Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Racist Former Texas Prison Guard Nathan Ener Threatens Black Lives Matter Activists over death of Texas Sheriff Darren Goforth

Former Texas prison guard Nathan Ener took to Facebook after the killing of Texas Sheriff Deputy Darren Goforth to rail against the Black Lives Matter movement, Black Panther Party and "thugs" and threaten any activists who come to Texas to "kill cops"



Here is the full video, which he has since deleted




The Mysterious Death of Alfred Wright


Luckily this is what happened when Nathan Ener was actually confronted by Black Panther members at a rally for Alfred Wright, at least last year before Darren Goforth was killed and Black Lives Matter was a national movement.

 A short clip




Here is a longer video






He also tells people to prevent Black Lives Matter/Black Panthers from naming a street after Sandra Bland.

 Cassandra writes over at PINAC News
"OPINION: Hypocrisy of Racist Texan’s Video Threatening to Shoot “Thugs” Over Dead Cop"
documenting how every time a cop is killed, right wing fanatics go nuts, but shed no tears over the many more innocent, unarmed people killed by cops.

 If you're not following @Cassandrarules yet, do it now.  You won't be sorry.

 Anonymous adds what they have collected so far on Nathan Ener
Fuck this racist prick. Here's the text from my doxing. Screencaps don't save on pastebin, links provided.

https://www.facebook.com/nathan.ener?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/chelseanate

 Profile:

 Related Names:
• mammie ener
• winfred ener
• grandma patsy clarke https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000422479279&sk=photos
• tammy and greg ener of lufkin texas https://www.facebook.com/tammy.blankenshipener
• tammy seems to support the cops too, might just be a redneck thing
• hubby greg has nathan ener on his friendslist https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008490281787&sk=friends
• also f inds chelsa ener (see twitter id chelseanate) : https://www.facebook.com/chelsea.ener

CHELSEA ENER:
Nathan's Daughter:
https://www.facebook.com/chelsea.ener
Ashley Ener (Nathan's Other Daughter)
https://www.facebook.com/ashley.ener.16

NATHAN ENER
- not a cop, a former prison guard:
- Enjoyed beating inmates:
"Those were some of my best days, I really loved working there, loved beating those inmates too. Kelp me in shape."
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=781558988566074&set=pb.100001359413199.-2207520000.1441145543.&type=3&theater
http://www.texasobserver.org/alfred-wright-jasper-east-texas-mystery/
- likes the Harris County Sherrif's Office, Tx
- supports American Rancher Cliven Bundy

 - supports Israel
- keeps basset hounds & a germal shepherd
- likes fishing at Toledo Bend Lake
- participates in old west reenactments
- enjoys taking the race-baiting, "Police Lives Matter" new favorite slogan

Was cited in 2009 for not adding a kill to his hunting card, but was subsequently let off the hook in a case of judicial favoritism. Big uproar.

 Full case is an interesting read:
http://www.scjc.state.tx.us/pdf/actions/FY2012-PUBSANC.pdf
"On November 24, 2009, Texas Park and Wildlife Game Warden Randy Button (“Button”) cited Nathan Ener (“Ener”) for failing to complete the harvest log on the back of his hunting license after killing a buck white-tail deer.   "

 Also see .. http://www.noethics.net/News/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2679:judge-jeff-cox-of-hemphill-tx-favoritism-for-friends-liar-&catid=65:texas-judicial-misfits&Itemid=82
Apparently he found some of the Columbia wreckage. Pic is 12 years old, he's shaved and gotten greyer since then.
http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/nathan-ener-speaks-with-a-texas-police-officer-after-he-news-photo/1759754

Was involved in a standoff with the Black Panthers....
http://www.kltv.com/story/24790062/alfred-wright-death-spurs-heated-protest
"YouTube video shows a standoff between Quanell X and Hemphill resident, Nathan Ener.  The New Black Panthers were in Hemphill protesting and wanting answers from Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox.  Wright's family believes the sheriff knows more about his disappearance.  "

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqRhSd3-l3E

 More lulz on this matter including video:
http://yourblackworld.net/2015/09/01/watch-angry-white-texas-racist-threatens-to-kill-black-protesters-video/
... and http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/apr/03/racial-groups-clash-over-texas-black-mans-death/
... and http://www.ifyouonlynews.com/videos/watch-unbelievably-racist-and-violently-angry-white-man-threatens-to-kill-black-americans-video/

.. wrote a positive review of TexasTruckCenter.com:
http://www.texastruckcenter.com/testimonials.html?&page=440&limit=40

 August 8, 2006

Thank you, Frank Romano for the best truck at the best price, you are one of the nicest guys I have ever done business with. I will be back again when I get ready to buy another truck. Thanks Again. Nathan Ener, Hemphill, Texas.

