Released Italian “hostage” Giuliana Sgrena, whose vehicle the US military claims to have fired upon after it failed to slow down at a Coalition checkpoint, is denying the US version of events—a denial the Jawa Report isn’t buying:1
Suspicion continues to mount that Giuliana Sgrena, the journalist for the Italian Communist paper Il Manifesto, either faked her own abduction or became an accomplice after the fact with her jihadi captors.
[…] The Italian left-wing, as predicted has siezed upon Sgrena’s ordeal today. The headline at Sgrena’s own Communist paper shouts the headline that the Italian secret-service agent who had negotiated her release had been ”Assassinated”2 by America.
Question: Did the U.S. military, after the success of the Iraqi elections, target Giuliana Sgrena for assassination—so afraid were they that her story of being well-treated by her captors would undermine the momentum of the last few weeks? Alternately, are U.S. soldiers—filled with bloodlust, poorly trained, and not properly supervised—wandering the streets of Iraq, unloading volleys of automatic gunfire into random automobiles?
Or is there some simpler explanation—like that the cares in Giuliana Sgrena convoy simply not slow down at a checkpoint?
I don’t know. I wasn’t there. But I know what William of Occam might say…
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1linking to Jawa’s alternate theory of events is not an explicit endorsement of that theory; my personal skepticism concerns Ms. Sgrena’s narrative of the shooting.
2the translation here may be inapt, as to the Italian may very well mean nothing stronger than “to kill”
Bitch
If Sgrena staged this, she’s responsible for any death and injury that resulted. I hope she gets found out and prosecuted for fraud.
BTW, Jawa Report is attracting a swarm of self-righteous, propaganda-sputtering, anti-American Eurotrash. People might want to pay them a visit.
She won’t. There’s no blogosphere in Italy to press the issue, and the right-wing media (what little there is of it) won’t likely ever care to figure out what really happened.
And a lot of people with only alleged knowledge of what goes on in Italy. I just came from there, and well, I gave up on replying. Too much crap.
I have noticed when the moonbats start to swarm they get riled up into into such a frenzy it is useless to try and debate. It is like trying to calm a riot crowd down. Aint gonna happen.
It is discouraging, isn’t it, Francesco? I tried applying reason, but it isn’t often well received in those circles. Can you tell us a little about your personal experience in Italy? You’re [mostly] among friends here, and we’d all be interested.
Hey Jeff, what’s the story on the footnote after “assassinated?”
Denial, Denial, De Nile – something fishy there. The words and likes of Sgrena tend to stink in the hot sun.
Reporting all over Europe and the Middle East assumes (and we all know what that makes of them and them) that the American soldiers were to blame, notwithstanding the lack of any objective observations of the incident.
A little OT, but pertinent …
This is all so bizarre .. like the collective memory of (parts of) the EU conveniently lapses when a cowardly populous spurts propaganda venom and contributes to the deaths of its neighbours … (it’s a smaller world now than it was 60 years ago) …. it’s almost analogous to the infamous Vichy Regime. (God bless and rest all the brave souls of the Resistance.) But then, parts of Europe have been struggling with identity since WW2.
Mark Steyn’s take on some of this is interesting:
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Ensure your own economic and political survival on the backs of others. Go ahead, blame all your problems and stupidity on someone else.
Wankers.
“Collaboration had not prevented the worst from happening but rather had made it possible and in any case paved the road to Auschwitz (Hirschfeld: 1989 p.13)”… and the road to mass graves in Iraq.
Maybe more later when I simmer down a bit.
Wow.. Does life imitate art or what ? Maybe Joe and Lisa and Team America really is over there..
ALRIGHT!!
-BPiS
ps..thats right, I am an ’artist‘ too; at least on par with that damn dancing Armadillo Jeff keeps around here.. and I want the respect I am due.
Spamkiller: audience
As in: Youve been a great one.. thank you!
Its a major f**k up by someone, but not the Americans…
Beck —
Sorry, got interrupted right in the middle of updating and then forgot and went out for the afternoon. The footnote is to suggest that the original Italian may actually translate to something far less incendiary than “assassinate” (something like “to kill”).
I’ve added the footnote to the post.
Was there any explaination why, after her release, she didn’t just check into the Hilton and head to the airport in the morning? Instead, they drive like Italians in a Rome rush-hour at 9 at night down a road that has been attacked by this reporter’s “allies,” and what did they expect.
Berlousconi wants someone to take responsibilty? Fine. Start with the reporter.
The original Italian word means “to kill intentionally,” but lacks the conspiratorial connotations of the American word “assassinate.”
As for MyPetJawa’s series of blog posts, I’m quite uncomfortable with them, and I’m surprised that you aren’t as well, Jeff. Look, they sure do track with what I’d LIKE to believe given my assumption of thoroughbred corruption and venality on the part of the European (and heck, American) left-wing press…but that’s the same “standard” applied to the Kossacks chasing down Jeff Gannon’s GAY PORN COCK OF LIES – you realize that, don’t you?
Just because I’d like to believe that this journalist faked her abduction and then caused – via neglect or something more sinister – the death of her Italian escort, doesn’t mean I’m justified in believing so based on what’s been put forth so far. And I fear that by spinning out these sorts of fevered conspiracy theories (let’s be honest: given the amount of rank assumption going on here, and remembering our prejudices, that’s what’s going on here), we’re providing unnecessary ammo to those who would make the “a plague on both your houses” argument that both the left AND the right wings of the blogosphere are equally prone to conspirazoid insanity.
That’s why I’m surprised to see you posting on this issue the way you have, especially when you’ve taken it so brilliantly (and so justifiably) to the moonbats claiming that the Gannon/Guckert conspiracy is the next Watergate.
