Even though ten years have passed since the tragedy in Nasiriyah, Italy hasn’t forgotten. From Rome to Baghdad, the entire country mourned the victims of the Italian base attacked on 12 November 2003 by an explosives-packed truck that managed to break through a security barrier to the building that housed the Italian logistics team. That explosion cost the lives of 19 Italian nationals that included 12 Carabinieri, 5 army personnel and 2 civilians. And today’s commemoration, which involved the entire peninsula as well as the Italian embassy in Iraq, was dedicated to the memory of the fallen of the base that hosted the “Antica Babilonia” operation. Participants included Deputy Minister for Iraqi Foreign Affairs Al-Kharaillah – a Nasiriyah native himself – various mission heads and a group of Italians working in Iraq, as well as embassy staff and Carabinieri stationed there, two of whom survived the Nasiriyah attack.
In Iraq pain is added to pain on a daily basis, says Ambassador Marotti
During the ceremony, a monument was dedicated to the memory of the dead, inscribed with the names of the victims, which were also written in cuneiform. The ceremony was also opened with a prayer by the Apostolic Nuncio in Iraq, Mons. Giorgio Lingua. “People keep dying in Iraq, as pain is added to pain. Commemorating those killed 10 years ago may seem paradoxical, but anyone who suffers understands the meaning of the pain of others, and the need not to forget. Italy has not forgotten”, Ambassador Marotti underscored, recalling the devastating explosion that, 10 years ago, “marked the death of many Italian – military and civilian – and Iraqi citizens”.
Ten years after, Italo-Iraqi cooperation has reached unforeseeable levels
Ten years after, “cooperation between Italy and Iraq has reached levels unforeseeable in 2003, and continues to contribute to progress and stability. Since then hundreds of Italians have collaborated with Iraq in sectors ranging from archaeology and the conservation of the Iraqi cultural heritage to energy, transport, water management, environmental protection and irrigation”, the Italian diplomat explained, remarking how in Nasiriyah, the “memory of the Italians who worked in that province is still alive”.
A monument to memory
Before concluding the ceremony by reading the names, Ambassador Marotti stopped a moment in front of the monument and said, “we wish to remember those Italians in Baghdad 10 years on, and to do so we have created something that can symbolically link their names with the land where they died. For Italians, Iraq is a land crossed by the two great rivers that gave birth to civilisation. Iraq is the land where writing was invented, and with that a way to give form to the values, ideas and sentiments through which the meaning of humanity is expressed”.
Commemorations also in Afghanistan
The dead of Nasiriyah – who President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano today called victims “of unacceptable and cowardly cruelty” – were also commemorated beyond the confines of Iraq. In Afghanistan, in Kabul and Heart, Italian troops also recalled the massacre. “Today is a painful date that, on its 10th anniversary, recalls our fellow Italians who died on Iraqi soil, commented Chief of Staff of the international ISAF force General Giorgio Battisti during a brief ceremony in Kabul. The general added that “we must close ranks around the families of those who fell – wives, mothers, fathers, siblings, children – who have been deprived of the affection of those they held dear. Those persons are the true heroes, and their dignity is an example for us all”.
