From Bloomberg News:
Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian reporter wounded on March 4 by U.S.-led forces after she was freed from her captors in Iraq, said the military may have targeted her deliberately.
Question 1: why?
Sgrena, 57, who had been held for one month in captivity, was injured and Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed when coalition forces fired on their vehicle as it approached a Baghdad checkpoint.
Writing in Italy’s Il Manifesto newspaper, Sgrena said her kidnappers had warned her to pay attention once she was freed, because the U.S. wanted her dead. At the time, she judged their words to be “superfluous and ideological,’’ she wrote.
“They told me to beware because ‘there are Americans who don’t want you to return’,’’ Sgrena wrote in the article.
Question 2: why? Why wouldn’t the US military want Sgrena to return? And why would the people who kidnapped her and videotaped her begging for her life care enough about her to warn her about a possible US assassination attempt (in the unlikely event they even knew about one)? In fact, one would expect such “ideological” kindappers to see a US military assassination of Sgrena as a propaganda victory for their cause, no….? So again: why?
When she was shot, her captors’ advice “risked acquiring the taste of the most bitter of truths,’’ she wrote.
U.S. President George W. Bush telephoned Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on March 4 to express regret about the incident and offer cooperation in an investigation, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini yesterday to reiterate the U.S. will do all it can to uncover what happened, la Repubblica reported today […]
[…] The shooting was “without reason,’’ Sgrena said yesterday from a Rome military hospital, where she is being treated for her wounds, reported daily Corriere della Sera. “I cannot find any justification for it,’’ she was cited as saying.
Question 3: Care to venture a guess? Who is Giuliana Sgrena that the US would care enough to attempt to assassinate her? A foreign reporter with a well-know leftwing political agenda that would color any story she told anyway? Why is she important? Why would she be targeted? Why?
Sgrena’s convoy approached the checkpoint at a “high rate of speed,’’ according to Marine Sergeant Salju Thomas on March 4 by telephone from Baghdad. “t’s an extremely threatening act,’’ Thomas said. “That’s the exact same thing that car bombers do.’’
Sgrena denied that the convoy carrying her, Calipari and two other Italian agents was speeding when it crossed the checkpoint, and said the shots were from elsewhere, Italy’s Ansa news agency said yesterday.
“It wasn’t a checkpoint, but a patrol that started shooting after pointing some lights in our direction,’’ the Ansa news agency cited Sgrena as telling prosecutors […].
Question 4: why?
[…] The U.S. wasn’t informed of the last phases of Italy’s negotiations with the kidnappers, as it opposed any ransom being paid for Sgrena, said Il Sole/24 Ore. A ransom of “several million dollars’’ was paid in another Arab country at about the time of her release, the daily newspaper said today.
If the US was NOT aware of the ransom being paid—and the argument for the US having “targeted” Sgrena was that it disapproved of the the negotiating methods of its Italian allies—doesn’t this revelation of US ignorance put to rest any remaining suggestion of motive (other than “Bush is Hitler”)—even for the most dedicated of anti-American conspiracy theorists?
So then: why?
The Italian government said it was the U.S. military that fired on the vehicle. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the incident but wouldn’t say who fired the shots.
The shooting was “a grave accident that someone will have to take responsibility for,’’ Italy’s Prime Minister Berlusconi said at a press conference held in Rome.
The reporter’s wounds aren’t life threatening, according to Il Manifesto, the Communist newspaper for which she writes.
Sgrena, an opponent of the war in Iraq, was held hostage by five or six “very religious’’ people, including a woman, she told prosecutors in Rome, reported Corriere. They spoke to her in Arabic, French, and broken English, she wrote in Il Manifesto.
Well, most “very religious” people I know aren’t big on kidnappings and ransom demands, but, y’know, if you say so, Sgrena…
Again, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what happened. But until someone can tell me WHY the US would target Sgrena—and how they knew where she’d be in time to plan an orchestrated “hit”—I’m going to side with the soldiers on the ground.
