Italy Pardons US Air Force Officer in CIA Case Italy's president has pardoned a U.S. Air Force colonel convicted in absentia by Italian courts for the CIA-conducted abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street. President Giorgio Napolitano's office said Friday he hoped the pardoning of Joseph Romano would ease a "delicate" situation between the two allies, which cooperate closely on security. Romano was security chief of northern Italy's Aviano air base where the abducted Egyptian cleric was taken before being flown out of the country and eventually to Egypt. The trial was the first in the world involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program to abduct terror suspects and transfer them to third countries where torture is permitted. Romano's defense said he was never formally notified of charges. Twenty-three Americans were convicted, all in absentia.