UPDATE 2/07/05: Italian Hostage Hoax: Terrorists to Release Giuliana Sgrena
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The mystery surrounding the abduction of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena deepened today as Italy promised to negotiate with terrorists for her release. Yesterday we reported that something seemed a little odd about her abduction.

First, she was abducted while conducting interviews with refugees from Fallujah in Baghdad. Having read some of Sgrena's work in the past, there is very little doubt that the emphasis of the story would be on the horrors inflicted on that city by the American troops. Ms. Sgrena is an anti-war activist with journalistic credentials.

Second, she just happened to be on the phone with another journalist Barbara Schiavulliduring the abduction. Ms. Schiavulli recently interviewed the terrorist Abu Abid in the Gaza strip. Today, Schiavulli received this mysterious phone call. Reuters:

A friend of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was kidnapped in Baghdad on Friday, received a call on Saturday from Sgrena's telephone but it was unclear who was at the other end of the line. Barbara Schiavulli, a correspondent for Italian radio news agency GRT, saw Sgrena's number appear on her telephone screen but when she answered she heard only Arab music and no one spoke, an editor at GRT in Rome said.

"The call lasted only a short moment and then the line was cut off. Barbara tried to call back but she couldn't get through. It was impossible to know if the call was intentional or if it was an accident," Simona D'Alessio told Reuters.

Iraqi police are holding two companions of kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena for questioning about her abduction, officials said Saturday.

Interior Ministry official Sabah Khazim said that the two were held for questioning "so that we can have a clear idea about the circumstances of the abduction of the Italian journalist and they will be released soon".

Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman, another Interior Ministry official, said authorities wanted to gather as many details as possible from the two.

The officials would not identify the pair but sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they included her driver and interpreter.

From Ms. Sgrena's history two things become clear. One, she has a long history of opposing U.S. military force and chooses to emphasize the innocent casualties of war rather than the innocent casualties of the evil regimes these wars topple. Two, her anti-war focus brings her into close proximity with terrorists and their sympathizers.

What kind of people, exactly, did Giuliana Sgrena think she was hanging around with? Unlike hostages such as American Roy Hallums or Italian reporter Enzo Baldoni, Sgrena was not in Iraq to help with reconstruction and abducted from her home. She was interviewing people who think that the Americans were the bad guys.

The leftist world-view is unified by only one theme: America is the bad guy. When seen from this view then it is perfectly logical to see terrorists in Iraq as 'partisans' or 'resistance fighters'. Sgrena seems to be the victim of her own naivity about those who are resisting America's efforts to build a democratic Iraq. Or worse.

Could her own sympathies with the 'resistance' lead her to stage her own abduction? The coming weeks will tell.

More on Sgrena from the pro-terrorist al Jazeera: more...

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The hostage is named Giuliana Sgrena and works for Rome daily Il Manifesto. She was abducted as she conducted interviews near Baghdad University.

Update II: Terrorists claim abduction. Reuters:

A little-known Iraqi group said on Friday it had taken an Italian journalist hostage and set a 72 hour deadline for Italy to remove its troops, but did not make a specific threat to kill her, a Web statement said.
"We in the land of Islam, Iraq, give the Italian government 72 hours to get out of Iraq, otherwise the squadrons will have something else to say in the coming days," said a statement from the Islamic Jihad Organisation titled "about the imprisoning of the Italian journalist".

It was not possible to verify the statement, which first appeared on a site not used by the main Iraqi insurgent groups.

A group using the same name said in September it had killed two abducted Italian aid workers who were subsequently released by another group.

Reuters:

Gunmen have kidnapped an Italian journalist in Baghdad, the latest in a series of brazen abductions but the first since Iraq's election...

Gunmen pulled up alongside her vehicle, forced her driver and an Iraqi journalist with her out of the vehicle at gunpoint and then drove off with Sgrena, the sources said.

Gunmen seized an Italian woman journalist in Baghdad today in a hail of gunfire after she had been interviewing people who fled the US assault on the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah....

Italian radio journalist Barbara Schiavulli said Sgrena called her on her mobile phone while the assault was underway.

“I heard shots and people running but I did not hear her speak,” Schiavulli said. “I only heard pistol shots ... I heard shots and began to shout Giuliana, Giuliana, but she did not reply.”

Iraqi police said Sgrena was accompanied by two Iraqi reporters and an Iraqi driver when several armed men stopped their vehicle. The gunmen released the Iraqis and took Sgrena in her own car.

Guess where else her work has been published? Z-mag. Yes, the magazine for aging Communists run by Howard Zinn. Yes, that Howard Zinn.

