Aid Agency helped the insurgents!!!!!!

l ink

ROME - Italy's Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents and hid them from U.S. forces in exchange for the freedom of two Italian aid workers kidnapped last year in Baghdad, an official said in an interview published Thursday.

Maurizio Scelli, the outgoing chief of the Italian Red Cross, told La Stampa newspaper that he kept the deal secret from U.S. officials, complying with "a nonnegotiable condition" imposed by Iraqi mediators who helped him secure the release of Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who were abducted on Sept. 7 and freed Sept. 28.

"The mediators asked us to save the lives of four alleged terrorists wanted by the Americans who were wounded in combat," Scelli was quoted as saying. "We hid them and brought them to Red Cross doctors, who operated on them."

They took the wounded insurgents to a Baghdad hospital in a jeep and in an ambulance, smuggling them through two U.S. checkpoints by hiding them under blankets and boxes of medicine, Scelli reportedly said.

Also as part of the deal, four Iraqi children suffering from leukemia were brought to Italy for treatment, he said.

Scelli told the newspaper he informed the Italian government of the deal and of the decision to hide it from the U.S. through Gianni Letta, an undersecretary in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government who has been in charge of Italy's hostage crises in Iraq.

"Keeping quiet with the Americans about our efforts to free the hostages was an irrevocable condition to guarantee the safety of the hostages and ourselves," he told La Stampa. He said Letta agreed.

so wat do u guys think? was it a good idea for the aid agency to commit such actions. wat would happened if Osama needed surgery and the aid agency is willing to hide Osama to operate in return for 10 aid workers kidnapped? save him and u just might have allowed thousands to die maybe a million. the aid agency is not suppose to negotiate somthing like this. they are suppose to be neutral.

With respect they healed them while still being neutral but done the exchange by hideing them to save 2 lives.
They were just trying to save lives, they know it was wrong but they done it to save lives.

All of a sudden that “accidental” shooting of that Italian convoy carrying that freed reporter makes sense after reading this report.

But I agree they should not have done that, who knows how many Iraqi or US personal have died because those 4 insurgents were given medical treatment.

Giving them medical treatment is infact being neutral...assisting them in hiding was wrong.

I commend them for giving the medical treatment. It is American policy to treat all injured as though they were on your side, as well. However, they negotiated with the terrorists. They opened the door that Spain did a while back. Kidnapping the right people is going to be, now, an option to get top of the line medical treatment without being captured.

We have some injured soldiers and don't have the means by which to help them. We know the western countries do, but if we go to them for help, they're going to be captured and handled as enemy combatants. Instead, we'll just capture some citizens of a western nation, then tell them we'll give them back in return for medical treatment with no ramifications. This could develop a trend...Very bad idea on the Italian's part, I think.