I Was Right, They Were Just Stupid

It seems that little Italian communist Giuliana Sgrena was released because the Italian Secret Police arranged to pay a multi-million dollar ransom to her "insurgent" captors. The Italian authorities didn't tip off the US forces that she had been released because they didn't want us to know that they were paying for it.

In an interview with Hamid Mir, Osama Bin Laden's "official biographer", he said that "I met some criminals in the al-Mansoor area of Baghdad who offered me lot of money. They proposed that I trap one Western journalist for them; they will take the ransom and then I will get may share. I just disappeared from Palestine Hotel after that offer."

So these Osama want-a-be's that don't have financial backing have discovered that the Italians are willing to indirectly fund their efforts against coalition troops. Snatch a reporter, even one that is simpathetic to their cause, and hold her until someone ponys up some cash. I wonder how bad the conditions of her captivity really were? She could have been well fed and living watching CNN while the world worried about her plight. And I wonder who got a cut of the ransom money like that promised to Mr. Mir?

I wonder how many Rocket Propelled Grenades and Improvised Exposive Devices six million (see update below) dollars will buy? I wonder how many innocent Iraqis and coalition troops will be injured and killed as a result of Comrad Sgrena's "independent" reporting efforts in Iraq?

The domestic and Italian leftists and the media should quit their whining and admit that these people brought the firepower of the Americans on themselves through their own incompetence.

With reporters like Giuliana, who needs "Osama" to fund terrorism?

Update: 9:20 AM

They paid six million, not a million ransom. Here is the Washington Times story.

What pisses me off is how Comrad Sgrena's story keeps changing to suit the facts that have leaked out publicly. First she was certain that they had targeted her as a journalist for the tone of her stories. Now she is certain that the US troops were targeting her because she was released as a result of a ransom? She says that the car was not speeding, but she also is quoted as saying that they were going so fast that the driver nearly lost control of the car avoiding rain puddles.

Expect to hear the bitching and complaining continue while the left attempts to impune our troops efforts in Iraq.