by Fran
Fri Aug 26th, 2005 at 11:58:23 AM EST
I am the apprentice front pager on this site and been told by my masters to front page this - Fran
The Italian Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents to secure the release of two Italian women held hostage last year, a Red Cross official has said.
This is an article from BBC. What fascinated me most and had me shake my head was the following (bold mine).
Maurizio Scelli, the outgoing head of the Italian Red Cross, said the deal had been kept secret from the US.
What I do not understand is how does the US want to win this war if even its closest allies feel the need to keep things secret from them, because they, as I assume, fear their reaction.
Two aid workers, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, were held for three weeks.
Mr Scelli - who first revealed the story to the Italian daily La Stampa - said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right-man man, Gianni Letta, was aware of the deal.
"He acknowledged it and - albeit with a thousand recommendations - he told me to go ahead with it," Mr Scelli said.
Mr Berlusconi's office has not commented on the report. Italy has always denied paying a ransom for "the two Simonas".
Mr Scelli said he did not know the identities of the insurgents his agency had treated.
"We collected them in the place we had been told and then took them to hospital with a series of precautions for them to be admitted into hospital as quickly as possible and without any hindrance," he told Rai.
He added that US checkpoints were among the hindrances he was referring to.
I am also glad that the red cross is still helping impartially those who are hurt. I do not support violence at all, but insurgents are human beings too and as such deserve medical treatment when hurt.
