Iraq rebels treated in hostage deal-Italy Red Cross

[leftchick]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-25T093848Z_01_DIT534680_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-IRAQ-ITALY-KIDNAPPING-DC.XML

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian Red Cross treated "four presumed Iraqi terrorists" at its Baghdad hospital in order to secure last year's release of two kidnapped Italian aid workers, a senior Red Cross official was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Maurizio Scelli, the outgoing commissioner of the Italian Red Cross, said the deal to free the two Italian women, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, was kept secret from U.S. officials.

"The mediators asked us to treat and save the lives of four presumed terrorists sought by the Americans, wounded in combat. We hid them and brought them to the doctors with the Red Cross, who operated on them," Scelli was quoted as saying in La Stampa newspaper.

"We also treated four of their children, sick with leukemia."

If confirmed, the deal would be an embarrassment for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- who denied last September that Italy had bowed to ransom demands from the kidnappers to win the release of the two women.

[Barrett808]

1. So, Berlusconi won't negotiate with terrorists, eh? n/t

[leftchick]

2. yep

another lying bush chum

[beetbox]

3. Italy 'Did Deal' to Free Hostages

Italy 'did deal to free hostages'
Last Updated: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 12:32 GMT 13:32 UK

The women were held hostage for three weeks in September
The Italian Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents to secure the release of two Italian women held hostage last year, a Red Cross official has said.

Maurizio Scelli, the outgoing head of the Italian Red Cross, said the deal had been kept secret from the US.

"Had the Americans known about it, this could have damaged the subtle strategy," Mr Scelli told Italy's Rai radio after speaking to a newspaper.

Mr Scelli - who first revealed the story to the Italian daily La Stampa - said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right-man man, Gianni Letta, was aware of the deal

<>

The two women stunned Italy by defending the Iraqi insurgency on their release, saying there was a difference between guerrillas and freedom fighters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4184026.stm

[rodeodance]

4. yeah and they did not tell the US (did not want another bloch up).

[MADem]

5. Italians are pragmatic

And they aren't in the mood to sacrifice any more of their people over in Iraq.

[rodeodance]

6. Red Cross helped Iraqi rebels in 'hostage deal' (also poll on website)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/25/italy.iraq/index.html

Red Cross helped Iraqi rebels in 'hostage deal'

By CNN's Peter Wilkinson

Thursday, August 25, 2005; Posted: 12:34 p.m. EDT (16:34 GMT)
story.women.afp.jpg
Pari, left, and Torretta, both 29, wave to journalists at a news conference after their return to Rome.


ROME, Italy (CNN) -- The Italian Red Cross has said it treated four "presumed Iraqi terrorists" at its Baghdad hospital to secure the release of two kidnapped Italian aid workers, according to a media report.

Maurizio Scelli, the outgoing commissioner of the aid organization, is reported to have said the deal to free the two women -- Simona Pari and Simona Torretta -- was kept secret from U.S. officials.

"The mediators asked us to treat and save the lives of four presumed terrorists sought by the Americans, wounded in combat. We hid them and brought them to the doctors with the Red Cross, who operated on them," Scelli told La Stampa daily in an interview published Thursday.

"We also treated four of their children, sick with leukemia."
.............


QUICKVOTE
Should the Red Cross have treated suspected Iraqi terrorists in a reported deal to free hostage?
Yes
No
or View Results

[rodeodance]

7. the US was kept in the dark about these negoiations.

....Scelli, who was present at the handover of the two aid workers on September 28, said he helped to secure the women's release.

He told La Stampa the decision to hide details about the operation from U.S. officials was approved by Gianni Letta, Berlusconi's right-hand man.

"Keeping the Americans in the dark about our efforts to free the hostages was a non-negotiable condition to guarantee the safety of the hostages and ourselves," he said, according to Reuters.

Scelli said he held talks with Italian agent Nicola Calipari, who was shot dead in March this year by U.S. troops at a Baghdad checkpoint during a subsequent rescue operation for another Italian hostage.

-- CNN producer Hada Messia contributed to this report

[ET Awful]

8. Four children, all sick with leukemia? I wonder how much

depleted uranium they'd been exposed to.

[PsychoDad]

10. .....

I was wondering about that connection myself.

Whatever we have spread all over Iraq our troops will also be exposed to. A new generation of agent orangesque sickness that the government will deny exist.

[Briar]

9. I can't believe anyone would think to ask

So in these days of hysterical patriotism and whipped up Islamophobia, the oldest principles of civilised society are being torn up? It's unpatriotic and antiAmerican for doctors to treat the sick if they happen to be the wrong sort of sick? Ah - I forgot...American doctors now collaborate in torture, don't they.

CNN should be ashamed of this poll and of the prejudices behind it.

[EC]

11. You're right

and I wonder how many voting that the Red Cross should not have helped actually read the story, how could they vote against helping children? Isn't that what the Red Cross does?

[Briar]

13. The Red Cross

and all doctors help all those in need.

It isn't just the children. That's one of the things that the Geneva Conventions guarantee. That the combatants of all sides get the treatment they need when wounded.

But evidently the US wants to change this.

[bemildred]

12. That's it, bomb the Red Cross.

Ooooooops, that's right, we already did:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1621921.stm

[Cocoa]

14. this will be "controversial" in the U.S.

due to the RW machine.

If anyone says anything like the following sensible statement, they'll be ridiculed by the RW for being in league with the terrorists:

"As it is known, it (Red Cross) is not under the operative control, even less directives, of the national authorities precisely so that they can be recognized as neutral, which is indispensable for them to carry out their humanitarian mandate towards the international community," it said in a statement.

Never mind that this quote was from Silvio Berlusconi's office.

[leetrisck]

15. Have we (our gov't) gotten businessman Mr.Ake out

of his hostage situation? We never heard what happened to him. We certainly do not know what happened to Pvt.(Sgt.) Maupin - his parents don't know either according to what I last read.