 Nathan Ener
Hemphill Texas, TX
  
Wrote a positive review for the Texas Rangers:
Possible Geneological record:
http://sortedbyname.com/pages/c109009.html
CLARK, TAMMY D who was 25 (born ABT 1969) married 19 JAN 1994 in POLK COUNTY, TEXAS, U.S.A. a groom named NATHAN ENER who was 31 (born ABT 1963). 4928100  
Check the source file (free) and then check Archives for TAMMY CLARK.  
- not many hits for a "Tammy" on his FB
- might be referring to Nathan Junior, as I found a Nathan Ener married to Tammy D Ener in Hemphill tx that is 50-54

 Phone number 

•    409-787-3406  
• Windstream Communications Landline

 Address 

•     PO Box 511  Hemphill, TX 75948-0511 
  
### possible secondary number 409-787-3407
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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Justice for Nate Wilks

Police shoot and kill someone every single day.  So far in 2015 there have only been nine days where that was not the case. Every day we have to learn about a new name, and details of what happened.  One recent name I heard was Nate Wilks. Police say he was an armed robbery suspect and during a chase turned towards cops and refused orders to drop gun. According to the family, eyewitnesses at the scene disagree and say he was simply running away from police.  Oakland police showed the video to reporters on the condition that they don't release it to the public (because that's how to regain our trust!)
Although some witnesses said Wilks raised the gun at the officers, the videos do not show him making such a move.
“Remember, a gun can be fired from any position,” [Lt. Roland] Holmgren said.
East Bay Express discusses California transparency laws with regards to when footage is shown
Oakland Police Department officials came under fire last week for showing police body-camera videos to a group of select journalists, while refusing to release the footage to the general public. First Amendment experts widely agreed that OPD's actions likely violated the California Public Records Act, and that, at minimum, the department should now show the videos, which involved the two recent deaths of local citizens, to anyone who wants to see them. And while those criticisms are valid, last week's video disclosures also raise numerous questions about how and when police departments will reveal video footage at a time when law enforcement agencies around the state are increasingly mandating that all cops use body cameras.
Rapid News Network adds
Body cameras also captured the deaths of two other men, Demouria Hogg and Antonio Clements, who have been shot and killed by police since June. Hogg was killed during a confrontation near Lake Merritt after police said he was found asleep in his auto with a loaded gun on the passenger seat.
The deadly shooting of 24-year-old Nate Wilks led to protests in the streets of Oakland. It also drew criticism from prominent civil rights attorneys upset that the department limited the viewing to select media members and refused to show footage of other men recently shot and killed by police. “They should not just be released when the shootings from a police point of view are justifiable”.
I was glad that the fundraiser for an independent autopsy reached it's goal.  I am also reaching out for more information on the case, since I have had trouble finding information after the fundraiser.  I am also trying unsuccessfully to find more information on Tyronne Harris, shot on the anniversary of the killing of Mike Brown



A second look at the autopsy of Mansur Ball-Bey shows why we need independent autopsies conducted in police shootings.
Mansur Ball-Bey, shot last week by police, suffered a severed spinal cord, officials disclosed Wednesday, leading to questions of whether such a wound would have permitted him to run a short distance, as officers have said.
Dr. Michael Graham, the medical examiner, arranged a re-examination of the body Wednesday and told a reporter that Ball-Bey’s spinal cord may have survived the impact but unraveled as he ran. In any event, the bullet also pierced his heart, which still would have been fatal.
Attorney Jermaine Wooten, who is representing Ball-Bey’s family, said the second examination at Graham’s office is “suspicious.”
“That’s a clear indication to me that given the initial results they learned from the initial autopsy, it doesn’t support the position the police laid out at first as it relates to Bey being shot and running, so they want to take a second look to modify those findings,” Wooten said. “These things should have been addressed early on and I don’t see why they are taking a second look when it should have been thorough and complete the first time.
Ball-Bey's family attorneys have said that he wasn't even in the house when it was raided.
Police have said Ball-Bey and a 14-year-old ran out the back door of the residence and encountered two officers in the alley. They say Ball-Bey pointed a stolen handgun with an extended magazine at one of them.
The second-story flat at 1243 Walton Avenue has a long, steep rear staircase that leads to a door secured with a board. From there, attorneys showed how Ball-Bey would have had to run across the backyard, hop a fence into the alley, then run through another nearby backyard to the south and down a gangway before collapsing from a single gunshot wound to the back.
“The police narration isn’t plausible at all,” Jermaine Wooten, an attorney for Ball-Bey’s family, said at the scene. “That’s a lot of running he would have had to do to get to this point.”
Ball-Bey’s cousins live at the residence, but they told attorneys he wasn’t at the home when police arrived. They said he was coming there from work at FedEx shortly before the shooting.









I was very excited to see that the goal was reached with 21 hours left to raise more funds





I also noticed that a Scott Olsen had donated $100.  I later confirmed that it was in fact Iraq War vet Scott Olsen injured by police at the Occupy Oakland protest

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A Character Letter on Jason Flannery, cop who killed VonDerrit Myers

I am posting this here because I don't like Scribd.  The original is here.  I tried to do the formatting the same as well as I could.  Any errors are mine.

A Character Letter on Jason Flannery




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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Fewer Israelis killed in 22 years of terrorism than Palestinians killed in 51 days

Terrorism is usually described as violence with a political goal, and it is meant to be a cheap form of fighting, for example set off one bomb and make society spend lots more preventing next attack. Before 9/11, I would say that two societies, Israel and Ireland, were the best known examples. It is generally acknowledged that terrorism is not really about killing people, but more about striking fear into the rest of the population.

