Fri Oct 1, 2004 08:38 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian aid worker held hostage last month in Iraq said guerrillas there were right to fight U.S.-led forces and their Iraqi "puppet government."



In comments that were bound to annoy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, Simona Torretta also called on Rome to withdraw the troops it sent to Iraq to support its U.S. ally.

"I said it before the kidnapping and I repeat it today," she told Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Friday.

"You have to distinguish between terrorism and resistance. The guerrilla war is justified, but I am against the kidnapping of civilians."

Torretta and her Italian colleague Simona Pari, both of them 29, were freed Tuesday, three weeks after being snatched from their Baghdad office. Berlusconi has brushed aside widespread reports that his government paid a ransom of up to $1 million.

Describing the administration of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as "a puppet government in the hands of the Americans," Torretta said elections planned for January would have no legitimacy: "During my days in detention ... I came to the conclusion it will take decades to put Iraq back on its feet."

Torretta, who lived in Iraq before, during and after the U.S.-led invasion, said she wanted to return despite her ordeal -- but would not do so as long as U.S. troops were there: "I've got to wait until the end of the U.S. occupation," she said.

She said she did know whether Italy bought her freedom from the kidnappers: "If a ransom was paid then I am very sorry. But I know nothing about it ... I believe that (the kidnappers) were a very political, religious group and that in the end they were convinced that we were not enemies."



I guess she missed the 35 dead Iraqi children slaughtered by her freedom fighters.

I mentioned this story earlier in the week but I guess it got missed.
I can imagine that persons subjected to kidnapping come out of the ordeal mentally strained, and probably arent thinking clearly. Apparently, there is also a tendancy for captives to "bond" with their captors....I dont know why, just what I have read.

I cant condemn a person that was held captive, they have gone through a harder time than I ever have. That being said, if these girls want to go back and help stop the war through subversive means, dont ask for a bailout the next time they get captured.

1 get-out-of-jail-free card is more than most get in a lifetime....they are now living on borrowed time, and if they plan to spend it praising the enemy, their time may be short.

just my 2 cents

what a complete whore

Quoted: You are assuming she was actually being held hostage, I am leaning towards that not being the case, I am thinking she was on a working vacation of they aganda having hippy type.

she lived there bfore, durring, and after the war (assuming what she said was true), that would be one helluva long vacation.

I wonder how much head she had to give to get out

Welp, I guess I can stop lookin for her head on a platter.

It's almost like she regrets not getting gang-raped and having her head cut off.  According to her, as freedom fighters, the Iraqi insurgents would have been "justified" in doing so.

She sounds like a kerry,white trash liberal,fuck nazi, to me. The spermbank was there to suck sandmonkey dick and aid Jihadists......what has changed?

This does not surprise me in the least. If you knew what Italy was really like, it wouldn't surprise you either.