The Abu Omar Case was the abduction and transfer to Egypt of the Imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr , also known as Abu Omar. The case was picked by the international media as one of the better-documented cases of extraordinary rendition carried out in a joint operation by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) in the context of the global war on terrorism declared by the George W. Bush administration .
153-779: Abu Omar was abducted on February 17, 2003, in Milan by agents of the SISMI and CIA, and transported to the Aviano Air Base , from which he was transferred to Egypt, where he was imprisoned for four years without charges, secluded, interrogated and "brutally tortured by America's long-standing ally, the Mubarak regime ." The CIA operation interrupted a surveillance program that was being carried out by Italian authorities into Nasr's alleged participation in Islamist organizations. Hassan Nasr
306-515: A "democratic socialist" himself in the same year. However, the move away from nationalisation in the old Clause IV made many on the left wing of the Labour Party feel that Labour was moving away from traditional socialist principles of nationalisation set out in 1918, and was seen by them as part of a shift of the party towards "New Labour". Blair inherited the Labour leadership at a time when
459-487: A Sierra Leone rebel group. Journalist Andrew Marr has argued that the success of ground attacks, real and threatened, over air strikes alone was influential on how Blair planned the Iraq War, and that the success of the first three wars Blair fought "played to his sense of himself as a moral war leader". When asked in 2010 if the success of Palliser may have "embolden[ed] British politicians" to think of military action as
612-467: A US operation to kidnap Nasr. Italian Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Carlo Giovanardi , member of Silvio Berlusconi 's second and third government, said in no uncertain terms to the Italian parliament : "Our secret services were not aware of the operation ... It was never brought to the attention of the government or national institutions." However, former CIA officials contradicted this by claiming
765-633: A classified document. Romano Prodi's government has confirmed its classified status. During his hearing in August 2006 before the Italian Parliamentary Committee on Secret services control (Copaco), Pollari defended himself again invoking the raison d'état . In October 2006, prosecutor Spataro transmitted to the European Temporary Committee a copy of a SISMI document, from which it comes out that SISMI
918-561: A complaint against former Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, demanding 10 million Euro of damage and interests "for his implication in the kidnapping as chief of the government [during the events] and for having permitted the CIA to capture him." The Italian executive has opposed the judges in Milan, by deposing a recourse before the Constitutional Court against Armando Spataro, charging him of having violated state secret by using
1071-630: A heart attack on 12 May 1994. Blair defeated John Prescott and Margaret Beckett in the subsequent leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition . As is customary for the holder of that office, Blair was appointed a Privy Counsellor . It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington , in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in
1224-694: A historic rebranding of the party, which became known as " New Labour ". Blair became the youngest prime minister of the 20th century after his party won a landslide victory of 418 seats (the largest in its history) in the 1997 general election , bringing an end to 18 years in the opposition. It was the first victory for the Labour Party in nearly 23 years, the last one being in October 1974 . During his first term , Blair enacted constitutional reforms and significantly increased public spending on healthcare and education while also introducing controversial market-based reforms in these areas. In addition, Blair saw
1377-466: A joint Italian-U.S. air base at Aviano , where he was tortured . From there, he was flown by a Learjet (using the call sign SPAR 92) to Ramstein Air Base , Germany . Germany launched an official investigation due to false imprisonment and coercion, but the case was ultimately dropped as it could not be determined which CIA agents were involved in the abduction. SPAR (Special Priority Air Resource)
1530-584: A leadership election in which Brown was the only candidate. At a special party conference in Manchester on 24 June 2007, Blair formally handed over the leadership of the Labour Party to Brown, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in Blair's three ministries. Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister on 27 June and Brown assumed office the same afternoon. Blair resigned from his Sedgefield seat in
1683-636: A meeting with Jeff Castelli, head of the CIA in Italy. He said on this occasion that he had received by Pollari a list of names, among others that of Abu Omar, and to have been ordered to observe the Egyptian cleric in view of his abduction. Pignero then ordered Mancini to proceed with all these activities. Interrogated by the Milan prosecutor in July 2006, General Pollari involved the Italian government and invoked
SECTION 10
#17327806208161836-515: A mortar attack on Balad, killing Airman 1st Class Antoine Holt and injuring two other 603rd Air Control Squadron members. Airman Holt's death constituted the 31st Fighter Wing's first combat fatality since the Vietnam War. The 31st Fighter Wing continued deploying forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, with more than one-third of the wing deploying to support operations each year from 2003 to 2007. In 2007,
1989-611: A network sending combatants in the Iraqi Kurdistan . However, citing a book on Al-Qaeda by Jason Burke , a British reporter at The Observer , La Repubblica noted in June 2005 that in 2002, before the invasion of Iraq , the Bush administration was claiming, along with British prime minister Tony Blair , that Iraq maintained close links with Al-Qaeda, in particular through Ansar al-Islam. The Italian newspaper concluded that
2142-475: A policy option, General Sir David Richards admitted there "might be something in that". From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of George W. Bush , participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq . The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As
2295-455: A profile within the party. Despite his defeat, William Russell, political correspondent for The Glasgow Herald , described Blair as "a very good candidate", while acknowledging that the result was "a disaster" for the Labour Party. In contrast to his later centrism , Blair made it clear in a letter he wrote to Labour leader Michael Foot in July 1982 (published in 2006) that he had "come to Socialism through Marxism" and considered himself on
2448-526: A result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. Alastair Campbell described Blair's statement that the intelligence on WMDs was "beyond doubt" as his "assessment of the assessment that was given to him." In 2009, Blair stated that he would have supported removing Saddam Hussein from power even in the face of proof that he had no such weapons. Playwright Harold Pinter and former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Blair of war crimes. Testifying before
2601-409: A result, he faced criticism over the policy itself and the circumstances of the decision. The Iraq Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped dramatically. Blair won a third term after Labour won a third election victory in 2005 , in part thanks to
2754-593: A second term after Labour won a second landslide victory in the 2001 general election . Three months into his second term , Blair's premiership was shaped by the 9/11 terrorist attacks , resulting in the start of the war on terror . Blair supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration by ensuring that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan to overthrow
2907-490: A single 30-minute session on Wednesdays. In addition to PMQs, Blair held monthly press conferences at which he fielded questions from journalists and, from 2002, broke precedent by agreeing to give evidence twice yearly before the most senior Commons select committee, the Liaison Committee . Blair was sometimes perceived as paying insufficient attention both to the views of his own Cabinet colleagues and to those of
3060-531: A source of optimism, as they indicated that the Conservatives were in decline. Virtually every opinion poll since late-1992 put Labour ahead of the Conservatives with enough support to form an overall majority. Blair became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 2 May 1997; aged 43, he was the youngest person to reach that office since Lord Liverpool became prime minister aged 42 in 1812. He