Correction: “the same standard applied BY the Kossacks…”
Goddammit. One little preposition screw-up can completely alter one’s intended meaning.
Jeff B —
I thought I made it clear that I don’t know what happened one way or the other; I’m simply pointing to a theory that is at odds with Sgrena’s version of events.
I am neither supporting the theory that she staged her abduction nor dismissing it out of hand. In fact, I don’t even mention it in the post above except to scare quote “hostage.”
At the same time, I certainly don’t think the US military fired on her convoy just because it felt like killing a “journalist”.
I’ve updated the post to make my position more explicit.
NPR translates the word as “assassinate” too and the Il Manifesto explicitly endorsed a version of events in which Sgrena is targetted.
So while the Italian word may mean simply “to kill” in this case the word means “to deliberately kill.”
I heard this story on CNN radio news in Sun Valley yesterday. (Sorry, no John Kerry this weekend but he was there two weeks ago.)
I was stunned at the hyperventilating reportatrix’s slant. In-fucking-credible. I nearly drove off the road.
More importantly, mountain conditions: awesome.
I would be far less suspicious of Sgrena if she hadn’t had an obvious agenda long before the whole “hostage” business started. If she had a reputation for honesty or fairness, that would be one thing. But having established herself as a propagandist, she is simply not to be trusted. In a court of law, if a witness is found to be false in one testimony, the jury is justified in at least suspecting that he is false in all.
Diana–Thanks for the links. Good reading. It does seem like the handwriting is on the wall for “Old Europe.” How will it look in fifty years, I wonder.
I’ve been occasionally holding my nose and diving into the discussion over at Rusty’s, but all I hear from the left is one fleabitten cliche after another. They haven’t had a fresh thought in decades and they’re getting musty. For some reason, I keep thinking of the moldy cake in Miss Havisham’s dining room, the one with the mice…
An intrepid CITIZEN JOURNALIST should be able to uncover the elusive Giuliana Sgrena Chronicles.
or some Giuliana Sgrena tribbing pics on a “Hot, Les…” porn site.. maybe some hairy perennial aromatics..
I’m just thinking out loud here..
Google translations of her Il Manifesto articles.
Click on Giuliana Sgrena (beside her picture).
Click in the left menu for ”recent articles by Guiliana Sgrena”
They’re all there. (rather peculiar because of the translation)
I lived in Italia for an extended period in the late eighties. I came to love Italia and the Italian people… Even my snooty Communist Party neighbors that always seemed to be put off by having an Ameriswine living in their highrise. A better, friendlier people you you will never meet.. and the women..The women! Mama Mia those are-a summa spicey meat-a-balls ! Even better than the women are the Pizzas !! But I digress..
Anyway, I never had a problem with the communists over there.. I never could tell what they actually did beyond throwing a hell of a town celebration.. Theres food and drink and music and dancing and the whole town turns out..
This isnt going anyplace and doesnt have anything to do with Giuliana Sgrena.. I just dig Italy. I’m just saying..
BPiS
In the UK, Channel 4 televised the story on Saturday without any mention of the US side of events: no checkpoint, no speeding car, no warning shots, no previous history of car bomb attacks on that stretch of road – we were simply informed that the US had shot at the car carrying the newly freed Italian hostage, killing and wounding its occupants on their way to freedom.
None of the news agencies here have been asking their favourite question – “Cui bono?”
OK.. I’ve read the Jawa Report now.. As for Sgrena…
I wouldnt doubt for a minute that all or part of the abduction was staged.. If she was truly abducted and was treated well, its only because she established her bonafides with her captures and they realized that she is a valuable ally in their cause.
As for intentionally trying to run an American blockade in a normal car at night.. Thats a little trickier. Our guys are pretty damn good with those M-4s… I’m only surprised that there was only the one kill. Car doors dont really block rounds like they do in the movies.. and cars start to look like the Bonnie & Clyde Deathmobile real quick. If she meant to commit suicide for the cause, they could have faked it much better and more believably without involving real American Troops.
Just my 2 cents..
-BPiS
“Her left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto says a peace rally will be held in Rome later on Saturday.”
The Communist anti-democracy moonbats are planning on an early rally, before any formal investigations prove this reporter to be a lier.
Once the forensics report, interviews with the soldiers and other investigative information becomes available, IL Manfesto will be revealed to be screaming assumptions, speculations and lies.
Are there any Italian Protest Warriors available to present the other side?
Questions to be answered:
Was the weapon proven to be used by the soldiers? How do we know the reporter didn’t murder the agent to create a story and gain political power?
We need to know what type of weapon was used, and the distance and direction of the bullet.
We need to find out if the driver worked for the kidnappers/terrorist group t(hat she claimed kidnapped her) and if so, could the driver have volunteered for a suicide mission by attempting to speed past a checkpoint ordering them to slow down?
Again, any Italian Protest Warriors available?
I think they said they fired at the engine block to stop the car.
Mirramele, Nice to see you posting over here. Your posts at Rusty’s last night were excellent. The moonbats gave me a headache, though.
Hi gail,
and thanks
Sure, it’s all speculation at this point. Yet, it never hurts to examine all the possibilities, by raising questions that need answers. After hearing the world’s media promote her slander of the US soldiers without any sign of doubts over her veracity. I suppose I’m raising counter-questions on Ms. Sgrena’s integrity.
she’s a propagandist; it makes sense to use the “false in one, false in all” rubric until she’s been proved truthful since believing her would involve questioning the veracity of our troops.
Visit the link below to see a picture of the car she was in. I don’t think 400 bullets hit it. This doesn’t sound right at all…
Picture of car – 400 Bullets hit this thing?