Italian hostage believes U.S. troops targeted her

[NiTz]

very good post ghost. Well, I saw the pictures of the car, that's ridiculous! Who does she think she's fooling here? 300 to 400 times my ass! I see only 2 bullet holes, one in the front windshield and one other that blew de left front tire. The car is intact! What a piece of media exageration we've got!


Cheers!


Nitz

 

[GO!!!]

Keep in mind -
journalists, like performing artists, base their careers upon the ability to get into, and remain in the public eye. This reporter did just that. She got into the papers, and will continue to be in the papers until this matter is resolved - months maybe. In the mean time, there will be talk show appearances, exclusive interviews and sympathetic shots of her in a hospital bed. As a journalist - shes made in the shade

 

[a_majoor]

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/004041.php

March 11, 2005
Italian Story Continues To Fall Apart

The AP reports that the Italian story of Giuliana Sgrena's release and later wounding at an American checkpoint, which also resulted in the death of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, continues to fall apart. Two Italian newspapers now say that the general in charge of the Sgrena operation did not inform the US that Calipari's mission was to free Sgrena, and one of them reports that General Mario Maroli didn't even know it himself:

    U.S. forces in Iraq were only partially informed about last week's Italian intelligence mission to release a hostage, which ended with a shooting on the road to Baghdad airport and the death of secret service agent Nicola Calipari, Italian newspapers said Friday. ...

    Both newspapers cited a report by Gen. Mario Marioli, an Italian who is the coalition forces' second-in-command. The report has been given to Rome prosecutors investigating the killing.

    According to the newspapers, Marioli informed U.S. officials that Calipari and the other Italian officer were there, but not that the mission was aimed at releasing Sgrena.

    The papers had conflicting versions over how much Marioli knew: Corriere said he knew the Calipari was working to have the hostage released, La Repubblica said he didn't.

Either way, the Italians clearly did not want the US to know that they had ongoing negotiations aimed at releasing Sgrena. Why? Perhaps the reports of a multi-million dollar ransom answers that question rather effectively. The US clearly would have objected to the negotiations, especially since putting that much money in the hands of Islamofascist terrorists would likely get more of our soldiers killed, as well as the Iraqis. (Could the rash of bombings this week have any connection to a sudden influx of cash to the terrorist network? Maybe, maybe not.) If the US went public with its complaint, the deal would have fallen apart and the Italians humiliated, and it looks like they decided to keep us in the dark instead.

Sgrena also changed her story, subtly but significantly today:

    In a statement released after the shooting, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said the vehicle was speeding and refused to stop. The statement also said a U.S. patrol tried to warn a driver with hand and arm signals, by flashing white lights and firing shots in front of the car into the engine block.

    In interviews published Friday, Sgrena said that no light was flashed at the vehicle and that the shots were not fired in front of the car.

    "It's not true that they shot into the engine," she told Corriere della Sera, adding that the shooting came "from the right and from behind."

That qualification changes the entire tenor of the story. Either one would have to believe that the checkpoint soldiers stopped the car and then shot it out -- from behind! -- or that the car never stopped at the checkpoint and traveled so fast that the soldiers could only catch up to it as it passed through. Think about the options for a moment. If a checkpoint successfully stops a suspicious vehicle, why would soldiers walk around behind it to open fire? They'd risk hitting their unit at the front of the car. Tactically, little gain would come from getting behind a potential VBIED in open space when one could get at least some partial protection from a potential explosion by the checkpoint barricades.

This story gets fishier and fishier on every retelling. First we have a "rain of bullets" and Sgrena scooping them up by the handful off the seats, and then we see a car with two bullet holes in it, one of which went through the right front tire. Next the Italians tell us that the US had full operational knowledge of the mission when it turns out their own military leadership was possibly kept in the dark. Now Sgrena tells us that the Americans fired from behind the vehicle when they stopped at the checkpoint, the only position where US soldiers would risk hitting their own troops.

I call "shenanigans" on the Italians.
Posted by Captain Ed at March 11, 2005 07:57 AM

 

[tomahawk6]

http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050311-091131-6892r.htm

The payment of ransom is the true scandal.

