AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Jeff Guntzel. He’s a staff reporter for the National Catholic Reporter. He has been to Iraq nine times since 1998. For years, he was a co-coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness. He has known Simona Torretta for some five years. He joins us in our New York studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!

JEFF GUNTZEL: Thanks.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to be with you, Jeff. Can you describe Simona Torretta and the work that they do, and your response to the release of both the two Italian aid workers as well as their two Iraqi colleagues?

JEFF GUNTZEL: Sure. Well, the response was elation. We had seen the headlines, and then once we saw the pictures and them smiling, it was — that was when it became real. So, it was incredible joy, a lot of phone calls going back and forth to people that I had worked in the last few years who also knew Simona, the other Simona, Raad and Mahnouz. Incredible joy. As far as — I know Simona Torretta, that smile that you saw was kind of the smile you always saw on her face. I spent time with her working with her before the war. Bridge to Baghdad, of course, opposed the sanctions, and very clearly, and worked inside Iraq doing humanitarian work which is how Voices in the Wilderness got to know them and became very dependent on them because they were in country all the time. And then during the war, she went back, very courageous. And after the war, she stayed, running sometimes kind of dangerous humanitarian missions into Fallujah when it was sealed off and into Najaf. The program was working with Sadr City. Just very, very brave work, but also very importantly always an advocate, which is rare in that community, the N.G.O. community.

AMY GOODMAN: Were you surprised that Simona Torretta said she would like to return to Baghdad?

JEFF GUNTZEL: No, I wasn’t surprised at all. I think anybody who spent a lot of time there is constantly nagged by that feeling. She is different in that she goes back. So, I’m not surprised. I mean, she spent the better part of a decade going back and forth to Iraq. And you know, the relationships you build there stay pretty close to your heart. You know, I can speak for myself, you feel a constant nagging when you are not there anytime you read the headlines. So I’m not surprised at all. In fact, I’m encouraged by it.

AMY GOODMAN: What about the taking of these hostages, and the numbers of hostages taken, still being held, those whose names we know and those whose names we don’t know?

JEFF GUNTZEL: Well, I think — I mean, the thing I’d like to say is, you know, you saw something very interesting and typical happen just after they were released — or just after they were kidnapped, I’m sorry. Initially, you often saw their names next to the names of their Iraqi colleagues. The two of them who were kidnapped, Raad and Mahnouz. But as you kind of followed the story, which I did every 20 minutes for three weeks, those names started dropping away and it became the two Italians, it became the Simonas, and the Iraqis just kind of disappeared. And you wondered had the Italians not been kidnapped with them, would the story have disappeared altogether. And that certainly has happened with kidnappings of Iraqis just going about more ordinary lives inside Iraq. I was there just after the invasion, about two weeks after the invasion. Already, you were starting to hear rumors about the abductions of young girls. That was the first thing you started to hear. Then the children of the rich, older boys, maybe 15 to 17 were being kidnapped and sold back to their families for a ransom. And it was difficult to tell just then if it was rumor or fact. But then the news stories started coming out. There have not been many of them. You can find a handful talking about this underground economy of kidnapping. So, I think the important thing when we talk about these kidnappings and all of the internationals that are held, the internationals that have been killed, is to remember all of the Iraqis who are daily faced with this threat. It’s kept some of them out of schools, it’s kept a lot of people off the street. I have a friend who is working for the American Friend Service Committee, has been in Baghdad for the better part of the last year-and-a-half. In one week four months ago, their landlord knew of, had some connection to, seven Iraqis who were kidnapped. And as I recall it, all but one of them were returned alive. But one was actually killed. Of course, these do not make the headlines. It’s very important to keep that in mind.

AMY GOODMAN: One other thing that is not discussed very much in the media is what A Bridge to Baghdad does and their position on the occupation, not to mention the invasion.

JEFF GUNTZEL: Sure. What they do is — I mean, specifically recently, they have been involved in water projects trying to rehabilitate water systems in small towns in Iraq. They have been involved in helping schools. They have often been involved in work with the schools for as long as I have known of them and have been affiliated with them at all. They have worked with the U.N. and in partnership with the U.N. a lot. So, they have really been a humanitarian organization, but inside Italy, they’re an anti-war organization. They’re pacifists. They were against the war, they were against the sanctions, and they’ve been kind of the leading voice there, sending that message. So it was ironic last night to watch — see the pictures. You could see them smiling, and you can see Berlusconi kind of popping up behind them, kind of trying to get in the picture, but they were paying him no mind. There’s good reason for that.

AMY GOODMAN: Jeff Guntzel, I want to thank you very much for being with us. Reporter with the National Catholic Reporter. He has been to Iraq nine times, knew one of the Simonas, Simona Torretta, very well, for five years. This is Democracy Now!