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Politics : The American Spirit Vs. The Rightwing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (1310)	10/2/2004 9:55:25 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1904

Freed Italian Says Rebel War Is Justified By IAN FISHER Published: October 2, 2004 OME, Oct. 1 - One of the two Italian aid workers freed after three weeks in captivity in Iraq said the fight against American troops and their allies there was not terrorism but legitimate resistance to occupation. "I distinguish between terrorism and resistance," the woman, Simona Torretta, told an Italian daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, in an interview published Friday. "The guerrilla war is justified, but I am against the kidnapping of civilians." nytimes.com Advertisement Ms. 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 kidnapping. In the interview, Ms. Torretta said she believed that she and her colleague were released because they were able to convince their captors that they were opposed to the war and that they helped ordinary Iraqis. She added, "This was a very religious and very political group, and at the end it was convinced that we were not enemies." Ms. Torretta said she did not know anything about reports, denied by the government here though widespread in the Italian news 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." Ms. Torretta, who had worked in Iraq since 1997, repeated her call for Italy to pull its 3,000 troops from Iraq, and said that neither the election called for January nor the interim government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was legitimate. Dr. 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, Ms. Torretta said she would not do so anytime soon. "I have to wait until the end of the American occupation," she said.

To: American Spirit who wrote (1310)	10/4/2004 11:57:14 AM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1904

The debate: Despite my failed efforts not to taint my analysis with my own prejudices, here are some key points that the punditry universe isn't focusing on enough. * Kerry said Bush took troops away from General Tommy Franks for Iraq. NOT TRUE! General Franks already has said and written THAT IS NOT TRUE. I recently spoke with Franks number two, Lt General Mike DeLong, and he reaffirmed, it was not true. o Troop levels in Afghanistan actually GREW during Operation Iraqi Freedom o and there are more troops there now that before the Iraq invasion. * Kerry said Gen Shinseki was fired/relieved for insisting we needed more troops in Iran. FALSE. Shinseki was relieved for ticking off Rumsfeld BEFORE he claimed troop levels needed to be more. * Kerry said he never used the "lie" word.....? At least twice in December 2003, Kerry said, "This administration has lied to us." * Kerry claimed bin Laden recruits by saying 'The US declared war on Islam.' BULLFEATHERS! Osama declared war ON US in 1993. * The 'great debater'/'great trial lawyer' said Bush imposed sanctions against Iran? Huh? Didn't that happen about 20 years ago before Bush got clean and sober? * Kerry insists that 'somehow' he will convince allies to replace our troops with theirs for 'the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place'? However, as the Wall Street Journal has noted, the French and the Germans have ALREADY put the kibosh to that brain flatulence. It ain't gonna happen! * Kerry 'plans' for everything including cleaning up Russian nukes in 4 years is both unrealistic and unattainable...based on false confidence fueled by ego and unsupported by facts. * His absurd and dangerous suggestion we should have "offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel" to the Iranians exceeds the P.J. O'Rourke admonition about "giving whiskey and car keys to a teenage boy..."