The Dead Italian Hostage

It is unsurprising that the Italians are unhappy with us after the death of one of their citizens in a failed rescue attempt by the SBS and the Nigerian Army. According to reports we received intelligence that the hostage takers were about to move the hostages and possibly kill them. A decision had therefore to be taken at great speed to mount a rescue mission and the Italians were only informed after the mission had begun. The Italians had been kept informed of what was going on over the months since the hostages were kidnapped but realistically who was going to expect the Italians to be involved in an operation in which their troops could be killed. After all the Italians were known to have paid the Taliban not to attack them in Afghanistan and who knows what deal they might have been trying to set up to free the Italian hostage in Nigeria. It is also quite clear from an operational point of view that the fewer people who knew about the mission beforehand the better for the prevention of a leak. Unfortunately the Italians do not have a properly elected government and it tells that their Prime Minister is not a politician who, if he were, would have been far more sensitive to the need to be supportive of an operation being undertaken in part on their behalf. An operation moreover that could not have been guaranteed to be successful. The response to the complaints of the Italian bigwigs by both Hammond and Hague has been both measured and diplomatic. We are obviously deeply sorry for the loss of life of the two hostages particularly as one of them was a Brit but as far as any response Cameron makes to the Italian President's demand for an explanation he should make it clear in the politest possible way that the loss of life is regrettable but hostage rescues often fail and it would not have been efficacious to have involved the Italians in the decision knowing their predilection for different methods. Perhaps he should also point out that the Italians have still to resolve their issues with India over the killing by Italian marines of two innocent Indian fisherman and that this trigger happy behaviour was also taken into account in deciding when was the appropriate moment to inform the Italian government of what was going on.