[lbo-talk] a Simona: kidnappers "a very political, religious group"

[Doug Henwood]

[last graf contains the final nail in the coffin of the CIA-did-it 
story - distressing to see someone as smart as Naomi Klein having 
fallen for it]

Freed Italian Hostage Says Iraq Rebels 'Justified'

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian aid worker held hostage last month in 
Iraq (news - web sites) said guerrillas there were right to fight 
U.S.-led forces and their Iraqi "puppet government."

In comments that were bound to annoy Prime Minister Silvio 
Berlusconi's government, Simona Torretta also called on Rome to 
withdraw the troops it sent to Iraq to support its U.S. ally.

"I said it before the kidnapping and I repeat it today," she told 
Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Friday.

"You have to distinguish between terrorism and resistance. The 
guerrilla war is justified, but I am against the kidnapping of 
civilians."

Torretta and her Italian colleague Simona Pari, both of them 29, were 
freed Tuesday, three weeks after being snatched from their Baghdad 
office. Berlusconi has brushed aside widespread reports that his 
government paid a ransom of up to $1 million.

Describing the administration of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as 
"a puppet government in the hands of the Americans," Torretta said 
elections planned for January would have no legitimacy: "During my 
days in detention ... I came to the conclusion it will take decades 
to put Iraq back on its feet."

Torretta, who lived in Iraq before, during and after the U.S.-led 
invasion, said she wanted to return despite her ordeal -- but would 
not do so as long as U.S. troops were there: "I've got to wait until 
the end of the U.S. occupation," she said.

She said she did know whether Italy bought her freedom from the 
kidnappers: "If a ransom was paid then I am very sorry. But I know 
nothing about it ... I believe that (the kidnappers) were a very 
political, religious group and that in the end they were convinced 
that we were not enemies."