Here's some assorted background info I grabbed up real quick. And Alia, look into the minds of the speakers quoted. Look for paradoxes/contradictions. We do like to know about our ancestors' roots, but then our ancestors came here for real reasons. Also, things are kinda more rotten in cycles in our various, respective "old countries."
The Australian "Italy denies paying ransom"
Natasha Bita, Florence
March 11, 2005
"
Calipari had obtained security passes to travel in Baghdad and even phoned from his car to alert American military authorities of his 'immediate re-entry in the airport zone', Mr Berlusconi said.
Mr Fini later admitted to RAI television that Calipari had not told American authorities he was in Iraq to rescue a hostage.
'He did not advise what he had come to do in Iraq because we are a sovereign country,' Mr Fini said. 'We have a rapport of absolute loyalty with the US, but not one of subordination.'
Italy had a moral duty to bring home hostages kidnapped on foreign soil, he said.
Mr Fini insisted that Italian hostages had won their freedom through the force of public opinion, and Italy's negotiating skills. "We were capable of activating the political, intelligence and diplomatic channels to convince the kidnappers of the futility of continuing,' he said."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reuters, UK Phil Stewart
Mon Mar 7, 2005 4:47 PM GMT
"Is Italy paying the price for Iraq ransoms?"
"
Berlusconi has always denied authorising the payment of ransoms in past kidnappings, saying only that his government had had to make 'difficult choices'. But speaking off the record, officials say large sums of money have changed hands.
Lucia Annunziata, former president of state television RAI, said on Monday that according to calculations made privately by government sources, Italy had paid Sunni guerrillas in Iraq nearly $15 million (7.8 million pounds) for hostages in the past year.
'The frequency of our kidnappings has transformed that which was an extraordinary, emergency option into plain and simple policy,' said Annunziata, who worked in Iraq earlier this year as reporter for La Stampa newspaper."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Rome denies it paid ransom"
BY DANIEL WILLIAMS /
The Associated Press Excerpt:
"
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini attributed the release of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta to "all the good things Italy has done" in Iraq. But hours earlier, the head of parliament's foreign affairs committee and a member of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party said flatly that money "was paid."
"It was right because the life of the two girls was more important than money," lawmaker Gustavo Selva told reporters. "In principle, we shouldn't give into blackmail, but this time we had to, although it's a dangerous path. I think it was paid by the intelligence services."
As corroborated: "
Italian Officials Dispute Reports of Ransom Government Says It Didn't Pay to Free Aid Workers"
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, September 30, 2004; Page A18