Thursday, October 07, 2004
AH, LIBERTY
It seems that there's been a terrible mistake. Actually, the two recently freed Italian women hostages are unhappy to have been released. The BBC reports:
However, paying for "hostages" who prefer their "hostage-takers" as opposed to those doing the paying, does seem to be a bit of a wasted spend. In any event . . .
Be that as it may, the two finally sensed that perhaps they had indeed been appearing a tad obnoxious and ungrateful:
It seems that there's been a terrible mistake. Actually, the two recently freed Italian women hostages are unhappy to have been released. The BBC reports:
On their first day of freedom, instead of thanking Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for securing their release Simona Pari and Simona Torretta urged the government to withdraw its troops from Iraq.If they did pay, it will come out eventually. Interestingly, before one gets all excited, it is worth recalling that paying for hostages in the Middle East/North Africa is hardly new.
There are reports that a $1m ransom was paid for their release, although the government has officially denied this.
However, paying for "hostages" who prefer their "hostage-takers" as opposed to those doing the paying, does seem to be a bit of a wasted spend. In any event . . .
From the very start, the former hostages said they wished to carry on their aid work in Baghdad and expressed gratitude to the Arab countries, Iraq's freedom fighters and the Muslim world for working towards their liberation. . .And if any payment was indeed made to secure their release, it doesn't appear to have been made by "the Arab countries, Iraq's freedom fighters and the Muslim world", but by Rome. Anyway . . .
. . . "Guerrilla warfare is legitimate, but I am against the kidnapping of civilians," Simona Torretta, who speaks Arabic and was already based in Iraq before Saddam Hussain was ousted, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera.Given that attitude, some appear to believe that if the Italian government did indeed fork out $1 million -- remember, the government denies that -- ransom for these two, Italians might like their money back . . . or at least to be reimbursed by those with whom the former "hostages" most warmly identify:
"You have to distinguish between terrorism and resistance - I said it before and I repeat it today," she added.
Ms Torretta went on to describe Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's administration as "a puppet government in the hands of the Americans". . .
. . . Giuliano Ferrara, editor of daily Il Foglio and long-time ally of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, suggested the women should return the sum paid by the government for their release by collecting it from among Italy's "valiant pacifists".Actually, I'm thinking more "Patty Hearst" here. You remember -- she was kidnapped, and supposedly "brainwashed", and eventually ended up participating in a bank stick up. Listening to these two, Hearst's kidnappers were amateurs. Had they been there for a few months longer, they might have been induced to blow themselves up.
The president of the north-eastern Veneto region, Giancarlo Galan, said he was "astonished and offended" by the "fanaticism" of the two. . .
Be that as it may, the two finally sensed that perhaps they had indeed been appearing a tad obnoxious and ungrateful:
. . . Ms Pari and Ms Torretta eventually thanked the government and explained they were not aware of the beheadings of the two Americans and of British engineer Ken Bigley's plight until after their first statements. . .¶ by Robert, Thursday, October 07, 2004
