Freed by U.S. special forces

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

Four Foreign Hostages Freed in Iraq

Tuesday, June 08, 2004



BAGHDAD, Iraq — Four foreign hostages who were abducted in Iraq have been freed by U.S. special forces south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Three Italians and a Polish contractor who were abducted on April 12 are in coalition control and are in "good health," Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (search), the top U.S. general in Iraq, told reporters. All the hostages were at the same location and some suspects were detained at the site.

The rescue was not, however, the result of negotiations, Sanchez stressed. There was no reported exchange of gunfire, he said.

Earlier, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Boguslaw Majewski said American forces freed the hostages. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and Gianni Letta, a top aide to Premier Silvio Berlusconi (search), confirmed reports that the three Italians were free.

"This is a happy conclusion," Berlusconi told state TV. He said the hostages were being transported aboard a coalition helicopter and would be flown back to Italy on Wednesday.

The Italian hostages, who were in Iraq as private security guards, were abducted in April. A fourth Italian abducted with them, Fabrizio Quattrocchi (search), was slain shortly after the kidnapping and his body later returned to Italy. A tape of the killing was released.

"The operation was born from close cooperation between Italians and coalition forces with detailed intelligence work" by the Italians, Frattini said.

Antonella Agliana, a sister of one of the hostages, told the Italian news agency ANSA: "The Foreign Ministry just called me and told me: 'They're free, they're well and in safe hands.'"

A videotape of three Italians who were kidnapped weeks ago in Iraq was broadcast on the Al-Jazeera satellite network on June 3. The footage was broadcast on the Arabic-language network on Wednesday, and came with a written message from the captors that urged Italians to demonstrate against the policies of President Bush and Berlusconi's government.

An Iraqi armed group calling itself the Green Brigade had said it was behind the abductions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Awesome!

[Arilain]

Someone needs to send help to the Iraqi people to help them come up with better names for thier militias. Come on...."Green Brigade"? The Special Forces most likely thought at first they were fighting Greenpeace.

Anyway it's good to hear that the hostages were freed without firing a shot. Good news indeed.

[Sionistic]

Special Forces most likely thought at first they were fighting Greenpeace.

That must be why it was such a success!

[Fairweather Pure]

The whole Jessica Lynch thing has kinda ruined "hostage rescue" thing for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy these people were rescued. I just can't summon up the emotion to be excited by it.

[kyoukan]

The whole Jessica Lynch thing has kinda ruined "hostage rescue" thing for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy these people were rescued. I just can't summon up the emotion to be excited by it.

I heard that they killed 1000 Iraqis each before they were captured and only stopped fighting after they ran out of ammunition and their knives wore out. Then they were held captive by an Iraqi dressed all in black who interrogated them and denied them orange juice until they were saved by a kindly doctor.

[Cartalas]

The whole Jessica Lynch thing has kinda ruined "hostage rescue" thing for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy these people were rescued. I just can't summon up the emotion to be excited by it.

I heard that they killed 1000 Iraqis each before they were captured and only stopped fighting after they ran out of ammunition and their knives wore out. Then they were held captive by an Iraqi dressed all in black who interrogated them and denied them orange juice until they were saved by a kindly doctor.

Fucking Italians

[Ransure]

The whole Jessica Lynch thing has kinda ruined "hostage rescue" thing for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy these people were rescued. I just can't summon up the emotion to be excited by it.

My company sent all of our salespeople to a motivational seminar with people like Zig Zigler and such... but one of the keynote speakers was Jessica Lynch... I was like WTF? how is she motivational?.... She's definately taking advantage of her 5 minutes of fame.

[murr]

The whole Jessica Lynch thing has kinda ruined "hostage rescue" thing for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy these people were rescued. I just can't summon up the emotion to be excited by it.

My company sent all of our salespeople to a motivational seminar with people like Zig Zigler and such... but one of the keynote speakers was Jessica Lynch... I was like WTF? how is she motivational?.... She's definately taking advantage of her 5 minutes of fame.

If I wer her I would, hahaha... Wear Nike - I was wearing Adidas when I got captured by terrorists and couldn't run away fast enough!

[Dregor Thule]

Most of the blame for the Jessica Lynch syndrome lies on the shoulders of the media, the military, and the salivating populous who needed something to grasp on to lest they be reminded at the time what a cockjob was being done.

[Fesuni Chopsui]

The whole Jessica Lynch thing has kinda ruined "hostage rescue" thing for awhile. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy these people were rescued. I just can't summon up the emotion to be excited by it.

I heard that they killed 1000 Iraqis each before they were captured and only stopped fighting after they ran out of ammunition and their knives wore out. Then they were held captive by an Iraqi dressed all in black who interrogated them and denied them orange juice until they were saved by a kindly doctor.

Fucking Italians

Fucking COALITION forces