 

[paracowboy]

Italian hostage believes U.S. troops targeted her

I wish everyone's ego were this healthy.  :

 

[Jarnhamar]

Why is paying terrorists money so they release hostages a stupid idea??

It's not like everyone with a pair of ears is going to hear about it.
It's not like everyone with half a brain is going to say "hey if i want money all i need to do is kidnap a westerner"
It's not like the money given to the terrorists are going to buy weapons and bombs that kill allied soldiers.

Now Sgrena tells us that the Americans fired from behind the vehicle when they stopped at the checkpoint, the only position where US soldiers would risk hitting their own troops.

I call "shenanigans" on the Italians.

I can think of a few other choice words for this Sgrena clown and the "wisdom" behind giving terrorists money in exchange for prisoners...

We should change the topic of this thread to  Italian hostage should pull her head out of her ass

 

[Torlyn]

Why is paying terrorists money so they release hostages a stupid idea??

It's not like everyone with a pair of ears is going to hear about it.
It's not like everyone with half a brain is going to say "hey if i want money all i need to do is kidnap a westerner"

Good call, Ghost778.  I mean, the West has been doing the "we don't negotiate with terrorists" and people still take hostages... However, I'll bet those American soldiers wish they'd targeted a bit better, if they were trying to hit her... 

T

 

[Sgt.Fitzpatrick]

She problemly didn't stop at the check points and if you don't for those check points the U.S. troops will
shoot you and it has happen before.

 

[Burrows]

I think I actually agree with you this time.  It seems to be a dishonour to the Italian Secret Service agent who died rescuing her that she is using the incident as a pulpit to sell newpapers from.

Thats enough said right there.  The only thing we should be seeing in the paper is a memorial to the Secret Service Agent who died for her.

 

[tomahawk6]

Good call, Ghost778.   I mean, the West has been doing the "we don't negotiate with terrorists" and people still take hostages... However, I'll bet those American soldiers wish they'd targeted a bit better, if they were trying to hit her...  

T

The $6-10 million that was paid will fund the terrorist campaign against the US. More US and Iraqi personnel may well die because this ransom was paid.

 

[NiTz]

I don't think that it's actually a good idea to give money to terrorists... but I also think they'll still take hostages if governments don't negociate. By any way, these situations are very touchy and I would'nt like to have to take a decision regarding an hostage's life... pretty much horrible

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I guess even her own don't care for her.

Ex-hostage told to mind her language
By Phil Stewart in Rome

March 12, 2005

From: Reuters



ITALY'S justice minister has urged former hostage Giuliana Sgrena to stop making "careless" accusations after being shot by US forces in Baghdad, saying she had already caused enough grief.

Ms Sgrena has repeatedly suggested US soldiers shot her on purpose and said today she had little faith in a joint investigation by Italy and the United States into the "friendly fire" incident.

"She has created enormous problems for the Government and also caused grief that perhaps was better avoided," Justice Minister Roberto Castelli told reporters in Bologna. Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was shot dead by US forces as he shielded the newly freed hostage while taking her to the airport.

Ms Sgrena herself said in interviews this week that had she been more cautious in Baghdad, she perhaps would not have been kidnapped in the first place.

The award-winning war reporter, who works for Communist newspaper Il Manifesto, was abducted as she conducted interviews outside Baghdad University and held for a month.

Many Italians have been irked by her descriptions of her kidnappers. She said they were not killers and that she might have over-dramatised her videotaped appeal from captivity for Italy to withdraw its 3000 troops from Iraq.

She sobbed in the video and begged her family and the Government to do something to save her life.

"Sgrena, I think, should perhaps be more careful. She has said a load of nonsense, speaks somewhat carelessly and makes careless comments," Mr Castelli said.
The US army says Ms Sgrena's vehicle sped toward the checkpoint outside the airport and ignored warning shots, an explanation rejected by Rome and the car's driver.

Italy's centre-right government, while rejecting any hint that the shooting was intentional, has until now largely refrained from directly criticising Ms Sgrena.

She told the ANSA news agency she did not expect official inquiries into the incident to produce results "because we know how they end up".

She also complained of being treated unfairly.

