Posted on 06/16/2003 5:53:09 PM PDT by blam
Fire on illegal migrants, says Italian minister
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
(Filed: 17/06/2003)
The Italian navy should open fire with live ammunition on boats carrying illegal immigrants to the country, a senior minister said yesterday, commenting that he was "sick of them".
Umberto Bossi, minister for reform and leader of the xenophobic Northern League, told Corriere della Sera that he wanted to hear "the blast of cannon". He added: "After the second or third warning, bang! We open fire. What we need is a cannonade to knock out whoever might be there. Otherwise, we're never going to end this problem."
Umberto Bossi:
explosive issue
Amid widespread protests, Mr Bossi issued a statement last night saying he had been misunderstood. "The interview published this morning . . . by no means reflects my thoughts, nor the sense of my replies in what was only a quick exchange of a few remarks," he said.
A new wave of illegal boat people pouring on to Italy's long and vulnerable coastline has coincided with a heatwave and calm seas.
The flood of Third World people has become an explosive political issue in the coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, as alliance partners vie for power. In the past fortnight thousands have landed in southern Italy, including 3,000 in Lampedusa island between Sicily and North Africa.
The League, which fought national elections two years ago on a strong anti-immigration ticket, has begun using the issue as a way of increasing its profile in the coalition's internal struggle.
The party attacked the interior minister, Giuseppe Pisanu, yesterday for failing to quell the tide of illegal immigrants. It said he had failed to put into action a tough anti-immigration law which the League inspired and helped to push through parliament a year ago, and called for his resignation.
Asked whether it would be right to fire on immigrants, generally women and children, Mr Bossi said: "Whether they're good or bad, illegal immigrants have to be chased away. "The navy and coastguard should be defending our shores and using their cannon to do it. That's the best way to enforce the law."
At present, Italy's navy is allowed only to board boats at sea and escort them back to port, in keeping with international marine practice.
But at the weekend Mr Pisanu said he would push through a government decree enabling naval and coastguard personnel to patrol international waters off Italy to deter boat people.
On Europe's 70 m.p.h. smuggling route Not sure if this policy has been sparked by the large numbers of North Africans coming from the south or by the Albanian "skafisti" pictured above coming across the Adriatic. A few years ago, when chased at sea, the skafisti would throw a few of their human cargo overboard & the Italians would then have to rescue them--allowing the boat to get away--kind of like those old Russian tales where they throw one of the passengers out of the sleigh and into the snow in order to delay the pursuing wolf pack. Anyway, as a result, the Italians quit trying to intercept them enroute--instead they tried to catch the people as they came ashore and then went after the boats on the return trip back to Albania. The Albanians used a lot of 18-20 year old kids as boat drivers--fearless at that age. Like the Mexican border, most of the passengers are just guys trying to get somewhere to get a job--but there's always a mix of drugs & criminals & human trafficking & potentially terrorist collateral cargo. The problem if you open fire as they're coming in, instead of a criminal, you could hit some poor kidnapped girl being trafficked or some slob who just wants to get a job to support his family back in Bumscrewistan--may be wrong, but doesn't deserve to be shot. Anyway, used to be able to go to the beaches near Durres & Vlore to watch'em load up in the evenings--no life jackets, but normally a plastic bag to keep passenger clothes dry & sometimes blankets--they'd put 20-40 in big zodiac looking boats & head out faster than anything the Albs, Greeks, or Italians had to catch them. The short term answer is increased enforcement on the Albanian shore--easy to spot the smugglers, but lots of inefficiency & corruption there--the long term solution is to remove the incentive for illegal immigration thru better economies at the point of origin or a guest worker program or ??
I know at least one of the two moguls in book sales have copies. I drove ninety pleasant miles to Petoskey, Michigan to get a copy. A number of American editions have followed.
Liberals have foamed at the mouth in England and France. I have heard it is banned there. The question, terrible in it's clarity is posed- ie: I do not want to see them killed..... on the other hand, they will eventually kill me. This facing a great armada of third world souls approaching France.
I pass this on, for twas on this great forum and exchange of ideas, someone else posted about this book.
Yup. Read it myself about three years ago after it was recommended to me on FR.
Holy crap. Italy's got as much of a problem as the U.S. does with Mexico. It's messy work and there are no easy answers, but I think a nation's right to protect and defend its borders is absolute.
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