Italian Journalist Slain
Terrorists' response to Italy's refusal to withdraw troops
BAGHDAD - "Enzo Baldoni has been killed". It is one o'clock in the morning in Baghdad. Seven hours have passed since the Islamic Army in Iraq's ultimatum expired. An insistent, agonising rumour has started to go the rounds:they've cut his throat.
(Ap)
In Qatar, the Italian embassy has received a phone call from the Al Jazeera newsroom. "Judging by the videotape," said Jihad Ballout, a spokesman for the Arabic-language broadcaster, "the kidnappers have carried out their threat to kill the hostage...". There is appalling footage of the scene,as there was in the case of Fabrizio Quattrocchi.As the minutes passed, the rumour was confirmedby Italian investigators and off-the-record admissions from the Red Cross. The family had to be told first. Only five minutes later, Doha television brought the waiting to an end. A few words in Arabic, in the red strip running across the bottom of the screen, announced that "the Islamic Army in Iraq has killed Enzo Baldoni, the Italian who was abducted on August 1".
He was killed without delay,without the small mercy of the extension that in recent months has been granted by many of the so-called Sharia tribunals.
Baldoni was butchered. Italian officials have seen the images, which were received via internet. There are only a few shots, but they leave no room for doubt. Several sources confirm that it is him. Baldoni, the Milan-based contributor to "Diario" magazine is recognisable. His assassins may have wanted to get rid of the body as quickly as possible, which could be the reason for the macabre burial scene. At Al Jazeera, news staff decided that the images will not be broadcast "for reasons of sensitivity to viewers". Spokesman Jihad Ballout saidthat it was a shocking video that could have repercussions on public opinion, and that the station had decided not to broadcast it, although it was received early in the evening. It looked as if a single still was going to be shown on the 3 am news, but then came the denial. The code of behaviour that the Doha-based broadcaster has tried to observe since it started receiving these horrific images prevailed in the end.
Baldoni died after one week's captivity. With him died the hope, which had remained alive all day yesterday, that something could be done."Contacts are at a very advanced stage," said sources close to investigators. From reports pieced together by the Italian Red Cross and secret services, it was clear that the videotape setting out the kidnappers' demands, the one in which a relaxed-looking Baldoni attempts to use his professional skills as a communicator to reassure his family, was insufficient on it own to get negotiations under way. Before taking any further steps, Italian officials had two requests for prospective negotiators. First, the real or self-appointed negotiators should provide assurances that they were actually in contact with the abductors. Second, the Islamic Army, or whoever was hiding behind that name, should over the next few days give "further proof that Baldoni has suffered no harm". The answer was in the video delivered to Al Jazeera.
Yet optimism yesterday was widespread, although it is unclear why this should have been so. The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, had saidlive on Al Jazeera on Wednesday evening that the Italian government refused to yield to the demand that troops should be withdrawn from Iraq "unless it is the legitimate government of the Iraqi people that requests this". Yesterday, he again repeated that "our goal is the journalist's unconditional release". Maurizio Scelli, the Red Cross special commissioner who is expected in Baghdad tomorrow, also claimed to be "optimistic", explaining that "we have established the right contacts" and giving everyone the impression that positive developments were imminent.Albeit with great caution, members of the abducted man's family were also hoping for a break in the clouds.
But memories of the abduction of Agliana, Stefio and Cupertino, and the cold water that was so often poured over hopes of their imminent release, induced other observers to take a prudent approach.
"Silence" was the appeal from friends on Bloghdad, Baldoni's web diary. Silence, they said, was necessary at this dramatic moment.
Until yesterday, information received by Italian secret service agents suggested that the hostage was being held in the Najaf area.On Wednesday evening, Giuseppe De Santis, head of the Italian Red Cross mission who had been recalled to Rome "to clarify" the now celebrated humanitarian convoy on August 19, submitted a report on the tragic journey. The editor of "Diario", Enrico Deaglio, had also forwarded to the Red Cross a corroborated reconstruction of events that day. The account appeared a couple of days ago on Baldoni's blog, signed by Helen Williams, a Welsh volunteer who had taken part in the mission. It was finally confirmed that the convoy had actually arrived at Najaf. It was there, investigators believe, that Baldoni fell into the fatal trap.
Who are the terrorists who killed Enzo Baldoni? It is generally believed that the Islamic Army is made up of dissidents, volunteers who in recent weeks have been fighting at the Tomb of Ali, but who now reject Moqtada al Sadr's decision to begin negotiations. In fact, it was hoped that a channel of communication could be opened through Al Sadr. His intervention had been requested for Baldoni, as it had been previously for James Branson and Micah Garen. These two journalists, one British the other American, had been abducted in the past few weeks and released apparently without any concessions to their abductors' demands. Italian officials were also pressing for Al Sadr to make a public appeal to the kidnappers to release Baldoni, a journalist who had come to Iraq to tell the story of the guerrilla war from the guerrillas' point of view. Al Sadr had not yet replied. Now it is too late.
Francesco Battistini
http://www.corriere.it
