What we are about to tell you is the story of Giovanni Lo Porto, known as Giancarlo, the Sicilian cooperator kidnapped by Al Qaeda militiamen in January 2012 and accidentally killed by an American drone on January 15 2015 on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Giovanni was born in Palermo in 23 1977 XNUMX in a district not difficult, but very difficult; the Sperone district in the early eighties is a sort of Sicilian Bronx where the micro and the macrocriminalità dictate law, stories of drugs and the mafia are the order of the day, many council houses are occupied illegally, few young people are able to follow profitably do you study.
It is no exception that the Lo Porto family manages to go on with so many difficulties, but Giovanni stands out especially at school, comes from all the teachers defined as a model pupil; in 1995 after having graduated from high school he decided to leave leaving a family situation where the first quarrels with the justice of one of his brothers are already on the horizon; Giovanni's dream is to help others, the populations living in the world the suffering of war, because after all he too lived in an undeclared war zone, that tormented Palermo of the 80-90 years from which many have had to flee looking for a better world.
But Giovanni never forgot his family, even when he was in London at London Metropolitan University, and he maintained himself by doing odd jobs, when he could gather something he sent her home to help her mother; in British land he obtained two degrees and specialized in Japan in "Conflicts and Peace".
He began to collaborate with the NGOs after having filmed in various countries of the world and learned languages and dialects, the first jobs are in Pakistan, then in Haiti, an island battered by the earthquake, then again in Pakistan in the province of Punjab to help local populations to rebuild their homes destroyed by a flood.
John did what the politician says he wants to do, and he does not, help the poor populations in their territories teaching them techniques of water purification, modern farming techniques, rudiments and other things all funded by the NGOs Who knew him personally outlines the profile of an exceptional person, "professionally and humanly", tells the press Margherita Romanelli the coordinator for one of the organizations for which Giovanni has worked.
Suddenly that damn phone call, the Farnesina called her brother to communicate the news of the kidnapping of the Sicilian cooperator and expressly asked to maintain the most rigorous press silence to facilitate the work of intelligence; Edoardo Pucci, former head of the crisis unit of the Farnesina every day reassured the family by providing the latest news and reassuring about the presence of international mediators who were carrying out the negotiations for the release.
The area was impervious, a mountain range on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan where a secret CIA war is conducted with the help of drones trying to flush out the most dangerous criminals in the service of Al Qaeda who take refuge in these inaccessible places and self-financing with kidnappings.
Then the news became public knowledge, President Mattarella spoke in a deserted Chamber and the press gave very fragmentary news; in fact the Italian secret services knew other details that at that time could not communicate to anyone, Lo Porto had been sequestered together with Warren Weinstein an American entrepreneur director in Pakistan of JE Austin Associates, a company that deals with improving the competitiveness of companies in disadvantaged areas of the world financed with several million dollars by the American government.
Some men, eight in the reconstruction provided by the CIA, would have taken it directly from their home according to the common practice of subsequently asking for the ransom to the countries of belonging or directly to the NGOs
The other kidnapped was Bernd Muehlenbeck who worked at the same organization as Lo Porto, the German Welt Hunger Hilfe; Muehlenbeck, was lucky having been released in Afghanistan later; the fate of the other two kidnapped was different but to get to this point we must necessarily tell who the kidnappers were, a relevant detail that has contributed greatly to the fate of the two kidnapped.
According to the CIA men deployed in the area, the kidnappers are Adam Gadahn and Ahmed Farouq absolutely not just any kidnappers but Al Qaeda bigwigs; the first Adam Gadahn is actually called Adam Pearlman born on September 1 1978 in Oregon, then an American citizen who converted to Islam in a California mosque and then fled from the United States to support the Islamic cause, which became Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man to the point of being considered by the American secret services the inspirer of many threatening videos of the Al Qaeda leader, videos conceived by himself and in which he often appears on video or as a speaker and certainly in the role of translator.
For this reason the FBI men placed him at the top of a list accusing him of conspiracy, terrorism and betrayal, for some time they hunted him down.
Little or nothing is known of the other kidnapper, Ahmed Farouq, defined by the president of the United States as an American citizen in league with Islamic terrorism while the same militants of Al Qaeda in an official note reported that the real name of the terrorist was Raja Muhammad Salman and that his origins were Indian and not American; in this party game there are hidden strategies that are not comprehensible to the layman, probably the will of Al Qaeda is to hide the collaboration of the many American citizens who have gone to their side and made to work under the radar to avoid arousing suspicion in the American authorities.
Obama was categorical, these traitors to America had to be tracked down by any means and endorsed the “Drone War” all over the world, a war that killed several terrorists but murdered even more defenseless civilians; American photojournalist Luke Somers captured by Al Qaeda in Yemen was killed by mistake in an attack launched at dawn by a US drone. Amnesty International's stance is tough in the words of its spokesman in Pakistan: “Thanks to the secrecy surrounding the drone program, the US administration has a license to kill without judicial control and in violation of basic human rights standards. The time has come for the US to disclose the program and call those responsible for the violations of these rights to answer ”.
War without rules, without controls and without guilty, therefore, a silent war that produced hundreds of deaths in the tribal war in Pakistan, one of these cases really leaves you speechless; we were in July 2012, the sun was falling on the horizon, Mamana Bibi 68 years, had just finished collecting vegetables from their land, the dinner had just been served when we heard a whistle followed by an explosion in which the woman is she died together with her entire family, according to Amnesty International. It was a matter of farmers and not of terrorists as indicated in official American reports.
According to a treaty of the British NGO Reprieve the relationship between killed terrorists and unarmed civilians murdered in the unmanned drone attacks is one in twenty-eight, numbers that if confirmed should make people think.
During one of these attacks together with the two Al Qaeda terrorists Ahmed Farouq and Adam Gadahn the Weinstein and Lo Porto cooperators were killed, the news was not immediately given, a general silence has enveloped the story awaiting objective confirmation until the The White House on April 23 officially communicated the news and aroused the wrath of the wife of the murdered American, Elaine, who defined the work of the American mediators responsible for the negotiation of the "inconsistent and disappointing" release.
Even the Lo Porto family has reported profound regret for the outlines of this affair, the words of President Obama's excuse were not enough: "There are no words to adequately express our sorrow for this terrible tragedy"Obama said from Washington."On behalf of the United States, I apologize to all the families involved. As president and commander in chief, I take responsibility for all counter-terrorism operations, including this one".
And actually the American president was speaking, the family was compensated, without any admission of guilt with a donation that aroused the wrath of the Italian family.
"We were offered one million two hundred thousand dollars, not as compensation but as a donation as a favor, in addition to the injury the joke of even having to pay taxes".
It is the first time that the United States has proposed an agreement with the family of a victim following a "signature strike", A turning point in this sense.
Silence on the official website of the German NGO Welt Hunger Hilfe, with the well-known Teutonic humanity there is no trace of the work of Giovanni Lo Porto employed by the organization financed by public and private bodies all over the world with a budget of just under three hundred million euros a year with 409 projects approved in 39 poor countries around the world, a corollary of this profound humanity is not a word in favor of the Sicilian killed murderer.
Recently the plot twist: one of the youngsters of Giovani Lo Porto was arrested by the police following an operation against Cosa Nostra, it turned out that he was the cashier of the Brancaccio family. But this has nothing to do with Giovanni Lo Porto, he has been away from home for twenty years, his life is unbelievable and for this reason his memory must be kept in high esteem. For many it is already a hero.
(photo: web / US DoD / US Air Force)