 I just found this on the website of the Jewish Virtual Library, a list of every victim of terrorism in Israel since 1993 when the Oslo peace agreement was signed.

 Here are the total number of victims for the last 22 years.
From the Oslo Accords (Sept. 1993) until September 2000 - nearly 300 Israelis were killed in attacks.
During the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Intifada (Sept. 2000 - Dec. 2005) another 1,100 Israelis were killed.
Since December 2005, Palestinian terrorist attacks have claimed at least another 154 Israeli lives.
300 + 1,100 + 154 = 1,554 Israelis killed by terrorism in 22 years.  

 2,310 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza in 51 days of 2014 war

 Compare that to the number of people, mainly civilians and more than 500 children killed in last years 51 day war in Gaza.

 Governments focus on terrorism, but rarely acknowledge how few people it actually kills.
Since 9/11, an average of nine American Muslims per year have been involved in an average of six terrorism-related plots against targets in the United States. Most were disrupted, but the 20 plots that were carried out accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13 and a half years.



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Friday, August 7, 2015

Unfortunate choice of words for Jon Stewart day before final show

I love Jon Stewart as host of the Daily Show.  His criticism of politicians and the media is great, and he will mention issues and policies in 10 minutes that you cannot hear in the 24 hour Mainstream media, as Democracy Now! summed up as Jon left the show
Jon Stewart, known as "the most trusted name in fake news," bid farewell to "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central Thursday night after 16 years. The satirical news show transformed the media landscape, revealing and reveling in the hypocrisies of politicians and their media bedfellows. Thursday night, Stewart said goodbye to his viewers, warning the audience not to believe misinformation.
There is some criticism of his show as Luke Rudkowski examined a few of them here



He also praised NAFTA recently as good for Mexico when interviewing Bill Clinton.

 Look up the Zapatistas.  Nettie Wild, a filmmaker from Canada noted that "in Canada we debated NAFTA, but in Mexico they went to war over it."

 Zapatista National Army of Liberation
The group takes its name from Emiliano Zapata, the agrarian reformer[2] and commander of the Liberation Army of the Southduring the Mexican Revolution, and sees itself as his ideological heir.
Democracy Now! 20 year anniversary of Zapatista uprising
On the same day the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect on Jan. 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army and people of Chiapas declared war on the Mexican government, saying that NAFTAmeant death to indigenous peoples. They took over five major towns in Chiapas with fully armed women and men. The uprising was a shock, even for those who for years worked in the very communities where the rebel army had been secretly organizing.
NAFTA at 20 with Lori Wallach on Democracy Now!
The North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada went into effect 20 years ago this week on January 1, 1994. The massive trade pact was signed into law by President Bill Clinton amidst great promise that it would raise wages, create jobs and even improve health and environmental safety standards. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs have vanished as companies sought lower-wage workers in Mexico. Meanwhile, NAFTA has generated more poverty in Mexico, forcing millions of citizens to migrate to the United States in search of work.
VICE News video 20 years of Zapatista

 Film on Zapatistas


The conversation starts talking about Mexico almost from the start as they discuss Donald Trump running for President and his remarks on immigrants as criminals

 Clinton's quotes and statistics that he is famous for start at 2:24

 "between 2010 and 2014 there was no net in migration from Mexico"

 "all we read about is the violence of the drug war"

 "the previous President built 140 tuition-free universities"

 "2 years ago the Mexicans produced 113,000 engineers we produced 120,000"

 "they've had very brisk growth and except in the narco centers the crime rate the murder rate has gone down"

 Jon says

 "so here we're going to talk about trade.  So NAFTA has been very beneficial I think for Mexico I think you would agree it brought a lot of jobs to Mexico it changed the political climate down there it brought them.  NAFTA is being used as an example of why we shouldn't do the TPP.  So tell me why are these trade agreements these free trade agreements good for American workers?

 Clinton well let's first of all explain what happened with Mexico.

 Stewart OK. how far back are we going?

 [audience laughs]

 Clinton just to NAFTA.

 so what happened after NAFTA was they had almost a total collapse of their currency

 Stewart right peso collapse

 Clinton so I gave them a loan back in 1995 which they paid back 3 years early and taxpayers earned $570 million in interest.  $560 million.

 Stewart it was 562.  go ahead.

 [audience laughs]

 Clinton they earned the money.  but as a result of that their economy was weak.  plus they were one of our biggest oil suppliers before we were self sufficient in oil.  so we did have a trade deficit there.  and the analysis of all of our trade agreements with countries with lower per capita income then we have shows that on balance the countries we have trade agreements with we tend to have balanced trade much more then let's say with China with whom we have no trade agreement with and we have a humongous deficit.

 Stewart but that was well some would say that the larger problem was not NAFTA but China joining the WTO.

 Clinton well the larger problem whether they joined or not we had a huge trade deficit with them before they joined WTO and at least when they got into WTO they has to agree to rules and if we vigorously enforced trade deals we had a forum to enforce it.

 There is more that I cannot type right now

 anyone want to help me with transcripts? LOL

Stewart goes to commercial break and says when the show returns they will discuss "what that sensible economic policy looks like."