3213-406: A strong economy, with real incomes of British citizens growing 18% between 1997 and 2006. Britain saw rapid productivity growth and significant GDP growth, as well as falling poverty rates and inequality which, despite stubbornly failing to fall, stalled thanks to New Labour's economic policies (such as tax credits). Despite the financial bubble developing in the property markets, studies have credited
SECTION 20
#17327806208163366-540: A sweeping review of the agency's field operations because of what he perceived as the Milan rendition's "sloppiness". In June 2005, Italian judge Guido Salvini issued warrants for the arrest of 22 persons said to be agents or operatives of the CIA , including Jeffrey W. Castelli , head of the CIA in Italy until 2003. Salvini said the abduction was illegal because it violated Italian sovereignty and international law and disrupted an ongoing police investigation. He also issued
3519-539: A warrant for the arrest of Nasr, on charges of associating with terrorists. In November 2005, Italian prosecutors requested that Italy's Justice Ministry seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States. The Italian government declined. On December 20, 2005, an Italian court issued a European arrest warrant against 22 CIA agents suspected of this kidnapping (including Robert Seldon Lady , Eliana Castaldo , Lt. Col. Joseph L. Romano , III, etc.). It
3672-525: Is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He
3825-447: Is expected to happen in absentia . The United States is not expected to extradite the CIA operatives. As of February 2007, the Italian government has issued no extradition requests, although the Italian judiciary has been calling for the government to do so since 2005. Justice Minister Clemente Mastella , member of the new government of Romano Prodi , Prime minister of Italy since the 2006 general election , has still given no news of
3978-670: Is made up of four groups, each consisting of several squadrons. The 31st Operations Group ensures the combat readiness of two F-16CG squadrons, one air control squadron, and one operational support squadron conducting and supporting worldwide air operations. The group prepares fighter pilots , controllers, and support personnel to execute U.S. and NATO war plans and contingency operations. It trains, equips, plans, and provides weather, intelligence, standardization/evaluation, and command and control sustaining global flying operations. The 31st Maintenance Group provides peacetime and combat maintenance and munitions control, and executive support for
4131-406: Is possible that some of the names for the targets of the warrant were pseudonyms. Regarding "Eliana Castaldo", a reporter's attempts to contact her through the number listed on the affidavit produced inconsistent responses: one refused to identify the business, another said she was with an answering service, while a third said the number was that of a firm by the name of Washburn and Company . Each of
4284-455: Is the call sign used by US senior military officers and civilian VIPs for airlift transport. A second plane then took him to Cairo , where he was imprisoned and, he claims, tortured. In April 2004, while his incarceration had been downgraded to house arrest , Nasr placed several phone calls from Egypt to his family and friends. He told them he had been rendered into the hands of Egypt's SSI at Tura prison, twenty miles south of Cairo. He
4437-550: Is the only U.S. fighter wing south of the Alps. The 31st Fighter Wing is made up of two General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter squadrons, the 555th Fighter Squadron and the 510th Fighter Squadron , allowing it to fly both attack and defensive missions. Aviano Air Base was established by the Italian government in 1911 as the first airport in Italy, and was later used as training base for Italian pilots and construction facility for aircraft parts. During World War I , Italy used
4590-425: Is the second- longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher , the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair attended the independent school Fettes College , studied law at St John's College, Oxford , and qualified as a barrister. He became involved in
4743-638: Is to provide infrastructure and service to support a premiere combat capability and quality of life to the 31st Fighter Wing, Aviano community and multiple geographically separated units. The 31st Medical Group supports the readiness of 31st Fighter Wing and associated units throughout the Southern Region, ensuring the health of its community by providing optimal patient-focused medical care from internal, Department of Defense and Host Nation resources. The unit employs medical resources and preventive initiatives to ensure airmen remain mission ready to support
Abu Omar case - Misplaced Pages Continue
4896-502: The 1983 general election was called. Blair's initial inquiries discovered that the left was trying to arrange the selection for Les Huckfield , sitting MP for Nuneaton, who was trying elsewhere; several sitting MPs displaced by boundary changes were also interested in it. When he discovered the Trimdon branch had not yet made a nomination, Blair visited them and won the support of the branch secretary John Burton , and with Burton's help
5049-560: The 401st Fighter Wing . The 31st Fighter Wing received two new squadrons at that time, the 555th and 510th Fighter Squadrons , along with their Block-40 F-16s. The wing immediately became involved with events in Bosnia in May 1994 as part of Operation Deny Flight . In June 1995, a massive search and rescue operation took place to extract Captain Scott O'Grady of the 555th Fighter Squadron who
5202-509: The Aviano Air Base at the time, now working at Section 31b of the Pentagon. Ultimately, twenty-six Americans and nine Italians (including head of SISMI Nicolò Pollari , number two of the same intelligence agency Marco Mancini , as well as General Gustavo Pignero; and also the junior ROS officer Giuliano Pironi) were indicted. The trial would be the first criminal trial related to the U.S. practice of extraordinary rendition . The start of
5355-555: The CTIC (Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Center), a "joint operation centers in more than two dozen countries where U.S. and foreign intelligence officers work side by side to track and capture suspected terrorists and to destroy or penetrate their networks. " Italy was not included in this international alliance of intelligence agencies, which largest base was in Paris, named Alliance Base . According to Guido Olimpio and Paolo Biondani, Italy
5508-629: The Corte Suprema di Cassazione . On February 24, 2014, the Corte Suprema di Cassazione, following a sentence of the Italian Corte Costituzionale regarding the use of secret evidence in the proceedings, acquitted Pollari and Mancini. Hasaan Mustafa Osama Nasr was a radical Egyptian cleric and alleged member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya who had fled Egypt due to that group's prosecution as a terrorist organization by
5661-655: The European Union assumed responsibility for the region. In 1999, U.S. Air Forces in Europe activated the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing-Noble Anvil at Aviano for Operation Allied Force in the Province of Kosovo , which was not authorized by the UN Security Council . Assigned under a joint task force, the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing flew from Aviano and joined NATO allies in a 78-day air campaign against
5814-598: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . From 24 March to 10 June 1999, the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing, the largest expeditionary wing in Air Force history flew nearly 9,000 combat sorties and accumulated almost 40,000 hours of combat service over the skies of Kosovo, Serbia and the rest of the Balkans in support of NATO operations. The wing accomplished much during OAF as the two permanently assigned flying squadrons,
5967-748: The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region . It is located in the Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps or Southern Carnic Alps , about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Pordenone . The Italian Air Force has ownership, and administrative and military control of the base. It hosts the U.S. Air Force 's 31st Fighter Wing and per nuclear sharing is one of six active air bases in five European countries with B61 nuclear bombs in underground WS3 Weapon Storage and Security System inside aircraft shelters. The 31st Fighter Wing
