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The kidnappers of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, taken hostage in Iraq, have said that they have killed him, Al Jazeera has reported.     The television station said it had received footage showing Mr Baldoni after he had been killed.A group called the Islamic Army in Iraq had claimed to have seized Mr Baldoni, who disappeared near Najaf several days ago.   The kidnappers were calling for Italy to withdraw its 2,700 troops from Iraq, the third largest foreign military contingent in the country, but Italy has refused.    It said it killed Mr Baldoni because of the refusal, Al Jazeera reported.    As well as reporting for Italian newspapers, Mr Baldoni...

Jun. 27, 2004 21:23 Report: Iraqis killed Italian for Israel ties By ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON An Iraqi terrorist who says he participated in the April murder of an Italian hostage has recalled how the captive asked for his blindfold to be removed so he could look his killers in the eye, a British newspaper reported Sunday. "I filmed him as he was executed," the Arab fighter, who called himself Abu Yussuf was quoted as telling Sunday Times reporter Hala Jaber in an undisclosed location to the west of Baghdad. Fabrizio Quattrocchi, along with three other Italian security guards, was captured...

In a clandestine and dangerous meeting near Baghdad Hala Jaber was told the chilling story of a hostage’s death by one of the terror gang IN A small, bare house to the west of Baghdad, a highly educated Arab fighter armed with an unusual combination of computer skills and European languages was packing spoils of war into cardboard boxes last week as his resistance cell prepared to take its battle into the Iraqi capital. He removed aerial photographs from the walls, saying he had obtained them by hacking into a US military database in Iraq, and stacked laptops that had...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vowed on Thursday to keep troops in Iraq (news - web sites) despite the killing of an Italian hostage in scenes Al Jazeera said were too bloody to screen. "They have destroyed a life. They have not cracked our values and our efforts for peace," Berlusconi said in a statement after the killing of security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi. The killing by a previously unheard of Iraqi group followed a spate of kidnappings that has snared foreign civilians from at least a dozen countries this month, Iraq's bloodiest period since Saddam Hussein (news...

<p>May 13, 2004 -- IMAGES are important. That's why America's major TV networks and newspapers have a responsibility to show the full Nick Berg video. Forget Abu Ghraib: Those are the words I've heard most often since the tape of militant Islamists cutting off Berg's head was made public Tuesday - though the first word was seldom forget.</p>

On CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, anchorman Mike Wallace belittled President Bush and his goals to free, stabilize and democratize Iraq. "Who gave George Bush the duty to free people around the world?" he asked condescendingly. Bob Woodward, who was on the program to promote his new Bush-bashing book, responded that Mr. Bush's global agenda "will cause many people to tremble." In ridiculing White House war aims, neither Mr. Wallace nor Mr. Woodward seemed interested in the fact that Mr. Bush deposed a ruthless dictator and is fighting terrorists who want to destroy America. This is typical of today's slanted...

<p>April 21, 2004 -- Fabrizio Quattrocchi was certainly a most courageous and honorable man ("Fabrizio Quattrocchi, Hero," Editorial, April 16).</p> <p>Contractors like Quattrocchi and the Coalition forces are the front line in this war to preserve civilization against the barbarians.</p>

He died, said Franco Frattini, Italy's Foreign Minister, like a hero. With his captors pointing their guns at him, Fabrizio Quattrocchi groped for the hood strapped around his head and tried to rip it off. "I'll show you how an Italian dies," he screamed at them. Then they shot him. He was the first hostage to die since the spate of abductions began last week: executed in cold blood, a bullet to the nape of the neck, in retribution, the "Green Brigades of the Prophet" declared in a statement, because "your Prime Minister says that the withdrawal of the Italian...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 4/16/04 - Fallujah, Najaf, Quattrocchi BREAKING: Fallujah - Marine heroes find many weapons BREAKING: Najaf - American heroes tighten grip BREAKING: Distinguished Italian hero hostage murdered QFN ==== QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE GENERAL MEDIA TODAY - IRAQ; THE GOOD, THE BAD, and the PUG-UGLIES ========= Fallujah ========= BREAKING: In Fallujah, Marine heroes find many cache of weapons, then unload rifles, weapons, and multiple rocket launchers, confiscated. Some blew up good. In Fallujah, Marines and other heroes look for terrorists who previously prospered and thrive...

<p>April 16, 2004 -- The Italian troops risking their lives in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led Coalition have fought with great skill and courage, and are a credit to the Italian nation, but even their valor pales before the bravery of Fabrizio Quattrocchi. He was the Italian hostage (one of four kidnapped by Iraqi Arab bandits) who was brutally murdered on Wednesday.</p>

ROME, April 15 (Reuters) - An Italian hostage killed in Iraq was hailed on Thursday as a hero who in his last moments told his kidnappers defiantly: "I'm going to show you how an Italian dies." Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian security guards abducted earlier this week, was shot dead on Wednesday after Italy refused to bow to the kidnappers' demands and withdraw some 3,000 troops stationed in Iraq. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a video recording of the killing showed that Quattrocchi was hooded when his kidnappers put a gun to his head. "When the murderers were...

The dead man was identified as Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, a security guard. As the gunman's pistol was pointing at him the hostage "tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'now I'll show you how an Italian dies,'" he said. Meanwhile, three Japanese hostages held in Iraq have been released, the government in Tokyo has confirmed. The Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera has broadcast images of the three, who it said had been handed over safe and well to Muslim clerics. Japan is investigating reports that two more of its citizens - freelance journalists - have been abducted. Tape withheld Al-Jazeera...