In the interest of this NOT turning into a blog simply about fashion (not that there's anything wrong with that - check out Sarah Jessica Parker's new ultra-chic and cheap line at Steve and Barry's. Shoes for $9.98?! I think I am definitely in trouble.) I would like to discuss some goings-on across the pond (so to speak) that have put one hell of a bee in my bonnet this week.


ITALY CIA KIDNAP TRIAL ADJOURNED
If you don't what this is all about here's the poop: 26 CIA agents and military personnel are accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric off of the street in Milan in February of 2003 and taking him to a few US bases in Italy, then Germany, and finally ending up in Cairo, where he was "questioned" (read: tortured) and imprisoned for four years. At the time, he was suspected of recruiting fighters for Islamic groups, but there were no charges. The US gomernment, predictibly, has said that it will not extradite any of the 26 defendents (currently being tried in absentia), even if the request is made.


Ok. Now for the bee.


Since the prosecution used wiretaps on Italian agents, the defense is claiming that it broke the law and would potentially be revealing state secrets if they used to wiretaps as evidence to prosecute. The prosecution argues that "facts which jepordize the constitutional order cannot be covered by state secrecy laws." The constitutional court is set to rule on the issue in September, and the trial will continue on 24 October, provided the constitutional does not side with the defense. If they do, they are expeted to throw the case out.


Whether there is any personal repercussion for the 26 Americans involved or not, it is important that this trial continue. The world is not our playground to do with as we please, manipulating the population and deleting those we find unfavorable. Other countries (especially those in Europe!) have judicial systems, and they are not defunct; it's not necessary for the CIA to "police the world." And when they talk an innocent person and subject that person to torture and unnecessary imprisonment for no reason other than a hunch (however well-founded), they should be forced to defend their actions. If this had happened on an American street, say perhaps Washington D.C., and the agents and soldiers had been Russian, the newspapers and televisions would be plastered with headlines blasting the RUssian government and demanding the safe return of the kidnapped, regardless of his or her religious or political affiliations. Why? Because you can't pull that shit in America. Nor should you be able to anywhere else.