6120-947: The Good Friday Agreement (after 30 years of conflict) was widely recognised. Following the Omagh bombing on 15 August 1998, by members of the Real IRA opposed to the peace process, which killed 29 people and wounded hundreds, Blair visited the County Tyrone town and met with victims at Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast . In his first six years in office, Blair ordered British troops into combat five times, more than any other prime minister in British history. This included Iraq in both 1998 and 2003 , Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2000) and Afghanistan (2001). The Kosovo War, which Blair had advocated on moral grounds,
6273-606: The Home Office to deport illegal immigrants. Amid the Cash-for-Honours scandal , Blair was interviewed three times as prime minister, though only as a witness and not under caution . The Afghanistan and Iraq wars continued, and in 2006, Blair announced he would resign within a year. He resigned the party leadership on 24 June 2007 and as prime minister on 27 June, and was succeeded by Gordon Brown , his chancellor . After leaving office, Blair gave up his seat and
Abu Omar case - Misplaced Pages Continue
6426-489: The House of Commons on 6 July 1983, Blair stated, "I am a socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral. It stands for cooperation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality." Once elected, Blair's political ascent
6579-533: The Iraq Inquiry on 29 January 2010, Blair said Saddam Hussein was a "monster and I believe he threatened not just the region but the world." Blair said that British and American attitude towards Hussein had "changed dramatically" after the September 11 attacks . Blair denied that he would have supported the invasion of Iraq even if he had thought Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He said he believed
6732-633: The Israel–Lebanon conflict . On 7 September 2006, Blair publicly stated he would step down as leader by the time of the Trades Union Congress conference held from 10 to 13 September 2007, despite promising to serve a full term during the previous general election campaign. On 10 May 2007, during a speech at the Trimdon Labour Club , Blair announced his intention to resign as both Labour leader and prime minister, triggering
6885-681: The Taliban , destroy al-Qaeda , and capture Osama bin Laden . Blair supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and had the British Armed Forces participate in the Iraq War , on the inaccurate beliefs that Saddam Hussein 's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction and developed ties with al-Qaeda . The invasion of Iraq was particularly controversial, as it attracted widespread public opposition and 139 of Blair's own MPs opposed it. As
7038-701: The introduction of a minimum wage , tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales , an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights in the UK , and significant progress in the Northern Ireland peace process with the passing of the landmark Good Friday Agreement . On foreign policy, Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo in 1999 and Sierra Leone in 2000 , which were generally perceived to be successful. Blair won
7191-576: The 1983 general election endorsed left-wing policies that Labour advocated in the early 1980s. He called for Britain to leave the EEC as early as the 1970s, though he had told his selection conference that he personally favoured continuing membership and voted "Yes" in the 1975 referendum on the subject . He opposed the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1986 but supported the ERM by 1989. He
7344-490: The 1997 election that New Labour would govern "from the radical centre", and according to one lifelong Labour Party member always described himself as a social democrat . In a 2007 opinion piece in The Guardian , left-wing commentator Neil Lawson described Blair as to the right of centre . A YouGov opinion poll in 2005 found that a small majority of British voters, including many New Labour supporters, placed Blair on
7497-482: The 31st Fighter Wing, geographically separated units under the command and control of the wing, and units gained during advanced stages of readiness. The 31st MXG also responds to humanitarian and contingency logistics support requirements as directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff through Headquarters U.S. Air Forces Europe to locations in Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia. The 31st Mission Support Group's goal
7650-688: The 31st Fighter Wing. To avoid losing the wing's heritage and history as the highest scoring Army Air Force unit in the Mediterranean Theater in WW II, the impressive combat record in the Vietnam War and a number of significant firsts they produced in the early years of the Air Force, the 31st Fighter Wing was chosen to move rather than fade into obscurity. On 1 April 1994, the 31st Fighter Wing inactivated at Homestead AFB and subsequently activated at Aviano Air Base, Italy, in place of
7803-534: The 510th and 555th, flew more than 2,400 combined sorties and more than 10,000 combat hours. In 2000, the wing began deployments in support of the Expeditionary Air Force . From March to September 2000, the 510th and 555th Fighter Squadrons conducted back-to-back deployments to Ahmad al-Jaber AB , Kuwait , in support of Operation Southern Watch . While at Al Jaber, the squadrons flew more than 400 combat sorties. From June through December 2001,
SECTION 50
#17327806208167956-603: The 555th Fighter Squadron deployed to Kunsan Air Base in the Republic of Korea . Since arriving at Aviano, the wing has also participated in numerous training exercises with international partners, including training deployments to Latvia , the Czech Republic , Romania , Bulgaria , Spain , Slovenia and Poland . In March 2011, the 31st Fighter Wing played a major role in the United Nations ' response to
8109-702: The Abu Omar case was a "chapter in the combination of intelligence – psychological warfare – information war engaged by Washington and London to justify the invasion of Iraq." There are also reports that Nasr was involved in plotting a terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Rome, and was suspected of being involved in a plot to bomb a number of children of foreign diplomats attending the American School of Milan , although sources disagree whether such plots even existed. Most observers have come to believe that Nasr
8262-596: The Aviano Air Base in the kidnapping, on 17 February 2003, of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr , in the so-called " extraordinary rendition " program. The man, abducted in Milan by CIA agents, was taken to Aviano Air Base for interrogation before being transported via Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Alexandria , Egypt , and turned over to the custody of Egypt's State Security Intelligence . The 31st Fighter Wing
8415-444: The CIA agents' startling laxity in travel arrangements. By all accounts, they did little to cover their tracks. Instead of fleeing immediately, most of them remained in Italy days after the operation, in some of Milan's best hotels. Only some of them used aliases. The rest traveled with their normal passports and drivers licenses, paid for things with credit cards in their real names, chatted openly on cell phones before, during, and after
8568-418: The CIA when the story came to light in 2005. Porter J. Goss , the director of the CIA at the time, ordered the agency's independent inspector general to begin a review of the operation. Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. , then head of the National Clandestine Service (NCS), stopped the inspector general's review, stating that the NCS would investigate itself. In June 2009, Robert Seldon Lady , Milan CIA chief of base at
8721-423: The CIA. " According to SISMI testimony, after the February 17, 2003 kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Nasr, then CIA director George Tenet sent a letter to SISMI General Nicolò Pollari in August 2003, to which Mancini would allegedly owe the real reasons of his promotion to number two of the SISMI. In another, earlier article, the same author, Guido Olimpio, wrote that following the abduction of the imam, SISMI informed
8874-403: The Cavalese cable car disaster, on 3 February 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler jet flying too low on a training exercise from Aviano Air Base severed a cable car 's cable over the Alps at Cavalese , Italy, causing 20 deaths. On 4 November 2009, the conviction by an Italian court of 22 CIA agents, a U.S. Air Force colonel and two Italian SISMI secret agents confirmed the role of
