Euro-Pansies Cave -- Again

Unbelievable. In March, Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian "journalist" for the Stalinist newspaper Il Manifesto, was freed unharmed by her captors in Iraq. As she was giving sympathetic coverage to the holy warriors in Fallujah, it is likely that her "kidnapping" was staged, to raise quick cash for the muj.

Under pressure from hysterical protesters, the Italian government quietly complied, sending Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari -- and a suitcase full of cash -- to collect Sgrena in Baghdad. Six million euros can buy a lot of VBIEDs, so the Italians kept the U.S. in the dark. As her vehicle sped toward a checkpoint on the way to the Baghdad airport, U.S. soldiers warned and then fired on the vehicle, regretfully killing Calipari.

Sgrena has milked the incident for anti-U.S. agitprop ever since. Meanwhile, a spike in car bombings has coincided with the infusion of cash, and 80,000 euros were found with Zarqawi's laptop last month.

Having learned absolutely nothing, it seems our Italian "allies" are at it again:

Afghanistan hit back at Italy yesterday for meddling in negotiations to free an aid worker kidnapped ten days ago, escalating a war of words between Rome and Kabul.

Clementina Cantoni, who works for CARE International, was dragged from her car in Kabul by armed gunmen in an incident which has prompted foreigners to tighten security measures.

"The Italian Embassy, without informing us, has set up some contacts with the alleged kidnappers. We believe these kind of contacts are not helpful for the negotiations and the safe release of Clementina,” Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.

“We were suggesting that the contacts should be made from one channel, from the Afghan side only,” Mashal said.

Fabrizio Quattrocchi is proof that Italians are made of sterner stuff. So where are they?

Oh, right.