Over the last seven years, after repeated appeals, the Obama administration effectively left a warrior on the battlefield…
The release of former CIA case officer Sabrina De Sousa on Wednesday, whose freedom was secured by the Trump administration, is a clear signal to our “shadow warriors” that they, too, will not be left behind. Leaving someone behind, as happened here, is unconscionable. I was taught never to leave a warrior behind. But the Obama administration did exactly that.
I will not go into the classified aspects of this case. It is the principle that is important. Over the last seven years, after repeated appeals, the Obama administration effectively left a warrior on the battlefield. Neither President Barack Obama nor his CIA Director, John Brennan, tried to intervene with Italy to get her a pardon.
Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) and former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who has been fighting for her release, said his Portuguese contacts told him that Director Brennan met with officials there twice last year and did not bring up her case.
“The message is that the president can throw you under the bus,” De Sousa said in a Foreign Policy interview.
What We Know
On a chilly day in February 2003, a radical Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar, who was a terrorism suspect, was snatched off the streets of Milan while walking to his local mosque. Abu Omar was approached by an Italian police officer and long-time CIA informant who asked to see his passport. Moments later, a white van pulled up, and Abu Omar was shoved inside. He was then flown to Egypt for interrogation. When Italian authorities tried to locate Abu Omar, US officials told them he had disappeared into the Balkans.
In 2005, Sabrina De Sousa was officially listed as a State Department diplomat assigned to the US Consulate in Milan and was implicated in the rendition of a radical Egyptian cleric in Italy named Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, better known as Abu Omar. Italy had granted him political asylum in 2001 after the Egyptian government alleged that he was part of a terrorist group.
De Sousa, was charged and convicted by an Italian court in absentia for her role in a US government approved rendition program. Just like the long-running TV show, Mission Impossible, and later the movies of the same name, she was disavowed by the CIA once the incident became known to the public.
On the day in question, De Sousa was nowhere near Milan. Instead, she was on the ski slopes of northern Italy, chaperoning her son’s school trip. In fact, she was over a hundred miles away from the actual abduction at the time.
The Deal
Peter Hoekstra tells NPR, the Italians have lifted the arrest warrant under which De Sousa was detained, and she may now travel freely within the European Union. “The new leadership at the CIA was 100 percent behind Sabrina. The prospect of a CIA case officer sitting in an Italian jail would not have been a good visual. This has been a festering wound between the US and Italy for 13 years, and now it’s finally healing,” Hoekstra said.
De Sousa continues to negotiate an agreement under which she would perform community service in Portugal, but the details are not yet final. She credited the Trump administration with taking her case seriously.
The end point is the Trump administration appreciates our warriors, both on the battlefield and in the shadows. He did not have to trade terrorists to get the results we needed. It is about time our country has a president that values the sacrifices of our warriors. All they ask is to be supported and recognized. They are the best of us, and we owe them our gratitude and support, and President Trump understands this.
Jon Harris is an OpsLens contributor and former Army NCO, civilian law enforcement officer, and defense contractor with over 30 years in the law enforcement community. He holds a B.S. in Government and Politics and an M.S. in Criminal Justice.
Dr. Katherine (Kat) Harris is an OpsLens contributor, a veteran spouse, expat, and former military contractor with over 20 years of expertise in military/family transition, career counseling, higher education, organizational strategic planning, and international relations. She has conducted seminars and workshops for many Department of Army commands, plus many non-profit and community associations. She served as a translator and liaison for American, British, French, and German civilian/military communities in Berlin and Helmstedt, Germany.
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