Nobel Peace Prize winner backs convicted kidnappers

by Grant Morgan An Italian court yesterday convicted 23 US CIA and military personnel of the 2003 kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan and sending him to Egypt to be imprisoned, tortured and, years later, released without charge. You can read a BBC report on the trial at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8343123.stm (or see previous post) This is the first time any court in the world has convicted US state agents for their illegal kidnappings, detentions and torture under the “war on terror” begun by George Bush. And what was the reaction of the latest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama? A spokesperson for the Obama administration declared, “We are disappointed by the verdicts,” saying an appeal is likely. If the mass media were at all even-handed in their reporting, here’s how they would headline the Obama administration’s reaction:

Obama ‘disappointed’ at kidnappers being brought to justice

Of course, expecting fairness in the media is about as realistic as expecting any other reaction from Obama than the one we got. The US imperial war machine obeys its own laws, which require it to break the ordinary laws against kidnapping, torture and worse which govern mere mortals like us. And Obama obeys the US imperial war machine. But we all knew that, didn’t we?