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| Europe |
| Italy paying ransom to free Iraq hostages |
| 2004-04-20 |
| Italy is prepared to pay a ransom to free three security guards who were kidnapped in Iraq more than a week ago. Barbara Contini, the Italian in charge of the southern city of Nasiriyah, suggested today that a ransom could be paid since kidnappings were common in Iraq. âEvery one pays. Itâs been done for centuries and centuries,â Contini told the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera. âI am convinced that weâre dealing with local bands. People organised in tribal ways, who have the culture of kidnapping in their blood but with whom you can negotiate. There are no insurmountable barriers,â she said. |
| Posted by:TS |
| #7 Or Palermo ... Italy's parliamentary anti-Mafia committee reported that American dons/capos were outsourcing whackings to youths from Palermo, declaring American hitmen to be unreliable ... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-04-21 12:13:20 AM |
| #6 People organised in tribal ways, who have the culture of kidnapping in their blood but with whom you can negotiate. Italian government needs to outsource this problem to the Sicilians. They have their own cultural skills in bloody tribal negotiation. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-04-20 11:21:47 AM |
| #5 To wit (Rudyard Kipling, the warrior poet): Dane-Geld  A.D. 980-1016 It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation To call upon a neighbour and to say:-- "We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us cash to go away." And that is called asking for Dane-geld, And the people who ask it explain That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld And then you'll get rid of the Dane! It is always a temptation for a reach and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say:-- "Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you cash to go away." And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we've proved it again and again, That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld You never get rid of the Dane. It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say:-- "We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that plays it is lost!" [So very very true.] |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2004-04-20 10:59:36 AM |
| #4 âI am convinced that weâre dealing with local bands. People organised in tribal ways, who have the culture of kidnapping in their blood but with whom you can negotiate. There are no insurmountable barriers,â The sheer stupidity of that remark is incredible. Perhaps some of that kidnappin', murderin' blood ought to be spilt on the local streets to discourage this age-old tradition of crime-and-reward? No, instead lets make Italians the most valuable perambulating commodity in the whole frikkin' Middle East. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-04-20 10:36:27 AM |
| #3 âEvery one pays. Itâs been done for centuries and centuries,â Contini told the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera. And with this newfound wealth, the kidnappers used that ransom money to turn Italian hostage taking into a new profit center for their village. People organised in tribal ways, who have the culture of kidnapping in their blood ... Someone needs to tell the Italians how that type of blood poisoning is supposed to be fatal, since it is so often accompanied by a case of lead poisoning as well. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-20 10:27:15 AM |
| #2 The problem is that paying ransom just encourages them. As RC just said, "You never get rid of the Dane." Then again, if you pay the ransom to get your guys free, then catch the kidnappers and hang them from lampposts, that might work... |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2004-04-20 10:26:56 AM |
| #1 You never get rid of the Dane. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-20 10:20:25 AM |