Photo Gallery The Italian Solution
An undated archive photo of Iman Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, better known as Abu Omar. Abu Omar is believed to have been kidnapped on the open street in Milan on Feb. 17, 2003 by CIA operatives. Twenty-six Americans have been charged in the case and are now being tried in absentia. Italian prosecutors also believe the government and intelligence agencies in Rome were aware of the abduction.
CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. One of the leading defendents in the case is former CIA Milan bureau chief Robert Seldon Lady who, ironically, struck up a friendship with the prosecutor behind the current case before the investigation began.
Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro used to have espressos with Lady and share general information about the security situation. Later, he would order the searching and seizure of the home where Lady planned to retire in Italy's Piemont region after finishing his career in the CIA. Spataro's investigators uncovered incriminating, classified CIA documents in the home.
The terra-cotta colored stucco villa, surrounded by lavender, fig trees and 10 hectares of vinyards, is expected to be auctioned by the government in order to cover some of the legal expenses in the trial. The CIA hasn't even provided Lady with a lawyer and it is acting as if the case in Italy doesn't even exist.