 How about Marxism as a sensible economic policy? Turns out Jon Stewart is no Jon Stewart.  (I was confused at first seeing his name here)

 I'm in favor of Marxism, or more specifically, Democracy at work.  shared profits among all workers.  Not an end to private property and 5 year plans, just real fairness in who gets what from the economy.

 I wrote a little about that here discussing the fight for $15 an hour minimum wage.

 So while Jon Stewart and the Daily Show can be a news source for college kids and a source of satire and an excellent resource on hypocrisy, there are issues with Jon and his political stance and mainstream liberal ideas.

 Counterpunch points out some problems Jon has with the Left in a piece on his "Rally to Restore Sanity" which talks about Stewart's criticism of the Left and his "non-ideological" positions.

 There is also his friendship not only with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama but also Bill O'Reilley.

 And now that there is some background, the main point of this post, a simple bad choice of words, unless it turns out Jon knew what he was saying all along, the day before his final show and the day before the 70th anniversary of the US bombing of Hiroshima, a war crime bombing a civilian population in order to scare off Russia.

 Jon poked fun at the media calling his monologues "eviscerations" of his targets.  He called the segment "The Daily Show: Destroyer of Worlds"

 Embedded image permalink
Which was J. Robert Oppenheimer's comment on nuclear weapons.

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that one way or another.





 You can watch the full documentary from 1965 here




Just one more thing I won't miss about Jon Stewart



















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Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Lifting Iran Sanctions may be threatened by bill compensating American Hostages

Posting this from April in draft form right now....so far it has only been referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

 CRS Report from July 30, 2015 The Iran Hostages:Efforts to Obtain Compensation

Many might be unaware that the 52 American mostly military and diplomatic personnel held hostage in Tehran for 444 days continue to strive for significant compensation for their ordeal. The former hostages and their families did receive a number of benefits under various civil service laws, and each hostage received from the U.S. government a cash payment of $50 for each day held hostage. The hostages have never received any compensation from Iran through court actions, all efforts having failed due to foreign sovereign immunity and an executive agreement known as the Algiers Accords, which bars such lawsuits. Congress took action to abrogate Iran’s sovereign immunity in the case Roeder v. Islamic Republic of Iran, but never successfully abrogated the executive agreement, leaving the plaintiffs with jurisdiction to pursue their case but without a judicial cause of action. Having lost their bids in the courts to obtain recompense, the former hostages have turned to Congress for relief. This report outlines the history of various efforts, including legislative efforts and court cases, and describes one bill currently before Congress, the Justice for Former American Hostages in Iran Act of 2015 (S. 868). 

 Kristina Dei told me this is "not gonna happen."  But here we go anyway.

 One day after President Obama had threatened to veto a new bill in Congress that would prevent the White House from lifting Congressional economic sanctions on Iran, Obama has now said he would sign the new law.  Obama can still veto the vote that opposes the Iran deal.  Yesterday (April 14th) on NPR's All Things Considered David Welna explained the changes to host Robert Siegel.
SIEGEL: David, as recently as yesterday, the White House said that President Obama would veto any bill that put constraints on his freedom to negotiate with Iran. Now the White House indicates that the president can support this bill. What changed?
WELNA: The bill changed. The period for a congressional review of the final deal, during which sanctions could not be lifted was shrunk from 60 days to 30 days in a bipartisan deal that was worked out last night. And the bill was also stripped of language that was a deal-breaker for the White House, which would have required that the president certify every 90 days to Congress that Iran had not been involved in any terrorist activities against the United States.
Now the bill simply requires that the president report to Congress any terrorist activities Iran may have been involved in. And with those changes, the White House was no longer wielding a veto threat today.
The deal could also be threatened by Iran if they continue to insist that sanctions be lifted at once and negotiators don't agree to that condition.
"The end of these negotiations and a signed deal must include a declaration of cancelling the oppressive sanctions on the great nation of Iran," said Rouhani
There are in place many sanctions against Iran.

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/pages/iran.aspx

 State Dept
http://www.state.gov/e/eb/tfs/spi/iran/index.htm

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_against_Iran

 CRS Iran Sanctions March 2015 https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS20871.pdf

 BBC Iran sanctions http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-15983302
But this bill could pose a threat to any lifting of sanctions later down the road.  
http://www.govexec.com/defense/2015/04/us-hostages-1979-iranian-revolution-may-finally-be-compensated/110260/
Attached to the larger Iran negotiations bill is a bill (S. 868) that would seek compensation and justice for the hostages—most of whom endured torture-- by imposing a 30 percent surcharge on the fines of any entity such as a business that violates economic sanctions against Iran.

 TIME Joe Klein Iran http://time.com/3814979/bye-bye-great-satan/
“The question is,” Ramin went on, “how can America remain the Great Satan if you’re making deals with them?” That’s why people were dancing in the streets of Tehran. “It was the prospect of a better economy, for sure, but it was also the hope that this was the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic.”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/hostages-what-hostages_914652.html
Last December, it appeared justice might be served. Funds for hostage compensation were put in the U.S. budget. The money would come from fines collected from violators of sanctions against Iran—money not covered by the Algiers Accords. But that compensation was yanked from the budget at the last minute.
Now, with the Obama administration and Iran on the verge of a deal aiming to curb the Iranian nuclear program, Congress may act. A bill introduced by Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) would provide compensation. How much? In recent years, a consensus among federal judges has been reached on the amount a hostage, if injured, should receive. Each of the 39 hostages still living—all of whom endured physical or mental injury—would get $10,000 for each day in captivity, and spouses and children would get half that figure.

