
over the deadly U.S. shooting of an Italian agent in Baghdad, announced
Tuesday that Italy will start withdrawing its 3,000 troops from Iraq beginning
in September." ... "Italian government officials had already indicated
that Rome would consider withdrawing troops if Iraq could handle its own
security. Last fall, Italy's defense minister said coalition troops in
Iraq could be gradually cut after Iraq's elections in January, but he did
not cite a timetable." -By Frances D'Emilio
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
20050311
-
-
-
-
- "French
court bans Christ advert: France's Catholic Church
has won a court injunction to ban a clothing advertisement based on Leonardo
da Vinci's Christ's Last Supper." ... "The display was ruled "a gratuitous
and aggressive act of intrusion on people's innermost beliefs", by a judge."
... "The church objected to the female version of the fresco, which includes
a female Christ, used by clothing designers Marithe et Francois Girbaud."
... "The authorities in the Italian city of Milan banned the poster last
month." -BBC
/News
20050304
-
-
-
-
- "Agent
killed in Iraq negotiated releases." ... "Nicola
Calipari was a veteran Italian secret service agent and practiced negotiator
who had helped return two hostages kidnapped in Iraq home to their loved
ones in Italy." ... "At least once before, Calipari reportedly came close
to negotiating the release of yet another Italian hostage - the journalist
Giuliana Sgrena - but left Baghdad empty-handed, according to the news
agency ANSA." ... "It finally happened Friday, when Sgrena was handed over
to Italian officials following a month of captivity in the hands of Iraqi
insurgents. But the happy occasion quickly turned sour when the car taking
Sgrena, Calipari and other agents to the Baghdad airport was fired upon
at a U.S. checkpoint." ... "Calipari was killed as he threw his body across
Sgrena." -By Maria Sanminiatelli
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20040930
-
Larry
Franklin -
 Douglas
Feith - Criminal
Investigation - US
-  Israel
- Italy
- Iran
- Military
- Intelligence
- History
- "Iran-Contra
II? Fresh scrutiny on a rogue Pentagon operation."
... "On Friday evening, CBS News reported that the FBI [Federal Bureau
of Investigation ] is investigating a suspected mole in the Department
of Defense who allegedly passed to Israel, via a pro-Israeli lobbying organization
[AIPAC], classified American intelligence about Iran. The focus of the
investigation, according to [United States] U.S. government officials,
is Larry Franklin, a veteran Defense Intelligence Agency Iran analyst now
working in the office of the Pentagon's number three civilian official,
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith." ... "The investigation
of Franklin is now shining a bright light on a shadowy struggle within
the [Republican President] Bush administration over the direction of U.S.
policy toward Iran. In particular, the FBI is looking with renewed interest
at an unauthorized back-channel between Iranian dissidents and advisers
in Feith's office, which more-senior administration officials first tried
in vain to shut down and then later attempted to cover up." ... "Franklin,
along with another colleague from Feith's office, a polyglot Middle East
expert named Harold Rhode, were the two officials involved in the back-channel,
which involved on-going meetings and contacts with Iranian arms dealer
Manucher Ghorbanifar and other Iranian exiles, dissidents and government
officials. Ghorbanifar is a storied figure who played a key role in embroiling
the Reagan administration in the Iran-Contra affair. The meetings were
both a conduit for intelligence about Iran and Iraq and part of a bitter
administration power-struggle pitting officials at [the Department of Defense]
DoD who have been pushing for a hard-line policy of "regime change" in
Iran, against other officials at the State Department and the CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] who have been counseling a more cautious approach."
