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By Paolo Conti

September 9, 2005

Original Article (English)

Andrea Camilleri: Some 'Controversial Ideas' On 9/11

ROME: The creater of television's Inspector Montalbano looks a little weary. Celebrating his 80th birthday may have tired him out. However, Andrea Camilleri has very clear, controversial ideas about the Twin Towers attack. "There's no point in saying again that 9/11 was an obscene act against humanity. But I have to say just as frankly that I thought the reaction was equally obscene. In other words, people who had nothing to do with 9/11 were attacked, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq, resulting in a much greater number of civilian deaths than there were at the World Trade Center."

[Editor's Note: Andrea Camilleri is one of Italy's most well-known and successful writers and directors. He first won fame with the character of Salvo Montalbano, a police inspector in Italy.]

According to Mr. Camilleri, the overall strategy of the Bush Administration is in question. "Perhaps the fight against terrorism, which must be fought, should have been carried out with more rationality. Not on a wave of emotional reaction."

Mr. Camilleri talks about Iraq and September 11 while seated at the Vigata Bar next to his home in Porto Empedocle, Sicily – "It's my office", he says, "Mario the waiter acts as my secretary" – as he answers the questions of Fernando Ferrigno from RAI television's TG3 news. The conversation was recorded last Saturday, on Mr. Camilleri's 80th birthday. Yesterday evening, the TG3 Primo Piano program on September 11 attacks, which was broadcast at 11:30 pm, showed only a very brief summary. The rest of the interview will be shown on the RAI Tre channel during the week. It may even go out this evening, depending on other news developments.

TG3 Primo Piano offered a further reflection on war. This time it was a personal recollection. "We were driving through Bolsena. I don't drive so I asked my wife to stop for a moment. I got out and went to the huge Anglo-American war cemetery. I was reading the gravestones and there was something I didn't understand. I got back in the car. It was only later that evening that I realized the absurdity of what I had seen. It wasn't the dead men's children that had erected the gravestones. It was their parents."

The remainder of the conversation includes more thoughts on war. "I remember the Second World War very well. I was young and I can say that I still have it before my eyes. I remember very well what I saw and what I experienced." This thought seemed to lead him to an optimistic conclusion. "I'm 80 now, and at least I can say that here in Europe there won't be another Germany to declare war on us; there won't be another France to declare war on us ... That's certain, and it's a big step forward for us."

Mr. Camilleri reiterates his faith in pacifism and pays tribute to John Paul II. "Peace marches? I agree with them. I can appreciate all the movements that strive for peace. I am not a believer but I heard how many times John Paul II appealed to the world for peace. But they didn't listen to him." At the end of the conversation, the writer refers to the horrors of recent landings and deaths at sea off his own Sicily. "When we see events like these, we should all feel that we are migrants."