9027-486: The EU. With specific regards to Blair's LGBTQ+ reforms, Blair introduced the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which granted civil partners rights and responsibilities similar to those in civil marriages, equalised the age of consent between straight and gay couples, ended the ban on gay people serving in the British military, introduced the Gender Recognition Act 2004 which allows those with gender dysphoria to legally change their gender, repealed Section 28 , gave gay couples
9180-513: The Egyptian government. He was granted political asylum in Italy in 2001, and held an Italian asylum passport . As early as Spring 2002, he was under investigation by Italian and American intelligence agencies by means of wiretaps and physical and electronic surveillance . Italian authorities have claimed that they believed that they had evidence Nasr was building a network to recruit terrorists, and possibly had links to Al Qaeda . They alleged in particular links with Ansar al-Islam and ties to
9333-742: The Expeditionary Air Force, U.S. and NATO objectives worldwide. As of 2023, Aviano is one of six active air bases in five European countries with B61 nuclear bombs in underground WS3 Weapon Storage and Security System inside aircraft shelters; Ramstein Air Base has a vault but no nuclear weapons present and RAF Lakenheath s bunkers were being modernized. Flying and notable non-flying units based at Aviano Air Base. United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) Combat Forces Command The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) operates schools for children who are dependents of US military personnel. Aviano Elementary School and Aviano Middle High School are
SECTION 60
#17327806208169486-490: The Garter by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. At various points in his premiership, Blair was among both the most popular and most unpopular politicians in British history. As prime minister, he achieved the highest recorded approval ratings during his first few years in office but also one of the lowest ratings during and after the Iraq War. Blair is usually rated as above average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
9639-424: The House of Commons. His style was sometimes criticised as not that of a prime minister and head of government , which he was, but of a president and head of state, which he was not. Blair was accused of excessive reliance on spin . He was the first UK prime minister to have been formally questioned by police, though not under caution , while still in office. As the casualties of the Iraq War mounted, Blair
9792-410: The Italian government and then the CIA, assuring them that no agent who had taken part in this covert operation would be prosecuted. In turn, CIA director George Tenet would have sent a letter to Forte Braschi, the SISMI headquarters in Rome. Furthermore, apart from the July 2006 arrest of Marco Mancini, number two of the SISMI, and of Gustavo Pignero, the agency's chief for the northern region of Italy,
9945-407: The Italian military intelligence agency, the Italian press has talked of a "CIA-SISMI concerted operation." The prosecutors sent extradition requests for the indicted American citizens to the Italian Ministry of Justice, then headed by Roberto Castelli , for onward transmission to Washington. However, Castelli refused to forward the demand for extradition. The affair also created controversy within
10098-453: The Labour Party and was elected to the House of Commons in 1983 for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham . As a backbencher , Blair supported moving the party to the political centre of British politics . He was appointed to Neil Kinnock 's shadow cabinet in 1988 and was appointed shadow home secretary by John Smith in 1992. Following Smith's death in 1994, Blair won a leadership election to succeed him. As leader, Blair began
10251-498: The NHS and other public services, increasing spending from 39.9% of GDP to 48.1% in 2010–11. They pledged in 2001 to bring NHS spending to the levels of other European countries, and doubled spending in real terms to over £100 billion in England alone. Non-European immigration rose significantly during the period from 1997, not least because of the government 's abolition of the primary purpose rule in June 1997. This change made it easier for UK residents to bring foreign spouses into
10404-418: The Nasr case, who initially suspected that Nasr had been kidnapped by the Egyptian government, possibly with the cooperation of other branches of the Italian government. When the Italians questioned their American counterparts about Nasr's disappearance, they were told he had traveled voluntarily to the Balkans . Furthermore, Italian officials initially denied the Italian government had authorized or sanctioned
10557-545: The Rolling Stones . Leaving Fettes College at the age of 18, Blair next spent a gap year in London working as a rock music promoter. In 1972, at the age of 19, Blair matriculated at St John's College, Oxford , reading jurisprudence for three years. As a student, he played guitar and sang in a rock band called Ugly Rumours , and performed stand-up comedy . He was influenced by fellow student and Anglican priest Peter Thomson , who awakened his religious faith and left-wing politics. While at Oxford, Blair has stated that he
10710-412: The SISMI, General Pollari. Mancini confessed having organised a meeting in Bologna with all the heads of the SISMI centers. He illustrated on this occasion the plan for the abduction. The arrest warrants issued on June 15, 2006, against Jeff Castelli, other US agents, Mancini and Pignero were done on these grounds. In the meantime, Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro found out the existence of an office, in
10863-466: The UK's strong economic performance, but with a substantially reduced majority, due to the UK's involvement in the Iraq War. During his third term , Blair pushed for more systemic public sector reform and brokered a settlement to restore powersharing to Northern Ireland. He had a surge in popularity at the time of terrorist bombings of London of July 2005, but by the Spring of 2006 faced significant difficulties, most notably with scandals over failures by
11016-446: The abduction case, Armando Spataro, as a pretext to glean confidential information to pass on to SISMI agents. On July 6, 2006, Libero's offices were raided by Italian police. In June 2009, Robert Seldon Lady , Milan CIA chief of base at the time, was quoted by Il Giornale newspaper saying "I'm not guilty. I'm only responsible for carrying out orders that I received from my superiors ," He denied criminal responsibility because it
11169-595: The abduction plot; he was later replaced by Mancini. Thus, public prosecutors Armando Spataro and Pomarici have described the abduction as "a concerted CIA-SISMI operation" organized by "Italian and American agents" with the aim of the "capture" and "secret transfer" of the imam to Egypt. Paolo Biondani and Italian counter-terrorist expert Guido Olimpio cited the November 18, 2005, article published by Dana Priest in The Washington Post , where she described
11322-409: The agency had secured the consent of Italian intelligence, and that the CIA's station chief in Rome, Jeffrey W. Castelli , had been granted explicit permission for the operation by his Italian counterpart. Furthermore, the circumstances of Nasr's abduction tended to accredit the thesis of at least passive support of the operation by Italian intelligence services. In particular, questions were raised by
11475-447: The agency's chief for the northern region of Italy. Italian wiretaps caught Mancini admitting that he had lied about his involvement in the abduction case. These arrests signaled the first official admission that Italian intelligence agents were involved in the abduction. Additionally, the former head of SISMI's Milan office, Col. Stefano D'Ambrosio , claims that he was removed from his position by his superiors because of his objections to
11628-654: The airfield in missions against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies. At that time, two Italian aviators, Captain Maurizio Pagliano and Lieutenant Luigi Gori , conducted an unauthorized and unsuccessful but heroic air raid on the Austro-Hungarian naval yards in Pula , in what is now Croatia . In their honor, the base's name was changed to Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori in 1919. During the war
11781-702: The airfield was also overrun by the Austro-German army between November 1917 and November 1918. After World War I, the airfield was again used as a training base. During World War II , both the Italian Air Force and the German Luftwaffe flew missions from Aeroporto Pagliano e Gori. British forces captured the base in 1945; they conducted air operations there until 1947, when the Italian Air Force resumed operational use of
