– and will not be seriously discussed, because both are related to the “War on Terror”^TM and therefore sacrosanct.

Italian authorities have ordered the arrests of a former U.S. Embassy official here and two other people in connection with a “rendition” case in which CIA operatives allegedly kidnapped a radical Muslim cleric from Milan and flew him to Egypt, where, he has said, he was tortured.

Stageleft prediction: Neither the former U.S. embassy official nor the two other people will ever see Italian soil again.

International kidnapping in service of the Bush War on Terror^TM, and as a matter of fact almost any international crime committed in the name of the War on Terror^TM, by the United States government is OK - and the rest of the world can just go **** itself if they don’t like it.

Reuters has told the US government that American forces’ conduct towards journalists in Iraq is “spiralling out of control” and preventing full coverage of the war reaching the public.

[…..]

The Reuters news service chief referred to “a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by US forces in Iraq”.

Stageleft prediction: The United States government and military will shrug

Events over the course of the “War on Terror”^TM in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown the world on a multitude of occasions that the United States of America and its’ military is inviolable - and the rest of the world can just go **** itself if they don’t like it.