My spidey senses are beginning to tingle here folks. Two possibilities:

a) She will be released after a concerted campaign to pressure the hostage takers to release her from Arab dicatators, Islamists, and European leftists. After all, when the Left pushes for the release of a hostage the Islamofascists listen. They would hate to lose their closes allies in the West.

b) Folks, there is something fishy about this.....on the phone as she's being abducted?

In either case expect a series of stories arising out of her ordeal in which she recounts the attrocities of the Americans in Iraq which forced the 'freedom fighters' to capture her.........

Developing.....

Several Italians have been abducted in Iraq, including two women. The two aid workers, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, were abducted on Sept. 7th by a group calling itself Ansar al Zawahiri. The group initially threatened to behead the two, but later they were released.

Two other Italian hostages were not so lucky. Salvatore Santoro was murdered by the Islamic Army in Iraq some time around December 16th. The terrorists delivered a video to al Jazeera, but the station deemed the footage too gruesome to air.

Enzo Baldoni was another Italian reporter who met the fate of so many hostages in Iraq. Baldoni was in Iraq with the Red Cross when he was abducted by the Islamic Army in Iraq. He was later murdered by that group because Italy refused to remove its troops from Iraq. Al Jazeera aired a tape of Baldoni shortly before he was murdered.

To the terrorists who have taken Giuliana Sgrena I say vaffanculo!!!

PS-Because of a DNS attack on the mu.nu domain, trackbacks have been temporarily disabled. Sorry. E-mail me and I'll manually link you.

Others on the case: Cranky Neocon, Chad Evans, Digger, Michele Catalano, TBTN, Hyscience, MVRWC, Spoons, .....

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More from Kevin McCullough

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The entire mu.nu domain has been the victim of a DoS attack. Some one is trying to shut us down. Because of that our fearless leader Pixy Misa has had to disable the trackbacking function. Sorry about that. E-mail me and I'll manually link you.

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File under good news. When more of this starts happening, we'll know we have won. Via Paul at Wizbang this ABC (Aus) article:

The Iraqi police have investigated a case in the village of al-Mudhariya, which is just south of Baghdad. The villagers there say that before the election insurgents came and warned them that if they voted in last weekend's election, they would pay.

Now the people of this mixed village of Sunni and Shia Muslims, they ignored the threat and they did turn out to vote.

We understand that last night the insurgents came back to punish the people of al-Mudhariya, but instead of metering out that punishment the villagers fought back and they killed five of the insurgents and wounded eight. They then burnt the insurgents' car. So the people of that village have certainly had enough of the insurgents.

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You too can get your own Landcruiser Tank, just $19,999.00!!!

Now the Llama-bitches can finally put their "My other car is a Landcruiser" bumper stickers on their Volvos.

Hat tip: Jeff Quinton who stole the idea from the Instapundit.

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(Peshawar, Pakistan) According to a report in the Frontier Post, the North-West Frontier Province Assembly has unanimously passed Women Photographs Prohibition Law, Amendment Bill 2005, which outlaws photographs of women in any notice, circular, or other document, displayed on any house, building, wall, signboard, or published in any newspaper or periodical.

Also included in the Amendment Bill 2005 is the Women Ownership Rights and Prohibition of Dance and Music Law which bans the use of women's photographs for any commercial or advertising purpose or in dance or music. It is considered derogatory to human dignity to use a woman's photograph for these purposes.

Opposing the bills, parliamentary leaders Bashir Bilour and Abdul Akbar Khan stated that "both the bills were indicating that the province was moving towards Talibanization." They fear that foreign investment will be affected if women are excluded from being shown on products and advertising.

The Taliban needs to be chased into the mountains, again. Women are voting in Afghanistan as the country moves forward with democracy and, meanwhile, Pakistan is going backwards with a resurgence of the Taliban. Sheesh! They're like athlete's foot. You can get rid of it but it always is lurking, ready to cause problems.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

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Just got a call from Princess Leah. She just got off the phone from a collection agency. It seems someone used her name and Social Security number to get a cell phone. Now Cingular wants two grand from us. So far every one has been pretty understanding at both Cingular and the collection agency. I'll keep you updated if things go sour. Haven't even begun the process of letting the credit agencies know.

How could it be that easy to steal someone's identity? You mean all that it takes for some crack whore to abuse my wife's good name is her Social Security number? That's it? The person used a different address than ours, just the same name and Soc. to establish a line of credit. That's insane!!!

Excuse me for the rest of the evening. I'll be out buying a shredder---and a gun!

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Former soldier and defector to North Korea Charles Jenkins had the following to say in an interview with Japanese media about the Great Leader. The Daily NK:

“I believe Kim Jong Il is an evil person. He is exploiting and oppressing the (North Korean) people,” Jenkins answered the reporters who asked him what he thought.