11934-458: The airport. The USAF first arrived in Aviano in the winter of 1954. The 40th Tactical Group was created 1 April 1966. The 1976 earthquake caused no damage. As part of the most extensive restructuring since the Air Force became a separate service, Tactical Air Command was inactivated and Air Combat Command was activated and the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing was redesignated to its current name,
12087-538: The beginning of combat operations in Iraq, forces from the wing have been on regular combat rotations into the region. In late 2003, the wing's 603rd Air Control Squadron became the first unit from the wing to deploy to Iraq. They also relocated their entire operation from Baghdad International Airport to Balad Air Base . Under combat conditions, the squadron transferred $ 73 million in equipment and more than 100 personnel with 20 convoys. On 10 April 2004, insurgents launched
12240-547: The breakaway SDP faction had merged with the Liberal Party ; the resulting Liberal Democrats seemed to pose a major threat to the Labour base. Blair, the leader of the modernising faction, had an entirely different vision, arguing that the long-term trends had to be reversed. The Labour Party was too locked into a base that was shrinking, since it was based on the working-class, on trade unions, and on residents of subsidised council housing. The rapidly growing middle-class
12393-502: The case to proceed. He initially told the press that he did not believe the CIA was responsible for the abduction, and even if they were responsible, it was a justifiable action. He was widely quoted in the press as having said, "You can't tackle terrorism with a law book in your hand.". He then declared to the ANSA agency: "This is a trial we absolutely should not have, and its result will be that our intelligence services will no longer have
12546-665: The centre of Rome, linked to SISMI, in charge of 'secret operations.' It was directed by a close collaborator of head of SISMI Pollari. According to the European Parliament "Temporary Committee on the Alleged Use of European Countries by the CIA for the Transport and the Illegal Detention of Prisoners", headed by rapporteur Giovanni Claudio Fava : The main target of this office consisted in distorting
12699-501: The city. Because the agents had apparently not, at any time, removed the batteries from their cellphones, investigators were able to pinpoint their locations from moment to moment. The agents also made numerous phone calls to the US consulate in Milan, to northern Virginia (where the CIA headquarters are located) and to friends and family in the United States. The operation was led by Robert Seldon Lady , former CIA chief of base in Milan, who
12852-427: The cooperation of foreign intelligence". The Abu Omar case poses the problem of Italy's involvement in the US " War on Terror ". The incident also served to highlight tensions between Italy's fiercely independent judiciary and its executive administration (including the intelligence services), which would have preferred the judiciary did not press the issue with the United States. During the Italian investigations into
13005-589: The country. The former government advisor Andrew Neather in the Evening Standard stated that the deliberate policy of ministers from late 2000 until early 2008 was to open up the UK to mass migration. Neather later stated that his words had been twisted, saying: "The main goal was to allow in more migrant workers at a point when – hard as it is to imagine now – the booming economy was running up against skills shortages.... Somehow this has become distorted by excitable Right-wing newspaper columnists into being
13158-455: The crisis in Libya , known as Operation Odyssey Dawn , in enforcing no-fly zone. The wing hosted four flying units and more than 1,350 personnel during the 15-day operation, 17 to 31 March. It worked around the clock to launch 2,250 flying operations out of Aviano Air Base. As Operation Odyssey Dawn came to an end on 31 March, so began Operation Unified Protector , with NATO taking the lead until
13311-475: The education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees ; introduced a welfare to work scheme and sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments. He did not reverse the privatisation of the railways enacted by his predecessor John Major and instead strengthened regulation (by creating the Office of Rail Regulation ) and limited fare rises to inflation +1%. Blair and Brown raised spending on
13464-558: The end of 1954, Blair's parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide , South Australia . His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide . In Australia, Blair's sister, Sarah, was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university. The family returned to the United Kingdom in mid-1958. They lived for a time with Hazel's mother and stepfather (William McClay) at their home in Stepps on
13617-435: The end of the 1990–92 recession . At the 1996 Labour Party conference, Blair stated that his three top priorities on coming to office were "education, education, and education". Aided by the unpopularity of John Major's Conservative government (itself deeply divided over the European Union ), Blair won a landslide victory for Labour at the 1997 general election , ending eighteen years of Conservative Party government, with
13770-510: The extradition request given to him by Armando Spataro, the Milanese public prosecutor. Current Minister of Infrastructures and former prosecutor of Milan, Antonio di Pietro , has criticized on February 15, 2007, his governmental colleagues, claiming that the refuse to transmit the extradition requests to the US abounded to "cover an illegal operation, the kidnapping of a person." Freed on February 11, 2007, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr has deposed
13923-543: The fact that Labour was fighting a legal action against planned boundary changes, and had selected candidates on the basis of previous boundaries. When the legal challenge failed, the party had to rerun all selections on the new boundaries; most were based on existing seats, but unusually in County Durham a new Sedgefield constituency had been created out of Labour-voting areas which had no obvious predecessor seat. The selection for Sedgefield did not begin until after
14076-478: The family's grocery shop to Blair's mother, Hazel. Blair has an elder brother, William , and a younger sister, Sarah. Blair's first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh. During this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh . Blair's first relocation was when he was nineteen months old. At
14229-413: The fighter squadrons deployed combat search and rescue capabilities three times and helped enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq. From August to December 2002, the 510th Fighter Squadron and 603rd Air Control Squadron returned to Southwest Asia. The two squadrons supported Operation Enduring Freedom . Simultaneously, the 555th deployed personnel and aircraft to Decimomannu Air Base , Sardinia , while
14382-867: The final stage of a long term shift of the Labour Party to the right. There is some evidence that Blair's long term dominance of the centre forced his Conservative opponents to shift a long distance to the left to challenge his hegemony there. Leading Conservatives of the post-New Labour era hold Blair in high regard: George Osborne describes him as "the master", Michael Gove thought he had an "entitlement to conservative respect" in February 2003, while David Cameron reportedly maintained Blair as an informal adviser. Former Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared Blair and New Labour to be her greatest achievement. Blair introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people; and signed treaties integrating Britain more closely with
14535-523: The former CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli in absentia to seven years in jail, along with two other CIA employees. Pollari has announced he will appeal against this ruling at the Corte Suprema di Cassazione . Sabrina De Sousa was detained at the Lisbon airport in Portugal on October 5, 2015. She was due to be extradited to Italy, but a partial pardon from the Italian president – in February 2017 – reduced
14688-568: The frame of the CTIC. Furthermore, according to testimonies by SISMI agents to the Italian justice, Mancini proposed himself to the CIA as a " double agent " According to Colonel Stefano D'Ambrosio, former SISMI responsible in Milan replaced by Mancini, the CIA refused to hire the latter because they considered him too "venal." But his demand "left traces in the computer" of the US intelligence. All SISMI testimonies converge in saying that Mancini owed his dazzling career to his "privileged relations with
