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CIA Officer: We 'Broke the Law' With Kidnapping

She's one of 23 Americans convicted in Italy for 2003 rendition
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 4, 2009 6:30 PM CST
CIA Officer: We 'Broke the Law' With Kidnapping
Italian Judge Oscar Magi reads the verdict at the Milan court in Italy Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

One of the CIA agents convicted in Italy today of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in 2003 says the mission "broke the law" and that she feels "abandoned and betrayed" by the US government. The case involving ex-officer Sabrina DeSousa and 22 other Americans is the first challenge to the US policy of extraordinary rendition—capturing terror suspects and sending them to other countries for interrogation.

"We are paying for the mistakes right now, whoever authorized and approved this," deSousa tells ABC News. "Everything I did was approved back in Washington." She and the others were tried in absentia and sentenced to 5 years in prison. One leader got 8 years. Republican Pete Hoekstra, who's on the House intelligence panel, agrees the agents were betrayed: "They've been hung out to dry. They're taking the fall potentially for a decision that was made by their superiors." (More CIA stories.)

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