“Many believe one of the reasons the Italian judges went after the CIA RDI [Rendition, Detention, Interrogation] and [former CIA Officer] Sabrina De Sousa in the Abu Omar case was the USMC and USG accountability failures and arrogance.”
Mark Fallon — International Security Consultant & Author (February 4 2018)
February 3 2022 — On February 3 1998, a U.S. Marine Corps jet on a low-level training flight sliced through steel wires supporting a cable car near the ski resort of Cavalese in the Italian Alps, sending a gondola plunging to the ground. All 20 people inside the gondola were killed. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today
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Italian prosecutors wanted the crew of the jet tried in Italy, but an Italian court ruled they should face court-martials in the U.S., in accordance with NATO treaties.
“The aircraft’s pilot and navigator were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, even though the military admitted the plane had been flying lower and faster than authorized.
The defense argued that the incident was a tragic accident caused partly by the fact that the plane’s altimeter was not working and the gondola cable that the plane hit was not on the map that he was given.
The disaster, and the subsequent acquittal of the pilots, strained relations between the United States and Italy.
Later, it emerged a video that captured the accident from inside the plane had been destroyed.” [CNN]
The reader interested to learn more about this tragedy will find many interesting details in this excellent piece: A Few Not So Good Men: Marine Pilots, a Massacre, Immunity.
Many experts believe that the acquittal of the US crew explains the reasons why Italy decided to indict two dozens of CIA officers on the Abu Omar case a few years later.
PS: Despite his role in the destruction of the videotape evidence, Chandler Seagraves was promoted to colonel in 2015.
“Get rid of the videotape. If it were mine, I would get rid of it.”
US Captain Chandler Seagraves — Electronic-warfare officer
REFERENCES
Italians ask: Can Americans get away with murder? — CNN
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On This Day — The Cavalese Cable Car Disaster (February 3 1998)
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