14841-499: The growth to investments in education and the maintenance of fiscal responsibility, rather than a financial sugar-high. During his time as prime minister, Blair kept direct taxes low, while raising indirect taxation; invested a significant amount in Human capital ; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights (while keeping Margaret Thatcher 's trade union reforms). He introduced substantial market-based reforms in
14994-504: The head of SISMI General Nicolò Pollari had to resign in November 2006 because of the affair and was indicted in December by the Milanese judges. In addition to the 22 European arrest warrants issued in December 2005 and the arrest of the above-mentioned SISMI officers, an Italian judge issued additional arrest warrants for four Americans, three CIA agents and for Lieutenant Colonel Joseph L. Romano III, commander of security forces at
15147-472: The heaviest Conservative defeat since 1906 . In 1996, the manifesto New Labour, New Life for Britain was published, which set out the party's new " Third Way " centrist approach to policy, and was presented as the brand of a newly reformed party that had altered Clause IV and endorsed market economics . In May 1995, Labour had achieved considerable success in the local and European elections and had won four by-elections. For Blair, these achievements were
15300-476: The incident, it was discovered that not only had SISMI (or a division of it) collaborated with the CIA in the abduction, it had also been illegally surveiling Italian citizens, particularly Italian magistrates unfriendly to the Berlusconi administration , often with the help of Italian journalists. Italian prosecutors believed reporters from right-wing paper Libero used interviews with the lead prosecutor in
15453-474: The invasion helped promote the rise of ISIS . The Chilcot Inquiry report of 2016 gave a damning assessment of Blair's role in the Iraq War, though the former prime minister again refused to apologise for his decision to back the US-led invasion. One of Blair's first acts as prime minister was to replace the then twice-weekly 15-minute sessions of Prime Minister's Questions held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with
15606-407: The involvement of the CIA and the SISMI in the abduction of Abu Omar, Pironi thought, when he participated in the operation, that he was passing a test to enter the SISMI. He later realized he had been instrumentalized Marco Mancini admitted to Milan prosecutors having followed orders of his superior General Pignero, who himself obeyed requests from Jeff Castelli, CIA head in Italy, to the director of
15759-658: The kidnap, delivering the first legal convictions in the world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions program. Former Milan CIA base chief Robert Seldon Lady received eight years in prison. The rest of the Americans, including former Milan U.S. consular official Sabrina De Sousa , and USAF Lieutenant Colonel Joseph L. Romano , at the time of conviction commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland Air Force Base , Texas , got five years each. The convicts were also ordered to each pay €1 million to Nasr and €500,000 to his wife. Three Americans, including
15912-455: The kidnapping, was given a suspended sentence of one year, nine months and a day. Renato Farina, vice-director of Libero newspaper, who was hired by the SISMI in 1999, was accused as an accessory. He was given six months sentence that was converted into a fine. Carabinieri Pironi testified that he asked for Nasr' identity papers on Robert Lady's request, and assured that the operation was a concerted CIA-SISMI operation. The first one to confess
16065-435: The leadership election. Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown was central to the fortunes of New Labour , and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts. During his speech at the 1994 Labour Party conference, Blair announced a forthcoming proposal to update the party's objects and objectives, which was widely interpreted to relate to replacing Clause IV of
16218-414: The left. Like Tony Benn , Blair believed that the "Labour right" was bankrupt, saying "[s]ocialism ultimately must appeal to the better minds of the people. You cannot do that if you are tainted overmuch with a pragmatic period in power." Yet, he saw the hard left as no better, saying: There is an arrogance and self-righteousness about many of the groups on the far left which is deeply unattractive to
16371-514: The national press information, through journalists ad hoc hired by SISMI, by editing false reports with the aim to keep high the "terrorism alert " vis-à-vis the public opinion . Among the duties also the one of chasing and tapping the communications of the two journalists of the newspaper " La Repubblica " in charge of the Abu Omar case: Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D'Avanzo. In a secretly registered conversation General Pignero, Mancini's superior, confirmed having met SISMI director Pollari right after
16524-502: The operation's conclusion 31 October of that year. Aviano F-16s again returned to the skies over Libya in June 2014. Due to significant fighting in Tripoli during the 2014 Libyan conflict the U.S embassy was evacuated. During a five-hour non-combatant evacuation operation , three F-16s launched from Aviano guarded the evacuation of American citizens as embassy staff and U.S Marines convoyd overland from Tripoli into Tunisia . In
16677-522: The operation, it would have been admitting that one part of the government (its intelligence services) deliberately undermined the efforts of another (its judiciary). If it had denied any involvement, it would point to a serious lapse in Italian security, as it would mean foreign intelligence agencies would be able to pull off major operations within Italy, right under the nose of Italy's own intelligence agencies, with virtual impunity. Either way, most observers thought it clear Silvio Berlusconi did not wish
16830-555: The operation. After the abduction, they even carelessly bypassed speed limits in Milan. Some have speculated this represents evidence of Italian complicity, as little apparent effort was made to obfuscate the identities of the participants. This hypothesis was confirmed by Italian investigations. On July 5, 2006, two high-ranking Italian intelligence officers were arrested by Italian police for their complicity in Abu Omar's kidnapping. These included Marco Mancini , number 2 of SISMI , Italy's military intelligence agency, and Gustavo Pignero,
16983-465: The ordinary would-be member ... There's too much mixing only with people [with] whom they agree. With a general election due, Blair had not been selected as a candidate anywhere. He was invited to stand again in Beaconsfield, and was initially inclined to agree but was advised by his head of chambers Derry Irvine to find somewhere else which might be winnable. The situation was complicated by
17136-553: The outskirts of north-east Glasgow. Blair's father accepted a job as a lecturer at Durham University , and moved the family to Durham when Blair was five. It was the beginning of a long association Blair was to have with Durham. Since childhood, Blair has been a fan of Newcastle United Football Club . With his parents basing their family in Durham, Blair attended the Chorister School from 1961 to 1966. Aged 13, he
17289-552: The party was ascendant over the Conservatives in the opinion polls, since the Conservative government's reputation in monetary policy declined as a result of the Black Wednesday economic disaster of September 1992. Blair's election as leader saw Labour support surge higher still in spite of the continuing economic recovery and fall in unemployment that the Conservative government (led by John Major ) had overseen since
17442-489: The party's constitution with a new statement of aims and values. This involved the deletion of the party's stated commitment to "the common ownership of the means of production and exchange", which was generally understood to mean wholesale nationalisation of major industries. At a special conference in April 1995, the clause was replaced by a statement that the party is " democratic socialist ", and Blair also claimed to be
17595-597: The party. He stood as a candidate for the Hackney council elections of 1982 in Queensbridge ward, a safe Labour area, but was not selected. In 1982, Blair was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Beaconsfield , where there was a forthcoming by-election. Although Blair lost the Beaconsfield by-election and Labour's share of the vote fell by ten percentage points, he acquired