(yesterday’s post here)
****
update: LGF has pictures and video of the car. The first thing you notice?—the windshield is still intact. Charles points out that a car supposedly “riddled with bullets” is likely to have a broken windshield.
Unless of course the soldiers were firing at the engine block (as they reported), or the car was moving quickly, and the soldiers were forced to fire at its flanks and rear as it sped past…
(h/t Stephen_M, in the comments)
****
update 2: Evidently, the AP report used footage of a different car entirely. Which makes me wonder if these news services weren’t simply making shit up to fit their stories for all those years before blogs took to scrutinizing them so closely.
The best arguement (as far as I’m concerned) that the event was NOT an assassination attempt orchestrated by US Special Operators is the fact that she lived. Had our Spec Ops wanted her dead and had the intelligence to know where she’d be and when she’d be there.. then she wouldnt be here now… Thats good enough for me…
Question 5: Why…
is she still alive if the US military wanted her dead? See if there is a problem in this logic:
1) The US Military is capable of killing anyone they want to when they are in plain sight that close to US soldiers.
2) Sgrena is still alive.
3) The US Military did not want to kill Sgrena.
Let us stop with conspiracy theories. Let us go with human nature. The soldiers clearly didn’t know who it was, saw a threat that did not react to warnings was acting as suicide car bombers do and they fired up upon it.
The driver either wasn’t aware of the checkpoint or didn’t realize what the warnings were OR they thought they were being shot at by some crazy person. He sped up to get through it.
That is my theory. And it makes sense.
I am sick of everyone making it a us against them thing. Sick. Sick. Sick of it.
Although I prefer your ruminations regarding various bunkers and the ubiquitous GAYCOCK from hell, I appreciated the prosecutorial fisking you’ve offered the story.
When did the left lose that perspective thingie??
Chomsky is a monkey puppet.
Righteous work, Jeff. Truly outstanding post.
Why didn’t they hit her in the head instead of the shoulder?
I think they said they fired at the engine block to stop the car. They probably didn’t intend to hit anyone.
Proof positive that this is a non-story: Our local liberal rag buried it at the bottom of an inside pages along with the truss ads. If there were a shred of anything to it, it would have been on Page One above the fold. The front page was a local story, so there you have it.
Too bad an Italian cop was killed, but he should have told the driver to stop and find out what was going on instead of plowing ahead across a check point.
I guess the infobabe was still working under the old BEJ (Before Eason Jordan) rules when the party line was that the military is deliberately targeting “journalists.”
Can’t fault her though. It’s hard to stay on top of events when you’re holed up with very religious people for a whole month.
The smell alone probably killed off some brain cells.
You cannot kill that which never existed.
{Oddly enough, that was the exact message I got from the last fortune cookie I ate.}
Stockholm Syndrome, anyone? I think that, by now, everyone in that country knows not to speed toward a checkpoint–which are obvious due to the numerous armed soldiers, lights and posted signs in a number of languages. Nobody wanted her dead, or we’d be reading her obituary.
You don’t need Stockholm Syndrome to explain why a communist would lie.
Seeing the flashing lights ahead Sgrena hisses, “Bastardi Americani. Non si arresti per questi cowboys. Più velocemente. Avanti!” Later she faces the corporal as he assists her from the wreckage, “Assassin!”
If we wanted her dead, why not use a missile from a Predator drone or from an attack helicopter?
It would a) seem even more accidental (fired from a thousand yards rather than from 50, much easier to confuse targets) and would be much more lethal (many pounds of high explosives rather than a 5.56 round).
Sounds to me like her driver got stupid. Unfortunate, but still an accident.
Team America – Redux
(Episode 1: Assassins)
Lisa: Joe.. Target is coming in range. Target is female journalist in the rear left passenger seat.Target has just passed the Marine roadblock and is entering the kill zone from the north. I estimate 50 mph.. Rangefinder shows 525 meters.. Zero crosswind.. Hey, that was some luck that Gary was able to disguise himself as an Arab and penetrate Islamic Jihad to find out exactly when that putana Giuliana Sgreno from Il Manifesto would be released, when she’d be released and that she’d be speeding toward the airport in the left rear passenger seat of a black Mercedes, huh ?
