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| Europe | ||
| WaTi: Italians kept U.S. forces in dark | ||
| 2005-03-07 | ||
| EFL ROME -- Italian agents likely withheld information from U.S. counterparts about a cash-for-freedom deal with gunmen holding an Italian hostage for fear that Americans might block the trade, Italian news reports said yesterday. The decision by operatives of Italy's SISMI military intelligence service to keep the CIA in the dark about the deal for the release of reporter Giuliana Sgrena, might have "short-circuited" communications with U.S. forces controlling the road from Baghdad to the city's airport, the newspaper La Stampa said. That would help explain why American troops opened fire on a car whisking the released hostage to a waiting airplane, wounding Miss Sgrena and killing the Italian intelligence operative who had just negotiated her release. Thousands of Italians yesterday congregated on the Altar to the Fatherland in Rome's vast Piazza Venezia to view the coffin of Nicola Calipari, the 52-year-old head of SISMI's international operations department. Miss Sgrena, a reporter for the Communist daily Il Manifesto, charged yesterday that U.S. forces might have deliberately targeted her because Washington opposes Italy’s policy of dealing with kidnappers.  "The United States doesn't approve of this [ransom] policy and so they try to stop it in any way possible," the veteran war reporter, 57, told Sky Italia TV.
The sources said the Italians explained "the terms of the mission" and "the exact nature of the operation" to U.S. officials at the airport. Sources also said an American officer was instructed to wait at the airport for Mr. Calipari and the freed hostage. But La Stampa also quoted diplomatic sources saying vital information was withheld from the Americans. "Italian intelligence decided to free Sgrena paying a sum to the kidnappers without informing American colleagues in Iraq who, if they had known about this, would have had to oppose it, to have impeded the operation," sources said. "If this was the case, it could explain why American intelligence had not informed the American military commands about the operation and thus the patrol did not expect the car with the Italians." | ||
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #25 "That would help explain why American troops opened fire on a car whisking the released hostage to a waiting airplane, wounding Miss Sgrena and killing the Italian intelligence operative who had just negotiated her release..." Or, as we like to say in the American Conspiracy biz: "who had just delivered the multi-million dollar boodle to her so-called kidnappers." Send the crazy paleo-commie bint back, and this time shoot her ass for real. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-03-07 2:41:19 PM |
| #24 CL 1) Many? 2) I don't know either. No one with a shred of ethics left, not to mention with a soul or a brain inside. I am hoping that this part of the story is a lie-I doubt it would be the first lie that this "Italian journalist" has told. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-03-07 2:09:57 PM |
| #23 What kind of Allies would pay ransom to the other side? Who on our side would go along with it? |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2005-03-07 2:00:57 PM |
| #22 We should be calling the Italian ambassador for a conference or even recalling our ambassador in Rome. That $6 million is going to get our soldiers killed. End of story! If the Italians didn't inform the US they were coming down that road and didn't slow down for the road block, then they got what they deserved. Assholes! |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2005-03-07 12:54:37 PM |
| #21 Pappy--Sheet, I didn't know! I'll contact Mad Ogre and inform him to take it down or correctly refer to it. Thanks for the pointer. |
| Posted by: Dar 2005-03-07 12:11:55 PM |
| #20 Have there been any reliable American sources confirming the following statements made by the sources in the article? There were conflicting reports on the extent to which Italian authorities had informed their American counterparts about the operation, in which a reported $6 million was paid for the journalist's release. Mr. Calipari and another senior SISMI operative concluded the deal for her release on Friday in Abu Dhabi and then flew to Baghdad aboard a secret service Falcon executive jet to collect her, La Stampa said. At the airport, they met an Italian military liaison officer and U.S. military authorities issued them passes allowing them to travel around Baghdad carrying weapons, the newspaper said citing SISMI sources. If there is an American fingerprint of involvement anywhere in this ransom paid to terrorists story, watch out for huge domestic political fallout. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-03-07 12:11:14 PM |
| #19 The same things were going on in the Philippines wrt the initial Abu Sayyaf kidnappings in 2000. The Euros and Khadaffi ended up financing the Philippine terror organizations via ransoms, and re-started the Muslim insurgency there. There is a lot of blood on their hands. |
