October 2, 2004
SIMPLE SIMONAS:
Italians fall out of love with 'two Simonas' (Bruce Johnston, 02/10/2004, Daily Telegraph)
Italy's adoration of the "two Simonas", the women aid workers abducted in Iraq, began to sour yesterday, as the extent of their sympathy for the Iraqi fight against the allied occupation became clear.In their first big interviews given since their release in return for a reported $1 million ransom on Tuesday, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, gave their backing to insurgents opposing the allied forces. [...]
The women's comments are likely to cause renewed anger in government circles, following their call soon after their release for Italy's peacekeeping forces to be withdrawn.
Beheading would have been redundant.
MORE:
Raid on Bigley's brother (Jack Fairweather, 02/10/2004, Daily Telegraph)
Dutch intelligence officers raided the home of Kenneth Bigley's brother last night. An intelligence officer from the Foreign Office is understood to have accompanied them to Paul Bigley's home in Amsterdam.Posted by Orrin Judd at October 2, 2004 8:23 AMThe raid came amid claims that the British hostage was free to roam his kidnappers' home in Iraq and was "caged" only for terrorist videos.
Paul Bigley's computer was seized and he was interrogated about his alleged contact with the Tawhid and Jihad group, which yesterday claimed responsibility for Thursday's killing of at least 35 children in Baghdad.
Material from his computer was downloaded and sent back for analysis in Britain as he was forced to make a five-page statement.
Mr Bigley has been an outspoken critic of the Government's handling of his brother's case and has established his own contacts in the Middle East but denies being in direct contact with the kidnappers.
In Fallujah, Mohammed Kasim, an Iraqi-born gunman with a British passport, said the latest video of Mr Bigley showing him shackled in a cage had been staged to "terrify" the British public.
Maybe John and Teraaza can have these two over for dinner where they can talk of things european, and discuss a little sympathizing with the enemy.
Perry
Posted by: Perry at October 2, 2004 9:35 AMThat cage did look a lot like chickenwire; I was wondering...
Posted by: mike earl at October 2, 2004 10:46 AMThe organisation to which the two Simonas belong "Un ponte per Bagdad", set up shop in Baghdad in 1991, right after the first Gulf War. It provides some humanitarian aid (mainly water purification and things like that), but it was also very active in the campaign against the international embargo against Saddam's regime. It was involved in the recruitment and dispatchment of the infamous human shields, who wanted to protect Saddam's regime against Bush. It's not exaggerated to label this organisation a Saddam front, pure and simple. After Saddam's fall, they seem to have adopted Al-Zarqawi's cause.
Zarqawi probably has the maximum of four wives already. If not, he missed a prime opportunity to marry two fine specimen of the female fellow traveller.
Posted by: peter at October 2, 2004 11:05 AMFreeing hostages is almost always a waste of time. The strategy should be to ignore the hostages and prosecute the damn conflict until you win.
Posted by: Bart at October 2, 2004 11:13 AMExpect more of this now that Italy has given in to the terrorists. I had hope that Berlusconi would be an ally for the US for the War on Terror, but he is just a weak link. It is better that we go it alone than include nations like Spain and Italy who will be more trouble than they are worth.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at October 2, 2004 11:59 AMA "Ransom of Red Chief" type solution would have been ideal.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 2, 2004 2:35 PM"Beheading would have been redundant."
Not redundant. Vain or Otiose.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at October 2, 2004 3:52 PM