Joe: Roger that Lis.. I’ve got her.. Hell ya that was some luck..He’s a hell of an actor.. Hey , lets make this interesting. I’ll bet you fifty bucks that I can take out not only Sgrena, but that dude right next to her.. The passenger in the right rear passenger seat.. See him? One round, two kills.. How ‘bout it ?
Lisa: Negative.. No bet.. Christ, at this range a sixth grader with a Red Rider BB gun could take the whole bunch of them out.. with one BB.. Give yourself a handicap for Chrissakes..youre a professional.
Joe: Ok..ok..How ‘bout this? I’ll take my shot Blindfolded and I’ll ricochet my round off of their engine block and still get both passengers in the rear.. :: ties OD Bandage/Headband over eyes::
Lisa: Youre on hotshot..! Break a leg.. Your target’s now at 257 meters ..
Joe: Roger that.. Taking a shot..
::BAAMMMmmmmmm::
Lisa: THATS A HIT! Oooohhh.. so close and yet so far.. he-he-heh.. You got the guy in right rear..solid chest shot.. but you just winged the chick.. Pay up sucker..
Joe: Wait, wait.. Double or nothing for the two dudes in the front..
Lisa: Negativo.. You owe me fifty large.. pay up
Joe::digs out a Twenty, 2 Tens & 2 Fives and slaps them in Lisa’s hand::
Lisa: A pleasure doing business with you.. He-He-Heh
Joe:
Lisa: Oh, what now? You gonna pout cuz I won?? Suck it up and lets get back to the Green Zone before the party breaks up and the beer’s all gone..
Joe: Ya..no shit.. let’s pack it up and di di..
America, FUCK YA !
Comin’ again to save the motherfuckin Day! Ya!
Commie Journalist your game is through
Cuz now you have to answer to..
America, FUCK YA!
Tune in next time when we hear :
Lisa: Well thats just great.. All thats left is Coors.. I dont want Coors.. I want PABST BLUE RIBBON!
Joe: Settle down Lis.. This is war.. sacrifices have to be made.
Of course the targeting was deliberate
… the fact that she happened to be the target has nothing to do with whether or not the targeting was ‘deliberate’.
Turing word “indeed”
heh
It is curious to me how quick some people are to take the word of a communist journalist at face value while immediately thinking the worst of the soldiers on the ground.
Go to lgf for a picture of the car. “400 bullets” and the windshield is intact. Damned car looks to have been in a supermarket parking fenderbender.
There are so many things about her version of events that just don’t make sense, and the biggest one is what you’ve all been pointing out: if the U.S. wanted this inconsequential bimbo dead, she’d be dead. End of story.
Unless the left is now maintaining that we aren’t any good at killing people. In which case, where are they going with that?
It seems that the U.S. Military can now join the President and the L.A. Coroner’s office during the OJ trial: simultaneosly evil geniuses and totally inept.
(Turing: Surface.)
Even if they were firing at the engine block, some of the bullets would have strayed—or ricocheted—into the windshield. If they were firing from behind it, the rear window would be damaged; it appears intact.
More importantly, if they were firing from behind, Sgrena would have caught the bullet that hit the one casualty.
I’ll buy that someone shot at the car—but it wasn’t “sprayed”, there was no way hundreds of rounds were fired, and I’d be carefully looking for powder burns and residue inside the car.
I think this is s simple, cultural misunderstanding: The marines at the checkpoint saw a car doing 50 mph and thought “speeding vehicle,” while the folks in the car thought 50 mph was driving slowly and carefully. They were Italians after all.
And why was it so important that she had to be out of the country that minute? If I had been released after a month and it’s 9 p.m. at night and someone suggests driving to the airport along a road repeatedly attacked, first thing I’d want to do is check into a hotel, take a shower, eat and drink heavily and get some sleep. Take a morning flight instead.
If Berlousconi wants someone to take responsibility, start with the “journalist.”
