Unreliable allies

As usual, Italy has shown the world how unreliable a friend and ally it is. All the characters in this confused story are suspect:

The two Simonas, for years working in Iraq under the Bath regime, with declared sympathies for the insurgents. It is very likely that they set up the whole “kidnapping” with a little help from the Italian left, to embarrass the government and mobilize public opinion for the withdrawal of Italian troops.

Ms Sgrena, “journalist” of an Italian propaganda sheet of the extreme left, il Manifesto, famous for its lies, support for terrorists and vitriolic attacks against democracy. She went to Iraq not to find the truth but, by her own admission, to find or create proofs of her insane and paranoid ideas. She has strong links to the terrorists’ supporters in Italy, the various leftist movements collecting money the help the beheaders. It is very likely again that the same actors were involved for the same reasons. During her “liberation” mr Calipari, an Italian secret agent, was killed at an American check-point (now at least we know for sure that they were trying to avoid having to explain their actions to coalition forces).

Berlusconi. Aware that the kidnappings might well have been a trap laid by the left to his government, he probably and naively did his best to get the “prisoners” freed, paid a ransom and looked the other way when the Red Cross “informally” told the government the conditions for the liberation (ransom, curing terrorists and their families, etc.).

Scelli, commissioner of the Italian Red Cross. Praised as a hero when the two Simonas were freed, has now decided to tell his truth. Why? And why now? Has he been promised a political career by the left?

The row broke out when Red Cross commissioner Maurizio Scelli told the Italian newspaper La Stampa, in an interview published on Thursday, that US officials were not told about the deal and the decision to keep it from them was approved by cabinet office undersecretary Gianni Letta, a close aide of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The next day after his explosive declaration, he started to retract:

Scelli himself also began to play down the government's involvement, telling Italy's La Repubblica newspaper on Friday: "We carried out this operation in total autonomy and neutrality. " But he reiterated: "I informed Letta and told him the solution we were offered. Letta told me to go ahead with great caution. The fact that we kept the Americans in the dark was my request, and to this day, I honestly don't know if the government then informed them or not."

Was he feeling lonely?

He also expressed his bitterness at being abandoned by the government. "Obviously the heroes are always those who die. Those who stay alive, however, insult you without even a word of thanks. I put my life at risk in those days as well," he told La Repubblica.

Whatever the reasons that prompted Scelli’s revelations, Berlusconi is right at least in this:

Berlusconi, on holiday in his Sardinian villa, is reported to have said: "Scelli is either naive or irresponsible. Doesn't he understand that discretion is fundamental in the sector he operates in?", before expressing concern that the whole affair could further damage Italy's relations with the United States.

Italy, Iraq, Red Cross