James Glanz in The New York Times reports that Iraqi police were hot on the trail of the kidnapping ring that captured Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena until the trail went cold once the Italian government started negotiating directly with the terrorists.
Iraqi investigators who are trying to find the kidnappers of the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena say their work has been stymied by a lack of cooperation from the Italian intelligence services that won her release exactly a month after she was abducted on Feb. 4.I am curious to find out how Sgrena's car came to take a hazardous route at night outside of protected Green Zones toward the airport. I don't know if Italian secret service agent, Nicola Calipari, knew that many of the IED attacks against American troops had occurred on the Baghdad airport road; that there's virtually no traffic on the road at night; and that U.S. soldiers at checkpoints on the airport road will fire if they sense a incoming threat (which may be merely a car that does not slow down) before he speed off toward the airport. Given the Italians apparent lack of interest in helping catch the kidnappers it looks like getting straight answers about any part of Sgrena's story might just be wishful thinking.The Iraqi investigators say they conducted as many as half a dozen raids in a northwest Baghdad neighborhood where they think Ms. Sgrena, 56, a reporter for the far-left Rome daily Il Manifesto, was being held. But the kidnappers slipped through their fingers, and she was released after the abductors negotiated with Italian intelligence agents. One of those agents was killed when American troops fired on the car taking Ms. Sgrena to freedom.
Even after her release, Italian officials have refused to share information with the Iraqis, said Col. Jabbar Anwar, chief of the major crimes unit in the sector of Baghdad that includes Gazalea, the neighborhood where she was thought to be held.
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Comments (13)
Was the Italian cat that go... (Below threshold)1. Posted by ptg | March 16, 2005 11:42 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Was the Italian cat that got killed driving the death car? Italian drivers are among the worst in the world. And their natural mediterranean ingenousness has been tainted by Marxist-Leninist disconnection from reality.
I wouldn't want to be an Italian traffic-accident investigator.
1. Posted by ptg | March 16, 2005 11:42 PM |
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Posted on March 16, 2005 23:42
2. Posted by Big Bang Hunter | March 17, 2005 12:08 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
- I'm betting that the number of Italian "Iraqi war" heros rivals the number of presidential wins for LurchKerry....
- Sgrena's communist group was the same lovely bunch of people who came close to violent overthrow of the Italian government decades ago, using terrorist tactics such as multiple murders of judges and government officials, long before there was such a thing as Islamofacism....
- Two things that come to mind is the quick BS story she had ready to release to the press blaming the US for "intentionally" targeting foreign
press, (gee where have I heard that recently), and the fact that 10Mil is a nice kick up for the beleagured Jihadists piggy bank under the present circumstances. Thinking the Italians shouldn't wait to leave in September, tomorrow would be fine....
2. Posted by Big Bang Hunter | March 17, 2005 12:08 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 00:08
3. Posted by McCain | March 17, 2005 2:32 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It is highly doubtful that SHE orchestrated the departure route, and I'd like to hope the dead Italian agent wasn't part of any plot. The Italian government has been right there with us in Iraq, and thank God for them. If the Iraqis think they aren't cooperating, I'm gonna give the Italians the benefit of the doubt for now.
3. Posted by McCain | March 17, 2005 2:32 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 02:32
4. Posted by BR | March 17, 2005 5:13 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I agree with Dave S. in the trackback "Could Italy Be Perpetuating a Sgrena Cover-Up?" There are just too many contradictions and absurdities in this whole affair.
4. Posted by BR | March 17, 2005 5:13 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 05:13
5. Posted by Just Me | March 17, 2005 7:09 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
There is just something abhorrent about not only paying money to terrorists, but then refusing to help find the guys you gave the money to. The longer these criminals stay funded the longer they can keep killing and hurting innocents.
Italy should be ashamed of itself.
5. Posted by Just Me | March 17, 2005 7:09 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 07:09
6. Posted by Jack Tanner | March 17, 2005 8:09 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Just -
I'm with you. You give terrorists $$$$m one week for a terror sympathizer then announce you're leaving the next week because of popular opinion then don't cooperate in finding and killing the terrorists. what's up with that?
6. Posted by Jack Tanner | March 17, 2005 8:09 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 08:09
7. Posted by Boyd | March 17, 2005 10:45 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
You don't negotiate with terrorists. Ever. Under any circumstances. It only makes your future positions weaker, and your citizens at greater risk, no matter what you do.
7. Posted by Boyd | March 17, 2005 10:45 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 10:45
8. Posted by Stan25 | March 17, 2005 10:51 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Cousin Oliver will demand that President Bush resign. That should drive Bush’s approval rating higher than it is already. Why doesn’t Cousin Oliver attack the likes of Kennedy, “Sheets” Robert KKK Byrd, the Hildabeast and Lurch with the same furor as he attacks the right?
8. Posted by Stan25 | March 17, 2005 10:51 AM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 10:51
9. Posted by moseby | March 17, 2005 3:16 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
If the eye-talians sue the US and win, I say we pay em off with angel hair pasta. Never ravioli! I love them damn things...
9. Posted by moseby | March 17, 2005 3:16 PM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 15:16
10. Posted by cole | March 17, 2005 3:19 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Folks, I'm telling you this was all a put up job.
1. The terrorists were/are running out of money
2. They asked Sgrena to be a guest hostage
3. She supports their cause and agrees
4. The terrorists get their money
5. She leaves
I can't believe someone hasn't asked her the details of her capture.
10. Posted by cole | March 17, 2005 3:19 PM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 15:19
11. Posted by BR | March 17, 2005 6:03 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
4A. They throw a dead (execution style bullet in head) Italian intelligence agent into the car.
5. She and her party leaves for the airport.
6. They follow the Sgrena car as it goes to the airport.
7. They shoot at the car from the side or behind, which makes the driver speed up.
8. US soldiers act according to protocol and shoot at the engine block and tires.
9. Sgrena kills 4 birds with one stone:
(i) money for beleaguered, cash-strapped terrorists
(ii) dead Italian agent who cannot thereafter report details
(iii) bad press for the US military, Bush and America
(iv) Italy caving with announcement of Sept. withdrawal.
11. Posted by BR | March 17, 2005 6:03 PM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 18:03
12. Posted by BR | March 17, 2005 6:09 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I forgot a side benefit to CNN:
(v) Sgrena vindicates Eason Jordan.
12. Posted by BR | March 17, 2005 6:09 PM |
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Posted on March 17, 2005 18:09
13. Posted by McCain | March 18, 2005 1:03 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
We'll send Mulder and Scully to investigate.
13. Posted by McCain | March 18, 2005 1:03 AM |
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Posted on March 18, 2005 01:03