17748-424: The persons answering denied there was an Eliana Castaldo reachable at that number. In April 2006, just after the Italian general election , outgoing Justice Minister Roberto Castelli ( Lega Nord ) told prosecutors that he had decided not to pass the extradition request to the United States. The abduction occurred without the knowledge of the Italian intelligence and law enforcement officials working directly on
17901-473: The right of the political spectrum. The Financial Times argued that Blair is not conservative but instead a populist . Critics and admirers tend to agree that Blair's electoral success was based on his ability to occupy the centre ground and appeal to voters across the political spectrum, to the extent that he has been fundamentally at odds with traditional Labour Party values. Some left-wing critics, such as Mike Marqusee in 2001, argued that Blair oversaw
18054-565: The right to adopt and enacted several anti-discrimination policies into law. In 2014 he was proclaimed a "gay icon" by the Gay Times . The New Labour government increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders. Under Blair's government the amount of new legislation increased which attracted criticism. He also introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation . Blair has been credited with overseeing
18207-487: The runway at Aviano was closed for repairs. The wing's support of Operation Iraqi Freedom began in late 2003. Aviano served as the launch point for airborne/air-land insertion of airborne forces opening a second front in northern Iraq. During that time, the wing secured, bedded and fed more than 2,300 Army and Air Force personnel. The operation, the largest airborne operation since 1989, constituted 62 missions, transporting 2,146 passengers and 2,433.7 tons of cargo. Since
18360-423: The sentence from four to three years which was then commuted to community service for which extradition is not possible. The original sentence was already reduced from seven to four years through a general amnesty law in 2006. The exposé of the incident, coming just before Italy's general election , was a major embarrassment for the Berlusconi administration . If it had admitted foreknowledge of or complicity in
18513-447: The slogan " One member, one vote ", John Smith, with limited input from Blair, secured an end to the trade union block vote for Westminster candidate selection at the 1993 conference. But Blair and the modernisers wanted Smith to go further still, and called for radical adjustment of Party goals by repealing " Clause IV ", the historic commitment to nationalisation of industry. This would be achieved in 1995. John Smith died suddenly of
18666-530: The then-Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli and two other diplomats formerly assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Rome, as well as the former head of Italian military intelligence Nicolo Pollari and four other Italian secret service agents were acquitted due to diplomatic immunity . All but two Italians were tried in absentia , and, as long as the verdicts remain in place, the 23 convicted Americans cannot travel to Europe without risking arrest. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly expressed disappointment over
18819-610: The tide against the rebel forces; before deployment, the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone had been on the verge of collapse. Palliser had been intended as an evacuation mission but Brigadier David Richards was able to convince Blair to allow him to expand the role; at the time, Richards' action was not known and Blair was assumed to be behind it. Blair ordered Operation Barras , a highly successful SAS / Parachute Regiment strike to rescue hostages from
18972-621: The time, said "I'm not guilty. I'm only responsible for carrying out orders that I received from my superiors ." CIA officer Sabrina DeSousa , sentenced to five years in prison, said that the United States "broke the law ... and we are paying for the mistakes right now". On February 12, 2013, the Court of Appeal in Milan sentenced former SISMI director Nicolò Pollari , his deputy director Marco Mancini , former Rome CIA station chief Castelli and two other CIA employees to up to 10 years in jail. Pollari has announced he will appeal against this ruling at
19125-694: The traditional form of accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds , to which he was appointed by Brown in one of the latter's last acts as chancellor; the resulting by-election was won by Labour candidate Phil Wilson . Blair decided not to issue a list of Resignation Honours , making him the first prime minister of the modern era not to do so. In 2001, Blair said, "We are a left of centre party, pursuing economic prosperity and social justice as partners and not as opposites." Blair rarely applies such labels to himself; he promised before
19278-689: The trial claiming that it could hurt Italy's international reputation. In September 2012, Italy's highest court, the Court of Cassation , upheld the guilty verdicts that had been handed down by lower courts. The Italian government has not stated whether it would seek extradition of the convicted Americans. On February 13, 2013, the Milano Court of Appeals sentenced former SISMI director Nicolò Pollari to ten years in jail and awarded €1.5 million in damages to Abu Omar and his wife. Pollari's deputy director Marco Mancini has been sentenced to nine years in jail,
19431-418: The trial was set for June 8, 2007, although it was adjourned until October 2007, pending an upcoming ruling by Italy's Constitutional Court regarding the possible violation of state secrecy laws by Milan prosecutors who used phone taps on Italian agents during their investigation. Two other Italian suspects reached plea bargains . Giuliano Pironi, who admitted stopping Nasr and controlling his identity during
19584-568: The two DoDEA schools on the property. Pest extermination is the responsibility of the 31st Civil Engineer Squadron. Air bases with US nuclear weapon vaults in Europe: Some of this text in an early version of this article was taken from pages on the Aviano Air Base website , which as a work of the U.S. Government is presumed to be a public domain resource . That information was supplemented by: Tony Blair [REDACTED] Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)
19737-526: The verdicts. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff S. Morrell said that the judge had ignored requests for Lieutenant Colonel Romano's case to be moved to the United States, adding that "Our view is the Italian court has no jurisdiction over Lieutenant Colonel Romano and should have immediately dismissed the charges. Now that they have not, we will, of course, explore what options we have going forward." The CIA declined to comment. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied knowledge of any kidnap operation, and criticized
19890-422: The wiretaps recordings of SISMI agents. In particular, Romano Prodi's government accused the magistrates of having revealed the identity of 85 foreign and Italian spies. The Italian government has said it will wait for the ruling before issuing the extradition requests. On November 4, 2009, an Italian judge convicted 22 suspected or known CIA agents, a U.S. Air Force (USAF) colonel and two Italian secret agents of
20043-401: The world was safer as a result of the invasion. He said there was "no real difference between wanting regime change and wanting Iraq to disarm: regime change was US policy because Iraq was in breach of its UN obligations." In an October 2015 CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria , Blair apologised for his "mistakes" over the Iraq War and admitted there were "elements of truth" to the view that
20196-399: Was a "state matter." "I console myself by reminding myself that I was a soldier, that I was in a war against terrorism, that I couldn't discuss orders given to me." Lady's retirement villa has been seized by magistrates to cover court costs. Aviano Air Base Aviano Air Base ( IATA : AVB , ICAO : LIPA ) ( Italian : Base aerea di Aviano ) is a base in northeastern Italy , in
20349-455: Was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , despite never strongly being in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament . Blair was helped on the campaign trail by soap opera actress Pat Phoenix , his father-in-law's girlfriend. At the age of thirty, he was elected as MP for Sedgefield in 1983; despite the party's landslide defeat at the general election . In his maiden speech in
20502-460: Was abducted by the United States as a source of intelligence on foreign combatants being recruited to fight in Iraq, which, at the time, the United States had yet to invade . On February 17, 2003, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was abducted by persons affiliated with the CIA as he walked to his mosque in Milan for noon prayers. According to court documents, Nasr was pushed into a minivan on Via Giuseppe Guerzoni in Milan and driven four or five hours to