Jenkins was an American soldier stationed in South Korea, Compound 8, but crossed the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea for fear of being sent to the Vietnam during the war, in January 5, 1965. However, he lived in misery ever since. With three other American soldiers who defected to North Korea, he survived torture and hunger and was obliged to study about Kim Il Sung ten hours per day. He was expelled from Pyongyang for secretly listening to BBC broadcasts by changing the fixed radio stations, and got into trouble by requesting defection to the Soviet Embassy in Pyongyang. One time, a North Korean doctor cut out his skin on his shoulder where he had a tattoo that read, “U.S. Army” without anesthesia. In 1980, He married his wife Soga who was an abductee from Japan, kidnapped by North Korean spies. They gave birth to two daughters, Mika(22) and Brinda(20).

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Dyke, but not the good kind.

Cathy Young at Reason has more.

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Click Me.

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I think I'll have a Double-Double, hold the onions, with a side of fries and a strawberry milkshake.

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In a video interview, Shamil Basayev claims that the Beslan massacre was a mistake. No, not like you think. He was hoping his terrorist followers would be able to take two schools full of children hostage. Oh, and yes, he probably will be forced to massacre more school children in the future. But it's not his fault. It's the Russians fault.

Russia, for their part, has asked the British TV station Channel 4 to refrain from broadcasting the video.

In related news, rumors have begun circulating that Basayev is dead. No tears shed here if true. A web-site linked to the Chechen terrorists has also called for a cease-fire, bolstering claims of the terrorist chief's death.

And what does the MSM call the man?

Australia's ABC News calls the man a Chechen warlord. The Canadian Globe and Mail calls him a Chechen leader.

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As part of a cease-fire deal in preparation for the upcomig summit between Prime Minister Arial Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel promised to Release 900 Palestinian Prisoners and withdraw from Jericho and five other West Bank towns.

Exactly how releasing 900 suspected terrorists and their sympathizers could possibly help a cease-fire was not explained by either the PA or the Israeli cabinet which approved the deal. more...

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The reformist Prime Minister of Georgia, Zurab Zhvania, has been found dead. Media sources indicate that the 44 year old's death was likely due to a gas leak at a friend's home. Russia has denied any involvement in the Prime Minister's death. more...

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You'll want to see this.... more...

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Two soldiers plead guilty yesterday to crimes against prisoners in Iraq.

US Army Reserve Specialist Roman Krol, 23 from Massachusetts, was sentenced to 10 months yesterday for his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

What were his offenses?

He forced prisoners to crawl around on the ground. He threw a Nerf football at prisoners. He poured water on prisoners.

Sounds more like any high school football program in Texas than 'torture'. No, that anology doesn't quite do justice to the rigors of high school football. After all, Krol had the decency to use Nerf.

The second guard's crimes were more heinous. Javal Davis, 27 from New Jersey, admitted to stepping on the fingers and toes of a group of prisoners. He is to be sentenced today.

Stepping on fingers and toes? I guess my big brother is a 'War Criminal' too. And trust me, my big brother did much worse.

Notice the words used to describe what these two men did:

Zaman (Turkey): US Soldiers Confess to Abu Ghraib Torture

Torture?

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more...

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Release Auburn from the SEC or the blogger gets it!

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No not in Saudi Arabia where the punishment for leaving the faith is death, nor Pakistan, nor Iran--Muslims in the US should be punished for converting to other faiths. Commentary:

A still more original apologist for the harsh treatment of apostates who reside in the West is Ali Khan, a law professor at Washburn University in Kansas. In a recent issue of the Cumberland Law Review, Khan suggested that Islam can be seen as a form of intellectual property, and Muslims as “trustees” who have vowed to protect their faith’s “knowledge-based assets.” ...

The key point, however, is not the outlandish substance of Khan’s argument. Rather, it is the fact that he was able to use an American law review as a soapbox from which to advocate the licensed punishment of apostates—and that his grossly illiberal views were never rebutted in its pages.

And for our Canadian readers, never fear, there is Syed Mumtaz Ali, the president of the Canadian Society of Muslims. Mr. Ali is a lawyer and the man behind Canada's move to recognize sharia courts. Don't worry, unlike Muslim lawyers in the Middle East, he doesn't advocate killing apostates. He's a moderate, you see. Moderates just want to put you in jail or fine you for turning your back on the umma.

In fact, in a long essay (see Conclusions) by Mr. Ali, he explains to Canadians why they are bigots and illiberal if they do not let Muslims in Canada punish blasphemers and apostates.

Nothing says moderation more to me than that. (h/t: Robert Spencer)

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