The Guardian reports on the murder of Italian security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi at the hands of terrorists in Iraq. Quattrocchi was captured along with three other Italians serving in Iraq.
Quattrocchi’s last words before being executed by the terrorists were words of defiance:
The Italian who was the first civilian hostage to be killed in Iraq was today hailed as a hero who defied his captors and told them: “Now I’ll show you how an Italian dies.”
What’s interesting is the terrorist’s propaganda channel al-Jazeera’s reaction:
The tape of his killing was sent to Qatar-based Arab television station Al-Jazeera, which said that it was “too bloody” to show.
Considering that al-Jazeera finds footages of burned and mangled bodies insufficiently bloody to be rejected – provided they can somehow be blamed on Americans or are Americans – this response is clearly a lie. There’s a good reason why al-Jazeera doesn’t want to show Quattrocchi’s death – because he fought back.
Quattrocchi’s death may be a tragedy, but at the very least he died with courage, and in so doing showed the terrorists that the Italian people will not bow to terrorism.
Well, now we know why they let the French journalist go… he showed them how a Frenchman soils his drawers.
Laurence-
Your post is nothing more than inane bigotry, and infers that you believe in a hierarchy of victims, that some victims of murder or kidnapping are worh mocking.
If we want to revert to petty stereotype, the Italians have the worst military history of any western european nation. “Never has so much surrendered to so little” was coined for them. But we are not dealing in world war II era stereotypes. World War II was one war among many, and is not relevant when evaluating the military prowess or courage entire nations and armies in 2004. But then again this type of argument has been coat-trailed through neo-right circles is only one part of the anti-intellectual atmosphere that pervades much of young conservatism today.
Let me retract one thing, I didn’t mean to say that your post infers anything as to how you feel about murder victims. I still think mocking kidnapping victims promotes a hierarchy of victimhood and is morally inconsistent.
Good thing the Left doesn’t mock anyone, like say those murdered and desecrated by barbarians. It’s too intellectual and nuanced for that kind of stuff.
Sav: Trust me, Justin is no leftist…
He is however, an ardent Francophile, and takes insults to France a bit too seriously. Then again, when he criticizes Europe you know it’s not out of bias.
I don’t know what he is, but he took Simons’s comment and extrapolated it to “neo-right circles” and conservatives, and inferred that those people are all simple-minded idiots. For some reason that struck me as a New Left tactic.
I didn’t use to take anti-France insults seriously, unti they became so prominent and so vicious. French bashing has gone beyond the level of decency in this country, and I oppose all forms of bigotry. I don’t think there is anything funny about any foreigner being kidnapped in Iraq. So if I went too far (which I concede I did), it was not because I was a francophile, but because I value human life and don’t think jokes about anyone who has been kidnapped by Iraqi terrorists deserves to have their suffering made fun of. Usually it’s the left wing who wants to make a hierarchy of victims, I hope the right doesn’t go down the same path. And Sav: I am a dissident conservative/libertarian.
How patronizing; for someone who values human life, you forget this Italian man’s life was taken. Rather than make even one comment about how courageous this man was, you find the need to respond to someone else’s mockery. Shame on you.
As an Italian American who is a conservative, I say “hell Yeah, lets salute this man for his courage!” Maybe John Kerry can take a lesson on bravery! Oh..that’s right….he was a war vet! How could I forget! LOL!!! My ancestors unified mordern day Italy in the 1860’s, so I know they would be proud too.
Hey John Paul….get back on your ship….I oppose you!