For Agency's `Rendering' Teams, A Lavish Overseas Lifestyle

[Clara T]

For Agency's `Rendering' Teams, A Lavish Overseas Lifestyle
December 25, 2005
By JOHN CREWDSON, Chicago Tribune
 
MILAN, Italy -- When the CIA decides to "render" a terrorism suspect living abroad for interrogation in Egypt or another friendly Middle East nation, it spares no expense.

Italian prosecutors wrote in court papers that the CIA spent "enormous amounts of money" during the six weeks it took the agency to figure out how to grab a 39-year-old Muslim preacher called Abu Omar off the streets of Milan, throw him into a van and drive him to the airport.

First to arrive in Milan was the surveillance team, and the hotels they chose were among the best Europe has to offer. Especially popular was the gilt-and-crystal Principe di Savoia, with acres of burnished wood paneling and plush carpets, where a single room costs $588 a night, a club sandwich goes for $28.75, and a Diet Coke adds another $9.35.

According to hotel records later obtained by the Milan police investigating Abu Omar's disappearance, two CIA operatives managed to ring up more than $9,000 in room charges alone. The CIA's bill at the Principe for seven operatives came to $39,995, not counting meals, parking and other hotel services.
Another group of seven operatives managed to spend $40,098 on room charges at the Westin Palace, a five-star hotel across the Piazza della Repubblica from the Principe, where a club sandwich is only $20.

http://www.courant.com/news/yahoo/hc-renditioncost1225.artdec25,0,209553.story?coll=hc-aol-yahoo-nws-hed

[pretzel4gore]

1. proves they aren't serious

the 'terror' suspect is a prop in the bushviks power grab of america's assets; the 'agents' are just pretending (if the cia spend so much on the jackbooted boors, imagine the bribes etc they pay to the responsible authorities, and the effect that has on the morality of the host country) to be after 'suspects' it's all for show; the real game is plaayed out of sight and again public funds are lavishly used to poison the well of the national security system....when the israelis chased and kidnapped adolph eichman in the early 60's, the agents slept on couches etc at private homes-each penny was carefully spent. the contrast isn't just cosmetic: the terrorists are almost incidental to the real story, which is the bull in china shop of the world's richest democracy

[shanti]

2. this is one of the consequences

of having the chimp in the wh. the treasury is open and flowing, OUR tax dollars at work. :grr: :mad:

not that there wouldn't be abuses with a dem in office, but good god, they are so flagrant now! it's like they have nothing stopping them and are going for broke. *gulp*

[bluerum]

3. Finally - some transparency and accountability into how our

government works and what they spend our taxes on!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Don Claybrook]

6. Yes, and the transparency & accountability

had to come from Italy. Just one more outsourced function.

[ninkasi]

4. And cutting 40 billion

from social safety nets is a big accomplishment? Damn, this government is screwed up! I mean, this administration has delivered outrage after outrage, and some will still vote puke so that gays can't marry. We've hit bottom as a moral country. I don't want to hear ANYBODY talk about Republicans having "morals and values". Their morals are rock bottom, and so are their values.

[Rose Siding]

7. Well said.

This is just plain obscene.

[Bozita]

5. As Bush says about taxes, "It's your money!"

[MrPrax]

8. So it's true...

These guys really do live like James Bond...

And I thought it was make-believe...

[truthisfreedom]

9. cost of a room in Milan: $588. cost of a club sandwich: $28.75. cost of

having bushco drain every last penny of the US Treasury on their gigantic planet-wide crime spree? priceless.

[1932]

10. If they open these renderings to competitive bidding...

...either the CIA is going to find a couple teenagers from Wisconsin who can do this for a lot less money, or they're going to make some well-connected private corporation rich by paying them two or three times these amounts.

[grytpype]

11. I wonder if they practiced giving enemas to each other?

"Members of the Rendition Group follow a simple but standard procedure: Dressed head to toe in black, including masks, they blindfold and cut the clothes off their new captives, then administer an enema and sleeping drugs. They outfit detainees in a diaper and jumpsuit for what can be a day-long trip. Their destinations: either a detention facility operated by cooperative countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, including Afghanistan, or one of the CIA's own covert prisons -- referred to in classified documents as "black sites," which at various times have been operated in eight countries, including several in Eastern Europe."

[daleo]

12. It Depends.

Sorry, I couldn't resist a sick joke.

[dusmcj]

13. corpse thieves work hard, need the R&R. nt