negotiating with terrorists...slippery slope

Now it seeems Italy paid a ransom

Read the political double-speak below and shake your head in amazement

Italy paid terrorists $1.4m ransom
From Angela Doland in Rome
September 30, 2004

TWO Italian aid workers released from captivity in Iraq have described their abductors as religious men who treated them with respect, asked for forgiveness and gave them a farewell present.

Meanwhile, a day after the women flew home to Italy, politicians disagreed today about whether a ransom had been paid.

Despite an official government denial, a leading parliament member said he believed Italy had handed over about $US1 million ($1.4 million) to secure their freedom.

"In principle, one should not give in to ransoms. But this time, they had to," Gustavo Selva, the head of the Foreign Affairs committee of the Chamber of Deputies, said on France's RTL radio.

"The lives of the two girls was the most important thing."

Isnt that ALWAYS the crux????