Some Questions For Giuliana Sgrena

The sad story of the death of Italian agent Nicola Calipari while rescuing the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena this weekend, has been all over the news. We are all indebted to Calipari for his bravery and sacrifice, and its extremely sad that he died at the hands of friendly forces.

For weeks now many questions have been raised about the authenticity of the kidnapping, given Sgrena's sympathetic leanings toward Iraq's terrorists. However, at this point despite the fact that she is one of the few who have made it back alive, no evidence exists that she was complicit in her abduction.

None-the-less, Giuliana has wasted no time since her release and return to Italy in criticizing American policy and American soldiers who she claim may have actually been trying to kill her. Obviously she is a very confused woman, and perhaps a victim of Stockholm sydrome, but one does wonder when she'll get around to criticizing the terrorists who murder innocents daily, behead hostages, who aren't sympathetic Italian journalists, and freely admit that they are working to remove rights for women in the region.

In her spare time I'd appreciate it if Giuliana would answer some questions:

1. Why is it that the terrorists chose not to kill you, a citizen of a coalition country, but have been eager to kill others who might have been considered friendly hostages? What was different between your case and the one of Enzo Baldoni an Italian journalist killed on August 24, 2004?

2. You say the Americans might have been targeting you. If this is so, it implies the Americans knew your location - a fact Italian security admits they withheld from the CIA. If they knew your location, why not kill you there and then blame the terrorists? Certainly, the propaganda value would have been much greater for the Americans than it has been with the way things have turned out.

3. Is it moral for the Italian people to finance your estimated 10M dollar ransom when it will almost certainly lead to the taking of additional hostages?

4. Similarly, are you comfortable with the fact that the ransom will now finance operations against Italian and Coalition forces resulting in the possibility of the killing of other Italians and innocent Iraqi women and children at the hands of terrorists?

5. Considering #4 above, will you at least have the decency to ask the terrorists to lay down there arms and join the process of democracy?

6. Which brings to mind my final question. What is it, exactly, that troubles you about the new found wave of freedom that started with the liberation of Iraq has extended to Lebanon and Egypt, and threatens to break out in Syria?

7. Wouldn't freedom and liberty by a much more effective way for those you are sympathetic with to get their message out and have it considered by the people? Or, like the terrorists, are you afraid of the people's answer?

Thank you. I'll look forward to your answers