Simona Torretta, one of the released aid kidnap victims, said the fight against U.S. troops and their allies in Iraq was not terrorism, but legitimate resistance to occupation. "I distinguish between terrorism and resistance," "The guerrilla war
is justified."

Simona was told by her captors: `We oppose the occupation. Italy is part of a military force directed by the Americans, and so you are our enemies.'"

Torretta said neither the election called for January, nor the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was legitimate. Allawi's government, is "a puppet in the hands of the Americans."

[Apparently, the Iraqis have little confidence in a US Puppet Iraq Government conducting Elections that will be a SHAM, in which the Puppet government will be able to give substantial campaign and financial aid to selected candidates, and then also be able to count the ballots. We in the US didn't like Florida voting, and this is 100x worse.]

In an accompanying story, Italy's deputy premier Fini suggested that Italy could pull its 3,000 troops out of Iraq after elections scheduled for January, saying they will no longer be needed when a representative government is in place.

Former hostage says guerrilla war justified
But she's against taking of civilians

New York Times News Service
Published October 2, 2004

ROME -- One of the two Italian aid workers freed after three weeks in captivity in Iraq said the fight against U.S. troops and their allies there was not terrorism but legitimate resistance to occupation.

"I distinguish between terrorism and resistance," Simona Torretta told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. "The guerrilla war is justified, but I am against the kidnapping of civilians."

Torretta and Simona Pari, both 29, were welcomed home on Tuesday with great fanfare by a nation distraught at their kidnapping and horrified that even aid workers opposed to the war could be targets for kidnappers.

In the interview, Torretta said she believed that she and her colleague were released because they were able to convince their captors that, in fact, they were opposed to the war and that they helped ordinary Iraqis.

"The first four days were difficult," she said, adding that they were mostly treated well by their captors. "They said to us: `We oppose the occupation. Italy is part of a military force directed by the Americans, and so you are our enemies.'"

She added, "This was a very religious and very political group, and at the end it was convinced that we were not enemies."

Torretta said she did not know anything about reports, denied by the government here though widespread in the Italian media, that $1 million had been paid to the kidnappers.

"If a ransom was paid, I am very sorry," she said. "But I know nothing about it."

Torretta, who had worked in Iraq since 1997, repeated her call for Italy to pull its 3,000 troops from Iraq, and said neither the election called for January nor the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was legitimate. Allawi's government, she said, is "a puppet in the hands of the Americans."

Since their release, both the women have said they wanted to return to Iraq. In the interview, Torretta said she would not do so anytime soon. "I have to wait until the end of the American occupation," she said.

Chicago Tribune | Former hostage says guerrilla war justified
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0410020183oct02,1,20637.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

CAIRO, Egypt (AP)--Italy's deputy premier suggested Saturday that his country could pull its troops out of Iraq after elections scheduled for January, saying they will no longer be needed when a representative government is in place.

The remarks by Gianfranco Fini, made after a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, were the first public indication of when Italy might withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq.

``Whenever there is an Iraqi government that represents all Iraqis in a free way, there will be no need for foreign troops to remain in Iraq,'' Fini said through an interpreter.

He didn't say whether he expected the elections--threatened by violence in several parts of the country--to produce a representative government.

But he said it was necessary ``to enable the Iraqi people ... to carry out elections and form an Iraqi government--a free one.''

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government, a key U.S. ally in Iraq, has said it will keep its troops there as long as their presence was requested. Moussa urged the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq to create a timetable for withdrawal.
 

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