The ANNOTICO Report

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, the cleric, also known as Abu Omar was more than
a dangerous terrorism suspect, was a walking, talking link to a larger
threat in Europe and beyond, because he was being monitored by Italian
Intelligent agents through wire taps and ambient listening devices.

So when US CIA agents kidnapped Nasr and flew him to Egypt, on Feb. 17,
2003, the US agents not only completely destroyed a source for ongoing
extremely valuable information for that entire Network.

Further the US agents  violated Italian sovereignty.

This comes on top of the fact that Italian agents bristle because of the
"one way" of exchange of information that takes place, wherein the Italian
disclosure everything of value, whereby the US agents share only
"incidental" information.

Swiss Politics.Org
By Phil Stewart
July 19, 2005
ROME (Reuters) - For eavesdropping Italian investigators, Hassan Mustafa
Osama Nasr was more than a dangerous terrorism suspect.

Monitored through wire taps and ambient listening devices, he was a
walking, talking link to a larger threat in Europe and beyond -- who
suddenly vanished on Feb. 17, 2003. That's when prosecutors say CIA agents
kidnapped Nasr and flew him to Egypt.

The cleric, also known as Abu Omar, says he was tortured in Egypt under
questioning and refused to be an informant.

"The kidnapping of Abu Omar was not just illegal, having seriously violated
Italian sovereignty, but it was also harmful and corrosive to the
effectiveness of the overall fight against terrorism," said Milan Judge
Guido Salvini, who has a standing arrest order for Nasr.

It is unclear what Egyptian authorities may have learned from the suspect.
His lawyer in Egypt told Reuters that he has requested Nasr's release from
custody.

Following this month's rush-hour transport bombings in London, Islamic
militant groups are warning Italy may be next -- and the threats are being
taken seriously in Rome.

Prosecutors say evidence from the Nasr investigation, and others like it,
prove ongoing Islamic militant activity in Italy. That includes fundraising
and recruiting suicide bombers to send abroad, as well as possible attacks
inside the country.

Wiretap records suggest Nasr supported bombings like the one in London and
knew plenty about militant groups in Europe, prosecutors say. Investigators
can't help but wonder what they might have learned had Nasr been fully
investigated in Italy.

DYING MARTYRS

Intelligence officials believe that Nasr, 42, fought in Afghanistan before
arriving in Italy in 1997 and obtaining political refugee status.
Investigators accuse him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for
Iraq.

Conversation intercepts, viewed by Reuters, show Nasr as more than a Muslim
cleric in Milan. Prosecutors say he had contact with militants from
Germany, Egypt and elsewhere. They point to computer files filled with
jihad recruiting propaganda.

"The hope is that we all die martyrs," he told a Tunisian suspect, in an
April 7, 2002 conversation inside a Milan mosque.

Another conversation on April 24, 2002, with an unidentified Egyptian man,
also discussed militant attacks. Prosecutors believe that although the
other man did most of the talking, it showed Nasr's awareness of such
activity.

"So, are these attacks going to be carried out or not?" the man asks Nasr,
who initially responds: "What?."

"Let me be clear, I want us to strike inside, outside ... in every country
in the world," he said. Nasr responded, with a laugh, "Use your head!"

The conversation continues somewhat cryptically, and Nasr responds -- in a
muddled context: "They'll do it. They'll do it.

Asked by whom, Nasr responds: "The brother in London."

The United States has declined to make any public comment about the Nasr
case, even after a Milan judge ordered the June arrest of 13 Americans whom
prosecutors say are tied to the CIA.

Rome denies authorizing the kidnap and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on
July 1 summoned the U.S. ambassador to Rome, Mel Sembler, to demand that
Italy's sovereignty be respected.

Opposition politicians have cast doubt on the official line, questioning
whether the CIA would have launched such a bold operation without at least
informing their Italian counterparts.

INTELLIGENCE SHARING

The United States and Italy are close allies in foreign policy, and
Berlusconi, who sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, has stressed the joint
fight against terrorism remains strong.

But Italian officials complain that when it comes to intelligence sharing,
Washington does not always return the favor. The Nasr case is one example.
Prosecutors say that U.S. officials passed bad information to Italian
police after the kidnap, saying Nasr had probably gone to fight overseas.

The issue of trust becomes increasingly important in the wake of the London
bombings, with European nations seeking greater access to foreign
intelligence information.

"The real problem is with the United States, there is a certain difficulty
receiving information," former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato told
local media. "The Americans take an exclusive attitude, without respecting
the criteria of the maximum collaboration with Western countries."

The United States is facing questions from other European countries,
including Germany, over its transfers of militant suspects abroad. Egyptian
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said in May the United States had sent it as
many as 70 suspects.

>From court documents, it looks like Italian prosecutors were easily able to
identify the CIA agents allegedly involved in the daylight abduction of
Nasr.

Agents filled out registration forms at hotels, many presented
frequent-client cards, like "Hilton Honors" and prosecutors even have one
agent's United Airlines frequent flyer number, the documents show.

The big question in Italy is why Washington thought it was necessary to
kidnap Nasr. Was Italy too slow to arrest him or too hesitant to react to
the intercepts? What information did the CIA have?

Nasr, according to one account, was so important he was offered a deal by
Egypt's interior minister -- be an informant and return to Italy. Nasr
refused and said he was tortured with electric shock, and exposure to
extreme noise and temperatures.

"I was very near death," Nasr told his wife in a 2004 call, intercepted by
police, after being released briefly for medical reasons in Egypt. He was
rearrested for recounting the ordeal.

Italian officials concede they may never know the whole truth, even though
Judge Salvini started a judicial process aimed eventually at extraditing,
or at least questioning, Nasr.

"The fact that he was kidnapped obviously damaged our investigation. That
can't be denied," said one Italian legal source. "Who knows what we would
have learned."

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Wright in Cairo)

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