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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Sabrina de Sousa and the Rendition of Abu Omar

Former CIA agent Bob Baer says 
If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan.
If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria.
If you want someone to disappear - never to see them again - you send them to Egypt.
Mother Jones reported that
Then-CIA director George Tenet testified before the 9/11 Commission that there were more than 80 renditions before September 11, 2001. We found information on 29 cases of extraordinary and ordinary rendition prior to 9/11. Of the 14 that qualify as extraordinary renditions, 12 were to Egypt.
This is the story of Abu Omar, a prisoner sent to Egypt that we heard from again, and Sabrina de Sousa, one of the CIA agents charged in his rendition case of kidnapping.  Both continue to fight for justice more than 10 years later.  Abu Omar's case was heard on June 23, 2015 at the European Court of Human Rights.  Italy denied it's role in the rendition, claiming that Abu Omar
“was captured exclusively by CIA agents”, Paolo Accardo, lawyer for the Italian government, told the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
“The applicant was never – not even for one moment – in the hands of Italian authorities, nor has he been lawfully detained for some time by Italian authorities,” said Accardo.
The Rendition

On February 17, 2003 as more than 3 million protesters gathered in Rome against the imminent war in Iraq, with millions more protesting in cities around the world, Sabrina de Sousa was
chaperoning her son’s high school trip at Madonna Di Campiglio, a popular ski area in northern Italy.
Working for the CIA since the mid-1990's, she was transferred to the US Consulate in Milan in the spring of 2001.

 She was one of more than 20 convicted in 2009 in absentia of orchestrating the rendition of Abu Omar from Italy to Egypt.

 She was denied immunity from the State Department and has been fighting ever since to clear her name and hold those who are responsible accountable for the kidnapping and torture of an innocent man. The CIA has denied the existence of records
pertaining to the U.S. government's investigation of Abu Omar's rendition as well as determinations concerning the government's obligation to defend her.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, a radical Egyptian cleric, had lived in Italy since 2001 (according to the Italian arrest warrant for Betnie Medero, Vincent Faldo and James Thomas Harbison) after receiving political asylum after the Egyptian government alleged that he was part of a terrorist group.  

 In 2002 Egypt issued an arrest warrant for him after it was requested that they do so by Jeffrey Castelli.

While in Italy, Abu Omar spoke out publicly and vehemently against U.S. military action in Iraq prior to the March 2003 invasion. Italy responded by placing him under surveillance.

 However at the time of his rendition Abu Omar was not under investigation.

 The Kidnapping
Around noon on Monday, Feb. 17, 2003, Abu Omar left his apartment on Via Guerzoni in Milan for his daily walk to his mosque. Some at the CIA believed he had been plotting a 2002 attack against a bus full of students headed to an American school in Milan, Italian court records say.
A small car purred alongside him. Then a big white van. An Italian law enforcement official, who was collaborating with the CIA team, stepped out of the car and asked to see Omar’s identification. Moments later, two men burst out of the van. Omar, a hefty man, then about 40, was forced into the back. His mouth was taped shut. His feet and hands were bound. He was blindfolded, according to Italian court documents.
Hours later, the van sped onto Aviano Air Base in northeast Italy. From there, Omar was flown to a U.S. air base in Germany, then on to Egypt, where he was thrown into a Cairo prison. He was beaten, his wife told Italian investigators, according to the court documents. His genitals, she said, were subjected to electric shocks.
(Harvard National Security Journal footnote 2 page 2)
The abduction purportedly derailed Italy’s investigation of Omar. An Italian counterterrorism prosecutor claimed that “if Abu Omar had not been kidnapped, he would now be in [an Italian] prison, subject to a regular trial, and we would have probably identified his other accomplices.”
Italian counter-terrorism officials claimed that Omar fought in Bosnia and Afghanistan and recruited fighters for extremist Islamic causes. Omar’s attorney acknowledged that Omar illegally entered Italy in 1997 but that prior to that he had merely been traveling in Jordan, Yemen, Albania, and Germany. (MSNBC)

The court referred to Omar as a “[m]ilitant in Egypt of the Egyptian extremist organization Gama’a al Islamiya.” (footnote 1 pg 172)

The Trial
By analyzing cell phone records Italian prosecutors were able to "In July 2006, the prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for De Sousa, whom he identified as one of the four U.S. officials mainly responsible for the alleged kidnapping."
Abu Omar ultimately was not charged with a crime and was released in February 2007.
That same month, an Italian judge indicted 26 U.S. government officials, including the plaintiff, for their alleged roles in the kidnapping. Six Italian officials were also charged.  Abu Omar, for his part, filed a separate civil suit in Italy.
Sabrina de Sousa returned to the United States in early 2004 after finishing her tour of duty in Italy.  (Pg 3, Opinion, Sabrina de Sousa vs State Dept)

The State Department only invoked diplomatic immunity for one person, Robert Seldon Lady, allegedly the CIA station chief in Milan.

