Size of Sgrena Ransom May Indicate Plot to Siphon Money to Terrorists

A Turkish businessman kidnapped in Iraq got out for $500,000. Two Italian aid workers were reportedly $500,000 each as well.

Why was Giuliana Sgrena so expensive and who paid the $6 million ransom? What made this hideous communist harpy worth 12 times the going rate?

One theory is that the "abduction" was planned from the beginning. Il Manifesto gets an exclusive, Sgrena gets publicity to bolster a lackluster career, and her friends in the "Resistance" get a large infusion of cash. After all, Sgrena was not held incommunicado. The Timesonline reported in February that Sgrena was seen by a friend twice while in captivity, and "was well". She could easily have passed word to this person that the terrorists needed a few extra million for RPGs and beheading knives.

If Sgrena were actively involved in a plot to stage her own kidnapping then she would be guilty of more than just aiding and abetting terrorists. She would be criminally culpable in the death of Nicola Calipari, the Italian intelligence agent who died trying to save her. Perhaps this explains her hysterical accusations against US troops since her release. She could be trying to divert scrutiny away from the circumstances of her alleged abduction.