So, the terrorists have sunk to a new low. Directly attacking an aid group out to help the Iraqi people to simply eat, get health care and survive through this turbulent time for them. The aid agency has no association with any military and does not support the military.
Via Reuters
Gunmen have stormed a building in central Baghdad and kidnapped two Italian women working for a humanitarian group and two Iraqis, witnesses said.
A spokesman for the aid group called "Bridge to Baghdad" on Tuesday named the two Italians as Simona Pari and Simona Torretta.
A spokesman in Rome for another Italian aid group named Intersos, which shares offices with Bridge to Baghdad, said the two Iraqis seized by the gunmen were a woman who worked for Intersos and an engineer who worked for Bridge to Baghdad.
From the aid group
Un Ponte Per website:
Un Ponte per… (UPP) is a volunteer association established in 1991(its name then was "Un Ponte per Baghdad"- a Bridge to Baghdad), just after the end of the bombings on Iraq.
Its aim was to promote humanitarian aid to the Iraqi population, stricken by the war, and to fight the embargo imposed on the country.
This, after the previous
terrorist execution of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. In April, Italian badass Fabrizio Quattrocchi, a security guard taken hostage, tried to take off his hood and shouted "Now I'll show you how an Italian dies!" as the gunman's pistol was pointing at him in a video delivered to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of his death.
I'm truly sad about this particular hostage taking as one (Torretta) looks like my cousin when she was younger and they're just women out trying to help people, not make some political statement. Call me a sexist, but while seeing a man held hostage makes me sad, seeing a woman or child taken hostage just makes me a lot sadder and of course more furious.
It really makes me want to tell the Iraqis to get off their asses and deal with this shit before I get sick of their spineless behavior towards securing their own country against those who would make them suffer more. I have no pity for a people who do not have the backbone to stand up and do something when their livelihood is being threatened.
Here's a message to the Iraqi's.
These people are there to help you, to feed your children, to heal your sick and to help you build a better country. All they are asking from you is that you help them. So turn in those suspicious individuals you know of and lets end this thing already. These groups cannot be acting in your country totally invisible, someone knows where they are and what they are planning. Someone is profiting by helping them sneak across the border or transporting their weapons and explosives for them. Turn them in, so that your country can grow and your people can educate your children, enjoy some leisure and be proud of your accomplishments!
Dr. Rusty Shackelford says:
Next thing you know they will be grabbing Mother Theresa's corpse and threatening to behead it.
Hat tip: Backcountry Conservative | Jawa | In The Bullpen | The Command Post
Update:
The previously unknown group, Ansar al-Zawahri, has claimed responsibility on an Islamist internet site, saying "this is the first of our attacks against Italy". The male Iraqi volunteer is named Raad Ali Aziz and the female Iraqi is named Mahnaz Bassam. The "two Simonas" had been involved in taking oxygen and water to hospitals and helping to reconstruct schools in Iraq.
First of your attacks on Italy? What's up with that? Wonder if thats a veiled mention of a possible attack inside Italy itself. My hope of hopes is for the US Special Forces to start tracking these groups and taking them out. The best thing I could see on TV would be "US Special Forces eliminate another hostage taking terrorist group" and have video of the actual operation. Enough of those and the groups will have to go so far underground that they would be ineffective.
Update:
Related stories on Diggers Realm:
September 08, 2004
Two Italian Women And An Iraqi Woman And Man Taken Hostage In Iraq
September 10, 2004
Italian Aid Worker Hostage Update, Threats Made Against Denmark
September 13, 2004
Latest On Italian Women Being Held Hostage In Iraq
September 19, 2004
Italian Women Being Held Hostage In Iraq Sold To Zarqawi?
September 23, 2004
Please Be Wrong. Rumor Of Italian Women Hostages Beheaded
September 26, 2004
Italian Women Being Held Hostage In Iraq "In Good Health"?
September 28, 2004
Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, Italian Hostages, Released!