 "Lady received a sentence of eight years. The Italian judge found that a third alleged CIA operative, Jeffrey Castelli, the alleged CIA station chief in Rome, could not be convicted because he possessed diplomatic immunity."

 In 2009 de Sousa sued the State Department for failing to invoke diplomatic immunity, and in November 2014
She submitted FOIA requests to State, the CIA, and the Department of Defense for records pertaining to the U.S. government's investigation of Abu Omar's rendition as well as determinations concerning the government's obligation to defend her. The CIA issued a Glomar response neither confirming nor denying the existence of records. The other agencies did not substantively respond to her requests and De Sousa finally filed suit.
According to an exchange with a prosecutor, Mr Spataro, Abu Omar may have been kidnapped in order to recruit him as an agent.
"With regard to the question of whether Abu Omar had been kidnapped with the objective of recruiting him, Mr Spataro said that it was possible that there had been attempts to recruit him after the kidnapping, but he did not consider that Abu Omar’s possible recruitment was the aim of the kidnapping."
Map of CIA Rendition Flights from Mother Jones


















Abu Omar Rendition 
















In a 2007 Congressional hearing (video 2hrs 39) former CIA agent Michael Scheuer testified that
to the best of my knowledge, not a single target of rendition has ever been kidnapped by CIA officers. The claims to the contrary by the Swedish Government regarding Mr. Aghiza and his associate and those by the Italian Government regarding Abu Omar are either misstatements or lies by those governments.
An Italian arrest warrant issued on September 27, 2005 goes into more details about the torture Abu Omar endured, including threats made against his family as well.

Page 6
he added that he was made to sign a statement after the torture where he declared he had turned himself in to the Egyptian authorities of his own free will…
According to my husband, at first the Egyptians were astounded at having him there with them; this fueled my husband’s belief that he had not been kidnapped by Egyptians.. once freed, the Egyptian authorities told him he could go back to his work in Egypt, open up a store or even take up studying again, but he had to stay away from spreading any kind of Islamic propaganda. Some of the details I am recounting have also been learnt by my sister-in-law… I cannot provide precise information as to the traumas he endured.. I heard about the torture from his kin... at any rate, he said he had lost about 20 kilos as a result of the detention.. I do not believe my husband was able to provide any of the information they were after.. they merely ordered him to quit his propaganda activities..
Here from pages 7-8
"He had to meet an important personality.. the Egyptian Home Secretary HABIB AL ADLY…. In fact the minister… basically told him that if he agreed to work as an infiltrator for the Egyptian secret service, he would be home in 48 hours… otherwise he would have to bear full responsibility for his refusal.. Abu Omar refused.. he was forthwith taken to other Cairo premises, also managed by the secret service, where he stayed continually until his release on April 20th 2004.. He was subjected to serious torture.. the first measure was to leave him in a room where incredibly loud and unbearable noise was made.. he has experienced damage to his hearing.. The second kind of torture was to place him in a sauna at tremendous temperature and straight after to put him in a cold storeroom.. occasioning terrible pain to his bones.. as if they were cracking.. The third was to hang him upside down.. and apply live wires to the sensitive parts of the body including his genitals.. and producing electric shocks.. he has suffered damage to his motory and urinary systems.. he became incontinent.. They tortured him accusing him of being an Al Quaeda terrorist and a militant against the Egyptian regime.. they wanted to wrest information from him that he was unable to give.. they told him to consider himself, along with myself, Abu Imad (i.e. the imam of V.le Jenner) and Abu Saleh as terrorists … and that sooner or later the same fate would befall the three of us.. they would catch us as soon as possible.. they said they had agreements with the Italian authorities… that could easily ensure our capture.. If we didn’t turn ourselves in voluntarily.. they would kidnap us…
He told me the torture had been particularly ferocious for the first seven months in detention.. it had then diminished.. except whenever questions were asked about his role and his alleged involvement.. in the final stage of detention.. he underwent medical treatment.. also after his release.. He told me that he had been summoned one day by one of the superintendents of the secret service, who said that if he wanted to get out alive from that jail, he would have to declare he had left Italy for Egypt voluntarily, in order to clear his position.. he would have to keep quiet on everything else.. from the abduction to the torture.. they told him they would find out about any violation of the rules since everything was “under surveillance” also with the backing of the Egyptian judiciary.. if he rejected this proposal.. he would not leave the prison alive.. Before making a decision Abu Omar consulted other inmates.. who told him nobody gets out alive from that jail.. so they told him to accept.. So he did.. he was taken to an office in Alexandria.. he brother was told to fetch him there.. upon release Abu Omar was deprived of his papers.. and he was ordered not to disclose anything to anyone neither in Italy, nor Egypt, and certainly not to the press.. Abu Omar “breached” the agreement.. and for fear of being arrested again, he asked me not to divulge the information I had given him.. I had no other direct communication with Abu Omar aside from that first time and on May 7th.. for all other matters, I just got news from his wife..”
Abu Omar was only one of more than 50 people who were renditioned that Mother Jones magzine was able to count as of 2008 