Even by MSM standards, the quality of the reporting on this story has been appalling. Where, exactly, did this incident take place? If we knew that we’d know whether or not they were approaching a checkpoint, and whether or not Ms Sgrena is telling the truth about being ambushed by a convoy. Exactly what physical harms did she and the other people in the vehicle sustain? If they weren’t caused by bullets, then they’re “injuries,” not “wounds.” And finally, how the hell can you shoot a passenger in an approaching vehicle through the temple without breaking the windshield?
“Finally” isn’t the right word. This story is a long way from over.
Oh, and Turing word: “cars.” Come on, now!
Even by MSM standards, the quality of the reporting on this story has been appalling.
Worse than appalling. It’s been criminal. The picture accompanying all the stories? It appears to be a picture of the car she was kidnapped from. So for a story about a car being “shot up” while running a checkpoint, the press gives us a picture of a completely different car.
I’d say “unbelievable”, but it’s not.
I vote for bi(polar) man’s Team America comment as r0x0r extremus for this thread.
Sgrena just got the gift of a lifetime for a journo working for Il freakin’ Manifesto dropped in her lap.
She survives looking like a weeping willow begging for her life, only to have imperialist forces from the U.S. Hegemon shoot at her car.
What’s that syndrome where you think the whole world revolves around you? (no, not Bill Clinton Syndrome, the real one). That’s the only thing that can explain why she would believe the U.S. would target a third-rate italian communo-journalist.
Hmmm.
1. Yes there are far too many unanswered questions about all this.
2. Supposedly the Italian agent was shot in the “temple” and during his autopsy a bullet was extracted from his head. At this point I have no idea if the newspeople are pulling this from their ass or not. But if this guy was shot in the temple, then there really does have to some explaining going on. The reason being is that US armored vehicles, normally used to conduct these checkpoints, are uniformly equipped with .50 cal machineguns. In case you’re unfamiliar with this weapon it shoots a bullet that’s about the size of your thumb.
And I couldn’t imagine anyone having a head left, from which to extract a bullet, if struck in the temple by a .50 cal.
Thanks Pavel.. (I think..) Glad to see I’m entertaining someone other than just myself.
And Gail.. The Shizzle Bipolizzle ? hahahaha!!!
-BPiS
Memo to PW commentators,
Will you people puhleeesse quit uncovering factual details about the Sgrena shooting that are at odds with my fictitious Team America conspiracy version? Stick with my story.. You guys are killin’ my artistic credibility…
-BPiS
Alan Turing Test Word: actually
..actually? thats no challenge..next.
I’m sorry she was kidnapped, I’m sorry she was shot But if anybody wants to get worked up over this, it should be the people who’ll find out, shortly, what “millions of dollars” worth of ransom looks like in the hands of terrorists.
The reporter’s wounds aren’t life threatening, according to Il Manifesto, the Communist newspaper for which she writes…..
The wounds weren’t life threatening because she also was struck in the temple. Fortunately, her brain wasn’t threateded by the wound. Nor judging from her picture, were her good looks. Those were DOA twenty years ago.
So, let me see. A communist says that the U.S. military are murderers. Sorry, I already dozed off.
Sorry the poor officer got killed.
Luckily, I’ve obtained a photo of the bullet-riddled car. It’s not closeup enough to see Giuliana’s blood, but it is certainly bullet-hole-riddled.
http://sixmeatbuffet.com/archives/2005/03/06/more-on-italys-new-heroine/
At least it wasn’t a Corvair ‘cause you could get killed driving one of those.
Jeff, see what happens when you don’t use the word “cock”? You get a an instalaunch or whatever the hell you call it….
In Larry Niven’s Known Space series Louis Wu (the main character)opines “stupidity can be a capital sentence”.Too bad the intelligence oficer was killed for her stupidity.
With all the opinions about whether or not the car was speeding as it approached the checkpoint/patrol before being fired upon, I would just like to offer this simple fact; All you/they would need to do is inspect the electronic info contents of the “little black box” that is contained in the released Italian reporters auto. The undisputed truth can be found there. End of story.
“Vini Vidi Vici!”