My Final Post – Growing Tensions Between U.S. and Europe

Today is my last day as a guest-blogger here at Opinio Juris, and so I’d like to begin by thinking Peggy, Roger, Julian, and Chris for their hospitality. I must say that I have a new respect for the effort that they put forth in generating the wonderful product from which we all benefit on this blog. Let’s hope they keep at for a long time to come.

On to more interesting matters…this just isn’t a good week for the U.S. vis-a-vis cooperation with our European allies with respect to counterterrorism. Yesterday, an Italian judge determined that a former diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Rome who was, apparently, the CIA’s Chief-of-Station at the time, should not receive the benefit of diplomatic immunity with respect to the arrest warrant issued in connection with the extraordinary rendition/seizure of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Nasr. Don’t hold your breath on any U.S. citizens being extradited in connection with this case, of course. Meanwhile, both the Council of Europe and some member states continue to move forward with investigations associated with claims that the CIA operates “black site” detention centers for high-level al Qaeda detainees in undisclosed European locations (or at least transships such detainees through European airports).

That’s all for now. It’s been a real pleasure!