What is Rendition and why was it used?  Amnesty International said in a statement for the record that
Amnesty International uses the term ‘‘rendition’’ to describe the transfer of individuals from one country to another, by means that bypass all judicial and administrative due process. In the ‘‘war on terror’’ context, the practice is mainly—although not exclusively—initiated by the United States, and carried out with the collaboration, complicity or acquiescence of other governments. The most widely known manifestation of rendition is the secret transfer of terror suspects into the custody of other states—including Egypt, Jordan, and Syria—where physical and psychological brutality feature prominently in interrogations. The rendition network’s aim is to use whatever means necessary to gather intelligence, and to keep detainees away from any judicial oversight.
However, the rendition network has also served to transfer people into U.S. custody, where they may end up in detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq, or Afghanistan, or in secret facilities known as ‘‘black sites’’ run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In a number of cases, individuals have been transferred in and out of U.S. custody several times.
continued
Rendition is sometimes presented simply as an efficient means of transporting terror suspects from one place to another without red tape. Such benign characterizations conceal the truth about a system that puts the victim beyond the protection of the law, and sets the perpetrator above it.
Renditions involve multiple layers of human rights violations. Most victims of rendition were arrested and detained illegally in the first place: some were abducted; others were denied access to any legal process, including the ability to challenge the decision to transfer them because of the risk of torture. There is also a close link between renditions and enforced disappearances. Many of those who have been illegally detained in one country and illegally transported to another have subsequently ‘‘disappeared,’’ including dozens who have ‘‘disappeared’’ in U.S. custody. Every one of the victims of rendition interviewed by Amnesty International has described incidents of torture and other ill-treatment. Because of the secrecy surrounding the practice of rendition, and because many of the victims have ‘‘disappeared,’’ it is difficult to estimate the scope of the program.
In many countries, families are reluctant to report their relatives as missing for fear that intelligence officials will turn their attention on them. The number of renditions cases currently appears to be in the hundreds: Egypt’s Prime Minister noted in 2005 that the United States had transferred some 60–70 detainees to Egypt alone, and a former CIA agent with experience in the region believes that hundreds of detainees have been sent by the United States to prisons in the Middle East. However, this is a minimum estimate. Rendition, like ‘‘disappearance,’’ is designed to evade public and judicial scrutiny, to hide the identity of the perpetrators and the fate of the victims."
On page 12 Michael Scheuer testified about the origin of the rendition program under President Clinton
The CIA’s Rendition Program began in late summer, 1995. I authored it and then ran and managed it against al-Qaeda leaders and other Sunni Islamists from August, 1995, until June, 1999. There were only two goals for the program: First, to take men off the street who were planning or had been involved in attacks on the United States or its allies; second, to seize hard copy or electronic documents in their possession when arrested. Americans were never expected to read those, and they could provide options for follow-on operations.
I would like to add interrogation was never a goal under President Clinton. Why? Because it would be a foreign intelligence or security service without CIA being present or in control who would conduct the interrogation, because the take from the interrogation would be filtered by that service holding the individual and we never knew if it was complete or distorted, and because torture might be used and the information might be simply what an individual thought we wanted to hear.
The Rendition Program was initiated because President Clinton and Messrs. Lake, Berger and Clarke requested that the CIA begin to attack and dismantle al-Qaeda. These men made it clear from the first that they did not want to bring those captured to the United States or to hold them in U.S. custody. President Clinton and his national security team directed the CIA to take each captured al-Qaeda leader to the country which had an outstanding legal process for him. This was a hard-and-fast rule which greatly restricted CIA’s ability to confront al-Qaeda because we could only focus on al-Qaeda leaders who were wanted somewhere for a legal process. As a result, many al-Qaeda fighters we knew of and who were dangerous to America could not be captured.
CIA warned the President and his National Security Council that the U.S. State Department had and would identify the countries to which the captured fighters were being delivered as human rights abusers.
In response, President Clinton and his team asked if CIA could get each receiving country to guarantee that it would treat a person according to its own laws. This was no problem, and we did so. I have read and been told that Mr. Clinton, Mr. Berger and Mr. Clarke have said, since 9/11, that they insisted that each receiving country treat the rendered person it received according to U.S. legal standards. To the best of my memory, that is a lie.
Amnesty International called for accountability for renditions (PDF pg 5)
It is Amnesty International’s position that it is the illegal behavior of U.S. agents overseas and policies that directly contravene international law that have interfered with U.S. relations with its allies. Rather than criticize European bodies for investigating alleged human rights abuses, the United States should fulfill its own responsibility to conduct investigations and cooperate with others in order to ensure transparency and accountability for policies that violate its laws and treaty obligations.
..... 
No diplomatic assurances
• Prohibit the return or transfer of people to places where they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
• Do not require or accept ‘‘diplomatic assurances’’ or similar bilateral agreements to justify renditions or any other form of involuntary transfers of individuals to countries where there is a risk of torture or other ill-treatment.
..... 