... "Reports of two of these meetings first surfaced a year ago in Newsday,
and have since been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. Whether or how the meetings are connected
to the alleged espionage remains unknown. But the FBI is now closely scrutinizing
them." ... "While the FBI is looking at the meetings as part of its criminal
investigation, to congressional investigators the Ghorbanifar back-channel
typifies the out-of-control bureaucratic turf wars which have characterized
and often hobbled Bush administration policy-making. And an investigation
by The Washington Monthly -- including a rare interview with Ghorbanifar
-- adds weight to those concerns. The meetings turn out to have been far
more extensive and much less under White House control than originally
reported. One of the meetings, which Pentagon officials have long characterized
as merely a "chance encounter" seems in fact to have been planned long
in advance by Rhode and Ghorbanifar. Another has never been reported in
the American press. The administration's reluctance to disclose these details
seems clear: the DoD-Ghorbanifar meetings suggest the possibility that
a rogue faction at the Pentagon was trying to work outside normal US foreign
policy channels to advance a "regime change" agenda not approved by the
president's foreign policy principals or even the president himself." ...
"The Italian Job" ... "The first meeting occurred in Rome [Italy's
capital] in December, 2001. It included Franklin, Rhode, and another American,
the neoconservative writer and operative Michael Ledeen, who organized
the meeting. (According to UPI, Ledeen was then working for Feith as a
consultant.) Also in attendance was Ghorbanifar and a number of other Iranians.
One of the Iranians, according to two sources familiar with the meeting,
was a former senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who claimed
to have information about dissident ranks within the Iranian security services.
The
Washington Monthly has also learned from U.S. government sources that
Nicolo Pollari, the head of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI,
attended the meetings, as did the Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino,
who is well-known in neoconservative circles in Washington." ... "Alarm
bells about the December 2001 meeting began going off in U.S. government
channels only days after it occurred." ... "Since the late 1980s Ghorbanifar
has been the subject of two CIA "burn notices." The Agency believes Ghorbanifar
is a serial "fabricator" and forbids its officers from having anything
to do with him." -By Joshua
Micah Marshall, Laura Rozen,
and Paul Glastris with contributions by Claudio Lavanga
-WashingtonMonthly.com
20040415
-
-
-
-
- "Japanese
Hostages Freed in Iraq; Iranian Killed." ... "Three
Japanese hostages were freed Thursday, but the murders of an Iranian diplomat
and an Italian captive were chilling proof of the risks foreigners face
in Iraq, where rebels are battling the U.S.-led occupation." ... "America's
top general said talks were under way to try to bring peace to the embattled
Sunni Muslim city of Falluja and to avoid a bloodbath in the Shi'ite shrine
city of Najaf." ... "The three [Japanese] seized last week are Noriaki
Imai, 18, who wanted to research the effects of depleted uranium weapons,
journalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, and aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34." (1,
2,
3)
-By Fiona O'Brien -Reuters
20040401
-
-
- "Three
countries arrest 53 militants in coordinated crackdown."
... "Turkey, Italy, and Belgium arrested 53 militants in a coordinated
crackdown Thursday on a Turkish Marxist group considered a terrorist organization
by Washington, Turkey's Interior Ministry said." ... "Police in Istanbul
arrested 37 suspects of the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front,
or DHKP-C, while security forces Italy and Belgium detained 16, an Interior
Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity."
-AP via -USATODAY
20040106
-
-
-
- "EU
on Alert for More Letter Bombs; Suspect Letter at
Italy Mission Turns Out to Be False Alarm." ... "EU officials and members
of the European Parliament were warned to be extra vigilant after two bombs
ignited Monday, one in the Brussels office of a leading German conservative
member of the EU legislature and another in the office of a British socialist
member in Manchester, England." ... "A third booby-trapped letter was intercepted
in the Brussels office of a Spanish conservative in the Parliament."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20031230
-
"Parmalat
slipped past loosened laws: After U.S. scandals,
accommodation trumped regulation." ... "After the scandals that erupted
at Enron and other U.S. corporations, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley
bill in an attempt to prevent such corporate abuses. In much of Europe,
regulations have been tightened in hope of avoiding similar problems."
... "But Italy has reacted to its own business disasters in an entirely
different way. Led by Silvio Berlusconi, the nation's prime minister and
perhaps its leading business executive as well, Italy has acted to remove
criminal penalties for accounting fraud and, in the past week, has rewritten
its bankruptcy laws to accommodate the spectacular failure of Parmalat,
the giant dairy and food-processing company controlled by the Tanzi family."
-By John Tagliabue -NYTimes
via -Google-News
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