Italian Pilots Face Trial For Refusing To Fly In Iraq

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-03/07/article06.shtml

ROME, March 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Four Italian pilots, who served among the Italian contingent in occupied Iraq, face a court martial for defying military orders by refusing to carry out assigned missions in the war-torn country.

The airmen, who joined the Italian contingent in southern Iraq, had only flown one mission last year and were then reluctant to go to the air again, an Italian military official told Reuters news agency reported.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the officers returned home in December 2003 to stand a court martial. Italian press said that the airmen were afraid that their planes might be targeted by the relentless Iraqi resistance operations. They were panicked by the rising number of U.S. helicopters shot down by resistance fire.

An Italian General, however, denied in statements carried by the official news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) that the officers were stricken by fear.
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