Thursday, 17 February 2005A videotape made by insurgents obtained Wednesday showed a sobbing Italian journalist held hostage pleading for her life and urging all US-led troops to leave Iraq.
The tape obtained by Associated Press Television News showed hostage Giuliana Sgrena speaking in both French and Italian as she pleaded for the Italian government to pull out its troops.
"You must end the occupation, it's the only way we can get out of this situation," the 56-year-old journalist for the communist daily Il Manifesto pleaded.
There was no indication when the tape was made, and the words "Mujahedeen Without Borders" appeared in digital red Arabic script on the video. The group was previously unknown.
"I ask the Italian government, the Italian people struggling against the occupation, I ask my husband, 'Please, help me,'" Sgrena said. "You must do all you can to end the occupation. I'm counting on you. You can help me."
Il Manifesto strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq and has fiercely criticized Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi's decision to deploy 3,000 troops in the multinational force.
At one point she addressed her companion, Pierre Scolari, breaking into tears.
"Show all the pictures I have taken of the Iraqis, of the children hit by the cluster bombs, of the women. I beg you. Help me, help me to demand the withdrawal of the troops, help me spare my life."
Sgrena was kidnapped February 4 by unidentified gunmen outside a mosque in Baghdad.
Conflicting claims about her fate have appeared on Islamic terrorist Web sites.
Meanwhile, members of the winning Shi'ite political alliance met to discuss forming a new government Wednesday, and front-runner Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the current vice president, visited Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the alliance's leader, at his Baghdad office to discuss the pending announcement of the alliance's candidate to be prime minister.
Shortly after he left, his main rival, former Pentagon favorite Ahmed Chalabi, arrived for talks. Chalabi, 58, who left Iraq as a teen, fell out of favor with Washington last year after claims he passed intelligence information to Iran.
Chalabi, a secular Shi'ite, led the Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella for groups that included Iraqi exiles, Kurds and Shi'ites. Much of the intelligence his group supplied on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction programs failed to pan out.
Hussein al-Mousawi, a spokesman for the Shi'ite Political Council, an umbrella group for 38 Shi'ite political parties, has said Chalabi most likely would be the next prime minister because he has broad support beyond the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The race to be the Shi'ites' pick for prime minister narrowed Tuesday, when Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has close ties to Iran, dropped out.
A close aide to Sistani, who almost guaranteed the United Iraqi Alliance's victory when he endorsed it, said "the grand cleric has the final say" as to who will be the candidate.
The Kurdish parties have apparently agreed to support the alliance's candidate for prime minister in return for the presidency.
The aide said the alliance's leaders will visit Sistani's office in Najaf to get his blessing for their choice for prime minister. If they cannot agree, Sistani will make the final decision.
Also Wednesday, police found the bound and gagged bodies of eight Iraqis, mostly civilians who had worked at a US military base, in shallow graves north of Baghdad. All were shot in the back of the head.
The eight had been missing since they were kidnapped three days ago by insurgents. A piece of paper attached to each body said: "This is the punishment of the traitors and those who work for the American occupation."
US forces also clashed with insurgents in Ramadi and Samarra, and militants attacked US convoys with bombs in Mosul, damaging a military vehicle.
Several people were injured, witnesses said. |
Thursday, 17 February 2005
Associated Press via Jerusalem Post
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