Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini appealed Thursday for the release of an Italian journalist being held hostage in Iraq, hours before a kidnappers' ultimatum was due to expire. In an interview published by the Rome-based daily Il Messaggero, Frattini described Enzo Baldoni as "a pacifist" who has been highly critical of both the war in Iraq and the Italian government's support of the United States. "He is not someone who may be suspected of being a spy or of seeking to damage Iraq's insurgents," Frattini said, adding that his murder would only damage their cause. Baldoni, 56, disappeared from Najaf last week and reappeared in a video broadcast on Tuesday by the Qatar-based satellite television network al-Jazeera. In a statement accompanying the video, a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said it was holding the journalist and hinted that he would be killed unless Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi issued a statement "within the next 48 hours" saying he would withdraw Italian troops from Iraq. With the ultimatum due to expire in the afternoon, Frattini confirmed Thursday that his government would not give in to blackmail. Frattini also told Il Messaggero that Italy's troops were in Iraq at the request of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. "We are there because the Allawi government wants us. We are there to help the Iraqi people," Frattini said.