 Julianne Smith, director and senior fellow, Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told the hearing that (PDF pg 6)
When it was alleged, however, later in 2005—at the end of 2005 that the United States was detaining top terror suspects in so-called ‘‘black sites’’ in eight countries and that the CIA was flying terror suspects between secret prisons and countries in the Middle East that have been known to torture detainees, the United States image in Europe took another dive.
On the particular issues of rendition, as we have heard earlier, Europeans appear to have two primary concerns, one, Washington’s unwillingness to grant due process to terror suspects and, two, violation of suspects’ human rights during interrogation.

How rendition hurts US intelligence relationships with other countries

pg 9
the United States knowingly removed one of Italy’s better sources in an ongoing investigation. According to a piece in The Chicago Tribune by John Crewdson in January of this year, the Italian intelligence services had had Abu Omar under surveillance for months. Through wire tapping and videotaping, the Italians were investigating Omar’s suspected role in helping young European Muslims travel to Iraq to fight against the anticipated invasion. When the CIA abducted Omar in Milan in February 2003 (despite its knowledge of the Italian surveillance operation), the trail went cold, ending a major Italian investigation. While it is still too early to tell, one wonders whether or not DIGOS, Italy’s anti-terrorist unit (which was not informed of the decision to render Omar), will be as forthcoming with intelligence next time they coordinate with the United States on similar matters.
In an interview with Democracy Now in October 2006 journalist Stephen Grey, who first exposed the use of renditions brilliantly explained the contradictions between the Bush Administration calling for democracy in the Middle East while cooperating with these dictatorships by sending accused terrorists to countries that knowingly torture,
they've talked about their agenda of spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East, and yet the same people who are preventing that democracy from happening, the secret police of these countries, are on the other hand referred to as liaison partners in the war on terror, people we work with, the same people who are locking up dissidents who want to bring the kind of democracy that everyone, I think, in the United States would like to see in these countries.
The American people have been asking since 9/11 "why do they hate us?"  Our hypocrisy towards torture and rendition is certainly a large part of it, because people in the Middle East know what their governments do with the help of the United States, and it is only Americans are the ones kept in the dark.

 Recently the link between Egypt and Italy has been in the news again as ISIS claimed responsibility for bombing the Italian consulate in Cairo.

 NYT
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a powerful explosion outside the Italian Consulate’s compound in downtown Cairo early Saturday that killed one person and was the first major bombing of a foreign diplomatic mission since the start of an insurgency here nearly two years ago.
The explosion, which occurred about 6:15 a.m., jolted residents awake across the city and brought down slabs of the consulate’s outer walls. Initial reports from state television said the explosion was caused by a car bomb that had detonated near one of Cairo’s busiest intersections and under a major bridge.
....
Over the past few weeks, militants have assassinated the country’s top prosecutor, carried out a large-scale assault on troops stationed in the Sinai Peninsula and tried to attack Egypt’s best-known tourist attractions.
....
The attack on Saturday raised new questions about whether the government’s strategy — including its sweeping crackdown on dissidents — could tame the insurgency. Rather, the militants appeared to be broadening the scope of their attacks after months of targeting the security services and killing hundreds of police officers and soldiers.
Unlike previous statements, the claim of responsibility for the bombing on Saturday did not carry the logo of the “Sinai Province,” an Egyptian group based in the Sinai Peninsula that has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks and last year declared its affiliation with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. It was not clear whether the logo on the latest statement — which said “Islamic State, Egypt” — was meant to announce the arrival of a new group.
The statement did not say why the Italian Consulate had been targeted. The compound was far less heavily fortified than other Western diplomatic missions.
An Italian diplomat told The Associated Press that the consulate was closed at the time and that no staff members were wounded.
At least nine people were wounded, including a police officer and three passers-by who were from the same family, a Health Ministry spokesman said.
The New York Times said that ISIS did not say why they attacked the Italian Consulate, and while some have talked about ISIS's desire to attack Rome as some apocalyptic goal, others have said it was simply a Western target, and the timing would indicate that casualties were not the aim.

 Carol Grayson says that the group is the former affiliate
An IS affiliate previously known as Sinai Province posted their statement of responsibility on the bombing on social media. IS operatives haven’t yet reached Rome in their advance of the Caliphate however they are edging ever closer with today’s attack on an Italian institution.
While ISIS apparently did not cite a reason to targeting the Italian Consulate, other jihadis seem to be protesting the crackdown by the Egyptian coup government 
Egypt has been rocked by violence since then army chief Sisi overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
In an ensuing government crackdown, hundreds have been killed and thousands imprisoned, mostly supporters of Morsi.
Jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for the crackdown.
Expect more attacks to continue as the response from Italy is more violence in response to violence
Following the blast, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in a message posted on Twitter, “Italy will not let itself be intimidated,” announcing his country’s intention “to respond firmly but also soberly... without alarmism.”
No Italian was killed or hurt in the blast, he said.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also said Rome and Cairo would stand together “in the fight against terrorism and fanaticism.”
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, for her part, condemned the attack and said, “We stand by the Egyptian authorities in their efforts to fight terrorism and bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice.”
The Independent reports that  
The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, spoke with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt after the attack. According to a statement released later from Mr Renzi’s office, he expressed his strong support: “We will not leave Egypt alone: Italy and Egypt are and will always be together in the fight against terrorism.”


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