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| Afghanistan | ||
| Italy "irritated" by allies' criticisms over hostage deal | ||
| 2007-03-22 | ||
| Rome (dpa) - Italy's government is "surprised" and "irritated" by United States criticisms of the exchange of Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government to secure the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist, media reports said Thursday. According to daily Corriere della Sera, Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government has reacted to the criticisms with a mix of "irritation, surprise and suspicion." Italian officials noted that the criticisms came just hours after Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema had publicly thanked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her "understanding" over the affair. On Wednesday, a senior US administration official said the US had formally complained to Italy for pressurising the Afghan government into agreeing to release several insurgents, saying the deal had "caught the US by surprise." Similar criticisms were voiced by the British Foreign Office, which said the deal sent "the wrong signal to prospective hostage- takers," as well as by Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen. "When we create a situation where you can buy the freedom of Taliban fighters when you catch a journalist, in a short term there will be no journalists any more," Verhagen told reporters during a visit to the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul.
In an interview Wednesday with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, the 52-year-old reporter defended the Afghan government's decision, saying human life should be "safeguarded at all costs." "I think it is right to negotiate if it means showing that we are different from the Taliban, that we know how to forgive and that we respect human life above anything else.
The spat comes at a sensitive time for the Prodi government, which is in the process of pushing through parliament a bill extending Italy's peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. A final vote is due to take place next week in the Senate, where the government enjoys only a wafer-thin majority. Prodi was forced to step down briefly last month after left-wing dissidents voted against his government's foreign policy in opposition to Italy's role in Afghanistan. D'Alema planned to phone Rice later on Thursday to try and clarify the situation. | ||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #16 "When we create a situation where you can buy the freedom of Taliban fighters when you catch a journalist, in a short term there will be no journalists any more," Very interesting proposal. How about spreading out a rumor that, indeed, is the case, send an army of journalists in and then issue a "no negotiations" statement? Maybe what would we be left with afterwards will be just reporters... |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-03-22 22:08 |
| #15 The Germans and Italians (and perhaps others) have greatly stained their honor and reputations (such as they might have been) with their idiotic, outrageous, and incompetent antics WRT hostages in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's very hard for me to care about what a German officer or Italian soldier would do if he were in charge, or to count their views in the balance any more - I'm pretty much done with the selfish, unintelligent, arrogant, reckless, incompetent, back-stabbing, shameless nonsense from Europeans. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-03-22 21:53 |
| #14 Tell this to the thousands of firefighters, police, paramedics, National Guard, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force, security personnel, and others who risk themselves every day in the pursuit of excellence and "doing what's right" in the face of danger to their own lives. Which is why, whenever I meet any of the aforementioned individuals on a casual basis, I always take time out to thank them for the incredible job they do. FOTSGreg, it finally occurred to me that "FOTS" means "First On The Scene", am I correct? If so, are you willing to describe your work in that capacity? My own Haz Mat (Hazardous Materials), CPR and First Aid training has made me stop and be first on the scene many times. There are few finer feelings than knowing that potential and avoidable harm to victims or bystanders has been averted. It is simultaneously happy and sad to see an often shocked look on the faces of uniformed soldiers that I stop and gratefully shake hands with. Many are unprepared for such a demonstration of genuine appreciation and are sometimes abashed at receiving such thanks. I always do my best to get them used to being the recipients of this nation's gratitude and let them know (with Rantburgers specifically in mind) that there are many, many Americans who respect, approve of and actively support their actions in every way. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-22 21:33 |
| #13 the US had formally complained to Italy for pressurising the Afghan government bet that hurt Karzai. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-03-22 20:06 |
| #12 Human life should be safeguarded at all costs... Tell this to the thousands of firefighters, police, paramedics, National Guard, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force, security personnel, and others who risk themselves every day in the pursuit of excellence and "doing what's right" in the face of danger to their own lives. Who are these righteous assholes (or anyone else) to tell me I do not have the right to risk my life or sacrifice my life for someone else or that my own life should be safeguarded above all others at all costs? Asshats...that is the philosophy of those who would be conquered. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-03-22 20:01 |
| #11 human life should be "safeguarded at all costs So what do you think about the good people who will end up getting killed directly or indirectly as a result of this capitulation? Or are we ignoring that in favor of our own Hypocritical pig. Don't forget to repent before you die so you can get into heaven. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-03-22 16:26 |
| #10 “If there is no war, there will be no hostages,” Ms. Sgrena, also a journalist, said in a telephone interview from New York, where she is promoting a book about her experience. There'd be even less terrorism, war and hostage taking if these Euro turds stopped exchanging prisoners, paying huge ransoms and generally appeasing every gang of Islamic thugs that come knocking. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-22 14:46 |
| #9 May both these traitors to civilization have nasty "work accidents" very soon. They have no concept of honor, or of the sanctity of human life. All they're concerned about is themselves. If even ONE of the released Taliban is caught killing either ISAF or Afghani troops, Idiot Stick deserves to hang for accessory to murder. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-22 13:56 |
| #8 “If there is no Fixed it. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-03-22 13:40 |
| #7 The Taliban control three-quarters of southern Afghanistan Damn interesting. I'll wager he divides up the country into 4 cardinal points. So the gunnies control 3/4 of 1/4 which is um...... 75% of .25, which is um... damn carry the 6, shoot the 4, round off the 9, a smallish number 19 percentum or so. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-22 13:34 |
| #6 And this pig chimes in... A former Italian hostage, Giuliana Sgrena, kidnapped in Baghdad in 2005, said she believed that the Italian government was obligated to do all it could to save a hostage’s life. She argued that paying ransom for reporters was a far smaller issue than the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “If there is no war, there will be no hostages,” Ms. Sgrena, also a journalist, said in a telephone interview from New York, where she is promoting a book about her experience. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-22 11:59 |
| #5 "The Taliban control three-quarters of southern Afghanistan. There's 5,000 of them. An interesting statement. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-22 11:44 |
| #4 One could argue that this makes you precisely like the Taliban, in that they are willing to trade and sell human lives, too. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-03-22 09:20 |
| #3 Amen, tu. ""I think it is right to negotiate if it means showing that we are different from the Taliban, that we know how to forgive and that we respect human life above anything else. "The Taliban control three-quarters of southern Afghanistan. There's 5,000 of them. Releasing two or three prisoners wouldn't make any difference," he told dpa. So is it about respecting human life or is it about a few not making a difference? Like a desperate teenager trying all alibis until one gains traction. This is the sick altruist Eurothink carried out to its fullest. I forgive you when you kill me. Over and over. Till there's no more "me"s. Scramble all you want to try to avoid what happened; it will come back to you at night in your dreams. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-03-22 09:14 |
| #2 In an interview Wednesday with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, the 52-year-old reporter defended the Afghan government's decision, saying human life should be "safeguarded at all costs." At all costs? Looks like you kinda forgot that when they gave your driver the chop, eh, Daniele? What did you do "at all costs" to stop that? What a sanctimonious, hypocritical pig. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-22 08:48 |
| #1 In an interview Wednesday with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, the 52-year-old reporter defended the Afghan government's decision, saying human life should be "safeguarded at all costs." "I think it is right to negotiate if it means showing that we are different from the Taliban, that we know how to forgive and that we respect human life above anything else. Good luck with 'showing that we are different' having any effect on the Taliban. That's why they are killing us. Our wanting to 'protecting life at all costs' is what the vermin are counting on. Dipshit! |
| Posted by: WTF 2007-03-22 08:38 |