20655-455: Was accused of misleading Parliament, and his popularity dropped as a result, with Labour's overall majority at the 2005 election reduced from 167 to 66 seats. As a combined result of the Blair–Brown pact , the Iraq War and low approval ratings, pressure built up within the Labour Party for Blair to resign. Over the summer of 2006, many MPs criticised Blair for not calling for a ceasefire in
20808-655: Was aligned with the reforming tendencies in the party (headed by leader Neil Kinnock) and in 1988 was promoted to the shadow Trade and Industry team as spokesman on the City of London . In 1987, he stood for election to the Shadow Cabinet , receiving 71 votes. When Kinnock resigned after a fourth consecutive Conservative victory in the 1992 general election , Blair became shadow home secretary under John Smith . The old guard argued that trends showed they were regaining strength under Smith's strong leadership. Meanwhile,
20961-506: Was also the first prime minister born after the Second World War and the accession of Elizabeth II to the throne. With victories in 1997, 2001, and 2005, Blair was the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister, and the first person (and the only one, to date) to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. His contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland peace process by helping to negotiate
21114-604: Was appointed special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016 and has made occasional political interventions, and has been a key influence on Keir Starmer . In 2009, Blair was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush . He was made a Knight Companion of
21267-751: Was born on 6 May 1953 at Queen Mary Maternity Home in Edinburgh , Scotland. He was the second son of Leo and Hazel ( née Corscadden ) Blair. Leo Blair was the illegitimate son of two entertainers and was adopted as a baby by the Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife, Mary. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher and Orangeman who moved to Glasgow in 1916. In 1923, he returned to (and later died in) Ballyshannon , County Donegal, in Ireland . In Ballyshannon, Corscadden's wife, Sarah Margaret (née Lipsett), gave birth above
21420-451: Was briefly a Trotskyist , after reading the first volume of Isaac Deutscher 's biography of Leon Trotsky , which was "like a light going on". He graduated from Oxford at the age of 22 in 1975 with a second-class Honours B.A. in jurisprudence. In 1975, while Blair was at Oxford, his mother Hazel died aged 52 of thyroid cancer , which greatly affected him. After Oxford, Blair served his barrister pupillage at Lincoln's Inn , where he
21573-575: Was called to the Bar. He met his future wife, Cherie Booth , at the chambers founded by Derry Irvine (who was to be Blair's first lord chancellor), 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers. Blair joined the Labour Party shortly after graduating from Oxford in 1975. In the early 1980s, he was involved in Labour politics in Hackney South and Shoreditch , where he aligned himself with the " soft left " of
21726-631: Was informed by the CIA on May 15, 2003, that Abu Omar was interrogated in Cairo by Egyptian services. Enrico Micheli [ it ] , the Italian government's responsible for secret services, declared to the European committee that the Berlusconi administration had classified files related to the Abu Omar case, and that the Prodi administration confirmed such secrecy. Any trial of American citizens
21879-434: Was initially a failure when it relied solely on air strikes; the threat of a ground offensive convinced Serbia's Slobodan Milošević to withdraw. Blair had been a major advocate for a ground offensive, which Bill Clinton was reluctant to do, and ordered that 50,000 soldiers – most of the available British Army – should be made ready for action. The following year, the limited Operation Palliser in Sierra Leone swiftly swung
22032-433: Was largely ignored, especially the more ambitious working-class families. They aspired to middle-class status but accepted the Conservative argument that Labour was holding ambitious people back with its levelling-down policies. They increasingly saw Labour in terms defined by the opposition, regarding higher taxes and higher interest rates. The steps towards what would become New Labour were procedural but essential. Calling on
22185-438: Was nominated by the branch. At the last minute, he was added to the shortlist and won the selection over Huckfield. It was the last candidate selection made by Labour before the election, and was made after the Labour Party had issued biographies of all its candidates ("Labour's Election Who's Who"). John Burton became Blair's election agent and one of his most trusted and longest-standing allies. Blair's election literature in
22338-470: Was not included in the CTIC because of internal jealousy between various Italian intelligence agencies. But they noted that, despite that, the arrest ordinance against Marco Mancini and his superior General Gustavo Pignero referred to the operation as an example of the "non orthodox activity" (the only one known of) realized by the CIA and the SISMI "since 2002," thus demonstrating some sort of cooperation between US and Italian intelligence agencies, albeit not in
22491-402: Was permitted to return to his family. After four years of detention, an Egyptian court ruled that his imprisonment was "unfounded." In 2006, Nasr's lawyer Montasser el-Zayat said Nasr was underfed but there were "no signs of torture." The CIA agents were implicated, in part, by extensive cellphone records which allowed Milan police to reconstruct their movements for the nine days they were in
22644-693: Was rapid. Neil Kinnock appointed him in 1984 as assistant Treasury spokesman under Roy Hattersley who was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer . In May 1985, he appeared on the BBC's Question Time , arguing that the Conservative Government's Public Order White Paper was a threat to civil liberties. Blair demanded an inquiry into the Bank of England 's decision to rescue the collapsed Johnson Matthey bank in October 1985. By this time, Blair
22797-665: Was released by an Egyptian court in February 2007, which ruled that his detention was "unfounded". He has been indicted for international terrorism offenses in Italy since 2005. The Italian government originally denied having played any role in the abduction. However, Italian prosecutors Armando Spataro and Ferdinand Enrico Pomarici indicted 26 CIA agents, including the Rome station chief and head of CIA in Italy until 2003, Jeffrey W. Castelli , and Milan chief of base Robert Seldon Lady , as well as SISMI head General Nicolò Pollari , his second Marco Mancini and station chiefs Raffaele Ditroia, Luciano Di Gregori and Giuseppe Ciorra. Referring to
22950-511: Was sent to spend his school term-time boarding at Fettes College in Edinburgh from 1966 to 1971. According to Blair, he hated his time at Fettes. His teachers were unimpressed with him; his biographer, John Rentoul , reported that "[a]ll the teachers I spoke to when researching the book said he was a complete pain in the backside and they were very glad to see the back of him." Blair reportedly modelled himself on Mick Jagger , lead singer of
23103-520: Was shot down over Bosnian-Serb controlled territory in Bosnia. A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 picked him up after he evaded capture for six days. In August and September, Operation Deliberate Force began and the 31st Fighter Wing conducted air strikes against Bosnian Serbs to give the Muslim forces an upper hand in the conflict. Peacekeeping operations continued in the Balkans through the end of 2004, when
23256-414: Was subjected to various depredations, tortured by beating and electric shocks to the genitals, raped, and eventually had lost hearing in one ear. At the time of the calls he had been released on the orders of an Egyptian judge because of lack of evidence. Shortly after those calls were made he was re-arrested and placed back in prison. Nasr was not released again until February 11, 2007, at which time he
23409-456: Was then operating out of the U.S. embassy under diplomatic cover as the "Consul of the United States in Milan." The operation was carried out by the CIA's Special Activities Division . Lady has said that he opposed the abduction plans, but was overruled. Lady has since retired from the CIA, which puts him in a precarious legal position, as the status of his diplomatic immunity is now in doubt. In December 2005, CIA Director Porter Goss ordered
#815184