Two years ago tomorrow

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3628977.stm
http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins200404260831.asp

By James Robbins, from National Review:

Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, a baker from Italy, went to Iraq to work as a security guard for a contracting firm. He and three other Italians were taken hostage by al-Katibat al-Khadra, the Green Battalion, who demanded that Italy release some of the Muslim extremists they are holding, and that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi apologize for statements he made that allegedly insulted Islam. They showed the hostages on video, and threatened to kill them if their demands were not met. To demonstrate they were serious, they took Quattrocchi to a field, and had him dig a large hole. They then put a hood over his head and forced him to kneel by the grave, preparing to murder him. But Fabrizio did not cooperate. He stood and tried to pull off the hood, shouting, "Now I'll show you how an Italian dies!" The terrorists shot him in the back of the neck. Al Jazeera, which obtained the videotape of the killing, chose not to air it, saying it was "too gruesome." Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said, Fabrizio "died a hero."

....

The enemy we face today would have to rise far to earn even our contempt. Fabrizio's captors wanted not just to kill him, but to humiliate him, the true mark of the savage. However, they needed his cooperation, and Fabrizio knew it. He was beyond help, but not helpless. He was alive. He could still choose, if only to choose the manner in which he would die. Consider the bravery, the nobility, the strength of that act. In his final moments, facing eternity, willfully discarding the shred of hope that maybe it would not happen, maybe he would get out of it alive, shouting defiance in the masked faces of his captors and denying the barbarous cowards intent on murdering him the satisfaction of his complicity in their crime.

Fabrizio Quattrocchi showed us how an Italian dies, and how a hero lives.

See? Not all Euros are pansies.

i never understood why someone would just go along with those savages?  if i were in an orange jumpsuit, i sure as shit wouldnt be kneeling down quietly on the floor while johnny jihad read his "i love camels" declaration.  they would have to pile 20 of those motherfuckers on my squirming ass or just shoot me.

Quoted: i never understood why someone would just go along with those savages?  if i were in an orange jumpsuit, i sure as shit wouldnt be kneeling down quietly on the floor while johnny jihad read his "i love camels" declaration.  they would have to pile 20 of those motherfuckers on my squirming ass or just shoot me.

would you still do that if they threatened to execute your friends if you refused to comply?

Quoted: would you still do that if they threatened to execute your friends if you refused to comply?

history has shown that they kill who they capture (unless you're a woman)  so any offer to protect my friends if i comply is clearly an empty promise.

All the shit Al Jazeera puts out, and they call that 'too gruesome'.  

More like they don't want footage of resistance to their bullshit spreading.

Quoted: history has shown that they kill who they capture (unless you're a woman)  ...

Not even that. Margaret Hassan was murdered even though she was a woman, married to an Iraqi, held Iraqi citizenship and lived in Iraq for 20+ years.

Quoted: Quoted: i never understood why someone would just go along with those savages?  if i were in an orange jumpsuit, i sure as shit wouldnt be kneeling down quietly on the floor while johnny jihad read his "i love camels" declaration.  they would have to pile 20 of those motherfuckers on my squirming ass or just shoot me. would you still do that if they threatened to execute your friends if you refused to comply?

I think it's impossible to say sitting here and not faced with it.  But I think if I was in that situation I would assume we were all as good as dead regardless.

A True Man Amongst Men.

This guy is a hero for the world as far as I'm concerned.

Cowards die a thousand deaths. Fabrizio Quattrocchi died only one.

Quoted: i never understood why someone would just go along with those savages?

The self-delusion of "hope".

These terrorists are "winging it" in their little morality plays.  One day it means a beheading, the next they let someone live, then it's back to an ending "too messy" for their PR firm (Al Jazeera) to handle.  Barbarians indeed and shizophrenic to boot.

[al jazeera]you fools, how can we possibly spin this bloody mess into anything positive for jihad?  Where is the director?[/al jazeera]

Quoted: i never understood why someone would just go along with those savages?  if i were in an orange jumpsuit, i sure as shit wouldnt be kneeling down quietly on the floor while johnny jihad read his "i love camels" declaration.  they would have to pile 20 of those motherfuckers on my squirming ass or just shoot me.

N_T, I'm sure that a lot of those 'compliant' prisoners are fed drugs.  If I were in that situation, I'd give them 15-20mg of Valium or some opiates, or a combination.  Just enough to get them 'compliant'.  

Quattrocchi had guts.  Fucking savages.  

RIP Fabrizio.

Fabrizio Quattrocchi.
In death, he has a name.