| Posted by: buwaya 2005-03-07 11:49:18 AM |
| #18 Fabrizio Quatrocchi showed us all how Italians die. Giuliana Sgrena is showing us all how some Italians lie. |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-03-07 11:46:23 AM |
| #17 The people accusing us of unjustly firing on an unknown car that ignored signals to stop are probably the same ones who were outraged that historical sites and relics were looted in the collapse of Saddam's government. They need to get a strategy and stick to it: either necessary force should be used to stop unknown persons from going where they aren't supposed to go, or no force can be ever be used against such people and responsibility for all unintended and sometimes violent consequences is therewith accepted. They can't have it both ways. This was very predictable. More lack of ethics and magical thinking on the part of Europe. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-03-07 11:22:56 AM |
| #16 AP put out that picture, but it's the wrong car. That's the one the reporter was kidnapped from, not the one that was shot up (hat tip: LGF). |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-03-07 10:57:35 AM |
| #15 At best, the Italian government is weak, at worst, they are terrorist sympothizers. This is blood money and will kill many more innocents and soldiers in the future. Fook the damn Italians and get them out of Iraq before they kill more people. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-03-07 10:31:07 AM |
| #14 This pinko beeyatch is also claiming that the US forces fired "hundreds" of rounds at the car. The pictures of the car that Mad Ogre posted on his site contradict this statement quite handily. |
| Posted by: Dar 2005-03-07 10:31:00 AM |
| #13 Well, maybe the Italian mafia ought to consider a re-launch of its domestic kidnapping industry, since the Italian authorities are paying so well in Iraq. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2005-03-07 10:30:06 AM |
| #12 Is this some kind of southern European thing I'm not supposed to understand? The paying ransom money when it should be against your principles, that is. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2005-03-07 10:02:12 AM |
| #11 Tancred in the mid 1980s the United States formed common cause with Muslim terrorsits in Afghanistan. As to the source of the ransom, the article says "That money reputedly came not from the state, but from the personal fortune of Mr. Berlusconi, a media magnate who is Italy's richest man." No doubt he did it to make himself a hero. Unfortunately, his agents thought they wer flying solo. Too bad for them. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-03-07 9:46:44 AM |
| #10 The Italian secret service engaged in an operation within a friendly nation that resulted in the transfer of over $10 million U.S. to the terrorist thugs trying to overthrow that friendly government. In other times, that would be an act of war. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-03-07 9:33:14 AM |
| #9 What has not been said is that in the mid-1990s the Italian Communist Party formed common cause withe Muslim terrorists. What began as an Islamic Jihad/HAMAS relationship grew in the new millenium expanded to include the Islamist jihadists including Al Qaeda and the Algerian crazies. The question that no one is answering is who paid the ransom? If it was Berlusconi's people one should ask why! |
| Posted by: Tancred 2005-03-07 8:43:46 AM |
| #8 The Italian Job |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2005-03-07 8:43:41 AM |
| #7 I'm torn too, Sobiesky. On the one hand killing commies is a good thing once they take up arms, but on the other hand killing them simply becasue they are lying weasels without an ounce of honor, while seeming to be a good idea, is really not. Far better to let the commie shoot their mouths off without fear of anything more severe than an ass whupping, than for some good intenioned fella/gal to kill one and remove a perfectly good public urinal. :o) |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-03-07 8:15:13 AM |
| #6 Badanov, that sucks! Would "he/she looked like carying RPG" do? |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-03-07 7:54:10 AM |
| #5 No shooting them anytime you can legaly is just fine too. Good red is a dead red. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-03-07 7:52:22 AM |
| #4 I'm confused, I thought shooting at commies was a good thing Only if they are carrying AKs, RPGs or they are flying MiGs. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-03-07 7:49:47 AM |
| #3 AzCat, puzzled too. Maybe it was not a commie season or something. |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-03-07 7:48:32 AM |
| #2 I'm confused, I thought shooting at commies was a good thing. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2005-03-07 7:39:48 AM |
| #1 3 things ... 1. NEVER negotiate with terror . 2. NEVER speed towards an armed checkpoint in a war zone . 3. NEVER DO 1 or 2 , let alone both together . |
| Posted by: MacNails 2005-03-07 7:35:57 AM |