Newsgroup: it.cultura.militare
Titolo: Simona e Simona: un'altra versione

Ho trovato questo messaggio 
http://tinyurl.com/6cl9s
 
Cosa ne pensate? E' molto lungo ma sembra interessante.
Ciao, F.

 Ciao, F.
Interessante, ma bisognerebbe avere vasti mezzi per confermare il tutto, ad 
una lettura veloce mi ha intriganto, spero di poter raccattare + notizie 
possibili sugli altri "partewcipanti" 

Italian hostages 'sitting ducks' after US troops disarmed them
By Colin Freeman in Baghdad and Bruce Johnston in Rome
(Filed: 02/05/2004)
The four Italian security guards kidnapped in Iraq had their personal
protection weapons confiscated by American soldiers just hours before
they were seized by suspected rebels, colleagues have revealed.
According to Paolo Simeoni, the former leader of their security team,
soldiers manning a checkpoint in one of Baghdad's most dangerous
districts confiscated their three high-powered assault rifles and two
pistols.
Breaking his silence about the incident, Mr Simeoni said the Americans
claimed that the Italians had flouted gun permit rules. The soldiers
issued a receipt so that the arms could be collected at a later date.
The men, who had been on their way back to Italy, were forced to return
to their hotel and search for substitute weapons. They managed to find
just a single machine pistol and two handguns, which friends fear left
them vulnerable to their attackers.
One of the hostages, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was executed by the
kidnappers, an Iraqi Islamist group, two days after the men were
captured, on April 12. His death was videotaped and the plight of the
three remaining captives continues to cause intense public anguish in
Italy.
Yesterday, a statement sent to the Arabic television station al-Jazeera,
purporting to be from the Islamic group, said that the three men would
not be harmed. The kidnappers supposedly said they had been swayed by a
6,000-strong peace march at the Vatican in Rome on Thursday in which the
men's families pleaded for their release.
In Rome, an adviser to the Italian government said that the authorities
were keen to question Mr Simeoni as he was considered "the key to
understanding what really happened".
"This man is not technically being sought, as he would be if in Italian
territory,' he said. "But the Italian authorities have not heard from
him since the incident. Let's not forget that a man has been killed, and
an inquiry has been opened by Italian magistrates in Genoa."
Last night Mr Simeoni, 32, told The Sunday Telegraph that the receipt
for the guns from the Americans was in his possession. "My colleagues
were driving home from Baghdad to Jordan that morning when they came
across a checkpoint manned by US soldiers," he said.
"We do not know exactly why the soldiers confiscated the weapons. The
Iraqi interior ministry does not issue weapons permits to Westerners -
they say that normally all you need to do is show an ID card, such as a
passport. All my men had Italian passports on them, and Fabrizio had a
pass for the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad's
Green Zone. Normally that is more than enough proof that they were
working in security for the coalition, but in this case the soldiers
wouldn't accept it."
The kidnappers pounced as the Italians drove along Highway 10, the main
road leading from Baghdad to Jordan which passes through the lawless
area around Fallujah.
"Four men with powerful assault rifles in a car might have stood a
chance against these guys," said one security consultant who used to
employ the men. "Four men with just one MP5 and a couple of pistols
between them would probably not have."
Mr Simeoni's revelations come amid growing criticism from the estimated
12,000 private security guards in Iraq that US-led forces are not doing
enough to protect them. Many say that coalition troops refuse to come to
their aid if they are attacked, yet prevent them carrying heavier
weapons to defend themselves.
Technically, foreign security staff must have a weapons permit with a
serial number that matches the gun they are carrying. The rules are
normally relaxed, however, for Western security guards, who are waved
through checkpoints.
"If they had been British or American, I think it would have been fine,"
Mr Simeoni claimed. "It may be that because they were Italians and their
English was not quite perfect, the soldiers did not trust them."
Mr Simeoni believes that his men were the victims of a well-planned
ambush, and admits that more powerful weapons may not have saved them.
"I think it had something to do with the taxi drivers who took them out,
that they led them into a trap," he said. "But I am still angry that the
US army just took their weapons away from them like that - these were
professional security people and doing that put them in immediate risk."
He said that he had talked to Italian officials in Iraq after the
incident. The government adviser said that only one of the kidnapped
men, Salvatore Stefio, had adequate experience in foreign security. "If
the Italians had acted professionally, they would never have made the
journey in the first place," he said. Last night, the Italian foreign
ministry refused to comment on the disclosures.
A US Army official said: "We are still investigating this matter and
cannot comment further."
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