"I feel like I'm being accused for being kidnapped and then saved," Ms Sgrena said, speaking from a Rome hospital, where she is undergoing treatment for her injuries.

 

[Blue Max]

A little more co-operation between the Italians and the Americans befor hand, probably would have gone a long way in missing this tragedy.

Italy hits back over agent's death
U.S. reports says soldiers were not told of movements​

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/02/italy.report/index.html

Monday, May 2, 2005 Posted: 7:33 PM EDT (2333 GMT) ​

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Disputing the conclusions of a U.S. report into the fatal shooting of an Italian intelligence agent, an Italian investigation released late Monday found that stress and inexperience among U.S. soldiers played a role in the shooting.

Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, 50, was killed in the March 4 incident shortly after he secured the release of journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had been held by insurgents in Iraq.

U.S. soldiers opened fire on their vehicle as it approached a checkpoint en route to Baghdad International Airport.

The Italian report said there were coordination problems among officials in Iraq, but U.S. officials had been told about the plans to rescue Sgrena -- something the U.S. military has denied.

The United States released its report Saturday, with the military saying no disciplinary action should be taken against any soldier involved in the shooting. (Full story)

The Italian report also found no evidence the killing was deliberate.

But the Italian report also said no clear warning signs were given to the vehicle -- that flashing warning lights came at the same time troops began firing.

In addition, the report took issue with the American report about the speed the vehicle was traveling, saying it was 20 to 30 miles per hour (30 to 50 km/h) compared with the U.S. military's claim it was around 50 mph (80 km/h).

Italy has been a staunch U.S. ally in Iraq and provided more than 3,000 troops for missions there but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has faced increasing calls to bring the troops home in the wake of the U.S. report clearing its troops.

Berlusconi is to address both houses of the Parliament on Thursday about the Italian report.

A classified version of the U.S. report appeared on the Internet due to a computer error shortly after its Saturday release, officials said.

CNN is reporting some details from that version, but none that would risk the security or privacy of U.S. and Italian personnel, including their names.

The U.S. report said that Baghdad was then under a wave of insurgent attacks that reached into the thousands.

It also concluded that word that agent Calipari, 50, was trying to spirit Sgrena out of Iraq was never passed to U.S. forces.

The U.S. version said the troops who shot and killed Calipari and wounded Sgrena at a checkpoint were operating within their rules and would not face disciplinary action.

The U.S. report painted a grim picture of insurgency in the Iraqi capital in the months leading up to the March incident, including some details not made public elsewhere.

It said that from November 2004 to March 2005 there were more than 3,000 attacks in Baghdad, with over 2,000 of those attacks directed against U.S. forces.

The report detailed the types of attacks along the airport road that troops had previously encountered, such as explosives set on timers, explosives placed along guard rails or along median strips, and even explosives in animal carcasses.

The U.S. report was emphatic that no U.S. military personnel were aware ahead of time that the Italians were traveling on the airport road that night.

But the report described an exchange between a U.S. Army captain and an Italian general, to whom he had been assigned as an aide.

It says the Italian general suspected Sgrena was on her way to the airport that night, but told him, "It is best if no one knows." The captain took that to be a direct order, the report says.

U.S. investigators said it was difficult to reconstruct the March 4 incident because the scene was not preserved, but they believe the Italians were traveling about 50 mph (80 km/h) when the U.S. troops flashed lights and signaled them to stop before 11 shots were fired.

The checkpoint was on a curved area in the road, and that may have been a contributing factor, the U.S. report said.

Calipari was hit in the head by a bullet as he attempted to shield Sgrena. The reporter was wounded in the shoulder, and two others in the car were also wounded.

Soldiers tried to render medical assistance to Calipari at the scene but he died within a few minutes, the classified report says.

The young soldier who fired the shots apparently became so upset he was relieved of his post so he could "collect himself," the report said.

One indicator of how high tensions may have been running is that soldiers manning that checkpoint had specifically been told to be on the watch for suicide car bombers, one in a black car and one in a white car.

The soldiers had already turned around 15 to 30 cars at the checkpoint that night, so when this car approached they believed it was a threat, according to the report.

-- CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report