Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the release of the Italian hostages was a "happy conclusion".
"I cannot but be happy because we have carried out the right choice and we have chosen the right strategy - on one side utmost secrecy and on the other no negotiation with the terrorists," he said.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the hostages were released in a joint operation in southern Baghdad by Italian and other forces using "detailed intelligence".
There was no bloodshed, and the former hostages were on their way to the airport to be flown back to Italy on Wednesday, he added.
The story is sparse on details, though, but that may understandable. Great work by those involved, and I am happy for the prisoners and their families.
Tim Blair posts a letter from an unnamed expat Saudi Arabia who descrives the Khobar massacre in its grisly details. It differs from the official account in many ways, especially concerning how many terrorists were involved.
With the growing evidence that Saudi security and police are involved with the terrorists in some way, I really can't understand those expats who dare remain in the country.
PS:Alhamedi has more about how dependent the Saudi Kingdom is on expats, in particular the Filipinos who are now being specifically threatened by al-Qaeda.
There are probably less similarities between the war on terror and World War II than there are differences, but I have to say that observing how al-Qaeda now targets the Saudis is like a rerun of the German blitzkrieg against France in 1940.
The Sun has done a gag on legendary Norwegian radio commentator Bjørge Lillelien's words on its front page, leading up to the big Euro 2004 football (soccer) match between England and France on Sunday. In large letters is printed:
«Thierry Henry! Napoleon Bonaparte! Joan of Arc! Inspector Clouseau! Patrick Vieira! Charles de Gaulle! The Renault Five! Jacques Chirac - Can You Hear Us, Jacques Chirac? Our boys are gonna give you one hell of a beating!»
The original, from Norway shockingly beating England 2-1 in 1981, has gone down in history as some of the best sports commentary ever. Lillelien spontanously burst out in English:
"Lord Nelson! Lord Beaverbrook! Sir Winston Churchill! Sir Anthony Eden! Clement Attlee! Henry Cooper! Lady Diana! Maggie Thatcher - can you hear me, Maggie Thatcher! Your boys took one hell of a beating! Your boys took one hell of a beating!"
It does sound more convincing after a game, I have to say, but this is all part of the pre-game psychological warfare.
Mærli argues that today, building a crude nuclear weapon may not be beyond the capabilities of some terrorist groups, especially as they will not bother with the safeguards and security mechanisms that are necessary for a state actor to add nukes to its arsenal. This threat rests entirely on the terrorists' ability to obtain highly enriched uranium (HEU). He argues that much of this material is not sufficiently secured, especially in the former Soviet Union, and that too little attention is being paid to the work of securing it.
Enriching uranium is normally beyond the capabilities of even moderately sophisticaed state agencies, so preventing terrorists from obtaining HEU from military and civilian nuclear facilities is crucial:
"Denying terrorists this material through supply-side security could be the be-all and end-all of all nuclear terrorism countermeasures." (page 6)
So exactly how much effort is put into this work, which is crucial for our very civilisation? It should certainly be more important than practically anything else in the war on terror, but it is not the kind of work that makes headlines and heroes.
Hopefully we will not be investigating this issue through congressional hearings into what went wrong in some years.
Say what you want about coercive interrogation techniques when applied to dangerous terrorists, but the legal memorandum from the Pentagon's Office of General Counsel is deeply troubling. It appears to be written to justify and legalise outright torture of prisoners, "up to and including" methods that may cause the death of the detainee. The search for legal loopholes appears to be quite desperate, and unlikely to be legally sound.
Deeply troubling. A war against inhuman terrorism is certainly not the time to abandon our own ethics.
