Posted on 08/20/2002 12:08:08 PM PDT by Destro
Italy Thwarts Basilica Attack Plot
Tue Aug 20, 2:43 PM ET
A Moroccan man is shown walking in the San Patronio Basilica in Bologna, northern Italy, in this picture taken from a home video seized Monday by Italian authorities and made available Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002, during a press conference. Four Moroccans and an Italian, left, whose names were not made public, were arrested Monday under the suspiscion of terrorism after they filmed themselves near the central altar and the frescoes in the basilica. (AP Photo/Gianfilippo Oggioni, HO)
By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer
ROME (AP) - Italian police arrested four Moroccans and an Italian who they say may have been planning to attack a Bologna basilica with a 15th-century fresco inside that depicts the Muslim prophet Muhammad in hell, being devoured by demons.
Prosecutor Paolo Giovagnoli said the five men were arrested Monday in the church itself, San Petronio Basilica, and were accused of criminal association with the aim of terrorism.
In June, Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that Islamic extremists were plotting to attack the basilica because they found the fresco insulting to Islam. Also in June, plainclothes police were assigned to the basilica.
A group of Italian Muslims had appealed unsuccessfully to the Vatican ( news - web sites) last year to have the fresco, by Giovanni da Modena, removed or to have parts of it covered, arguing that it offended Islam.
The five men, who live in Padua, a city in northeastern Italy, were arrested after they videotaped the fresco and the central altar with a medieval-era crucifix, and were overheard saying worrisome things, Giovagnoli said.
"They were heard saying phrases hostile to (the Christian) religion, expressing the possibility of destroying" religious symbols, Giovagnoli said.
Among the phrases the men said, according to the prosecutor:
_ "That which (Osama) bin Laden does is just what's needed."
_ "If they don't take it (the fresco) away, everything will come tumbling down."
Police were still translating the conversations, which were spoken in Berber, which is spoken in northern Africa.
Authorities did not immediately release the men's names.
Corriere della Sera had reported that Carabinieri paramilitary police learned of a plot to attack the basilica by intercepting phone conversations as part of a larger investigation into Muslim extremists operating in Italy.
That investigation led to the convictions earlier this year of seven Tunisians in Milan who were accused of providing logistical support to recruits of al-Qaida, bin Laden's terrorist network, passing through Europe.
Asked if the Bologna authorities had uncovered any links between the five men and suspected terrorist cells in other Italian cities, Giovagnoli said so far nothing has turned up to indicate a connection.
In the spring of 1994, the Administration had a difficult decision to make when approached by Croatia on the question of allowing third-country weapons to pass through Croatia to the Bosnian Muslims. If we had objected to potential arms shipments from Iran, the Muslim-Croat Federation might have been destroyed in its infancy and a bad situation for the Bosnians might have worsened. The approach we took--of neither objecting to nor supporting the arms transfers--sought to balance our concern about the spread of Iranian influence against the adverse military situation facing the Federal. In the process, we did our best to serve the cause of peace in Bosnia. The arms deliveries helped sustain the Muslim-Croat Federation and reduced the military imbalance without the certain risks and pitfalls of the alternative courses of action.
Don't forget this ancient Buddha, now just a memory, that offended the Taliban a year or so ago...
Better get used to it. At the rate Europe is going Moslem, they'll be Talibanizing cathedrals by the middle of the century -- as official acts of government. Against that day, every American city of 50,000 or more should set aside a prominent site right now to house European art and artefacts. If we actually did something like that, maybe it would help wake up our cousins across the pond.
That bears repeating. Of course, the sickos just aren't listening to us, not yet anyway. Maybe someday we'll get some civilization through their thick skulls.
Much like the art work that was hidden and saved in Europe during WWII, we may have to do the same thing today, to protect it from the ravages of savages.
*Things to remember not to say out loud while putting your new videocamera through its paces...
I want a copy!
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