US Troops shoot freed Journo

[DBAHO]

ITALIAN journalist hostage Giuliana Sgrena was freed from her Iraqi captors only to be shot and wounded by US troops firing at the convoy supposed to be carrying her to safety.

 

An Italian secret service agent who helped secure Sgrena's release was killed when he threw himself in front of her to protect her from the incoming bullets, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.

The United States said a thorough investigation would be carried out into the incident, and President George W. Bush called Mr Berlusconi personally to express his regrets, the White House said.

 

Mr Bush called Mr Berlusconi from Air Force One "to express his regret about the incident that occurred earlier today", the White House said in a statement.

 

"The president assured prime minister Berlusconi that the incident will be fully investigated."

 

Sgrena has worked since 1988 for newspaper Il Manifesto, which opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq.

 

The US military confirmed the incident, but said the Italian convoy speeding towards a checkpoint manned by US forces near Baghdad airport ignored signals to slow down and stop.

 

Mr Berlusconi, a staunch ally of Mr Bush, told a press conference in Rome there were "disquieting questions" that needed to be answered about the incident.

 

"Several shots hit the car. One man was mortally wounded by a bullet. We are petrified and dumbfounded by this fatality."

 

Mr Berlusconi said Sgrena had been hit in the left shoulder, and two other Italians agents had been wounded when their vehicle was raked by American gunfire.

 

Sgrena's newspaper, the Rome-based leftist daily Il Manifesto, said the 56-year-old journalist underwent lung surgery and that her life was not in danger.

 

Mr Berlusconi said the dead agent had thrown his body in front of Sgrena to protect her from the shots.

 

"It is a pity. This was a joyful moment which made all our co-citizens happy, which has been transformed into profound pain by the death of a person who behaved so bravely."

 

The US military said US soldiers who fired on a speeding vehicle waved their hands and arms, flashed white lights and fired warning shots in a failed attempt to get it to stop.

 

"When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block, which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others," the 3rd Infantry Division said in a statement.

 

ANSA said one of the two Italian agents wounded in the shooting was in a serious but stable condition after an operation to remove a bullet from one of his lungs.

 

The other wounded agent had been released from hospital and taken to the Italian embassy.

 

"There's little to say. The Americans nearly killed her," Sgrena's companion Pier Scolari was quoted as saying by ANSA.

 

The newspaper named the dead man as Nicola Calipari. Il Manifesto's editor Gabriele Polo paid tribute to the Italian agent, crediting him with Sgrena's release.

 

"Nicola Calipari is the person we must thank most for Giuliana's release. Unfortunately, he was killed by American bullets," said Mr Polo.

 

The journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad last month by an Iraqi group who called on Rome to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

 

News of the shooting dampened the mood at the Rome offices of the newspaper, where overjoyed staff were celebrating their colleague's release and preparing for her return.

 

Details of the release were not immediately clear. Sgrena was abducted February 4 after visiting a Baghdad mosque where refugees have been encamped since a devastating US-led assault on the city of Fallujah in November.

 

Sgrena was shown pleading for her life in a video released by her kidnappers two weeks after her kidnapping in Baghdad. Sobbing and looking thinner, she delivered an impassioned message pleading for her life, begging Rome to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

 

Mr Berlusconi's centre-right government rejected the plea, and on the same day used its majority to ensure the Italian Senate voted to extend the mission of Rome's 3000 troops in Iraq.

 

A few days after the video was shown, an estimated half a million people marched in Rome to demand her release.

[Punch and Judy Garland]

Anyone thinking that the Italians may want to even up? Paging Geraldo Rivera to Baghdad.......

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Anyone thinking that the Italians may want to even up? Paging Geraldo Rivera to Baghdad.......

 

But who is gonna open the next Capone vault?

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

How dumb are those people anyway? How are you going to go through all that trouble to get this hostage out of there then run at a US checkpoint and not stop even after warning shots were fired.

 

 

Idiots!

[YASNY]

How dumb are those people anyway?  How are you going to go through all that trouble to get this hostage out of there then run at a US checkpoint and not stop even after warning shots were fired. 

Idiots!

 

 

I can't comprehend what they were thinking. It's shame this had to take such a nasty turn. Of course, The USA will be blamed by the rest of the world ... and a few Soxtalk posters as well.

[Kalapse]

Talk about just plain stupidity, why would you try and run down an American checkpoint? f***ing stop dumbass.

[Texsox]

I wonder if there was any collaboration or communication to US planners that their operation was going on.

[KipWellsFan]

"I hope the Italian government does something because either this was an ambush, as I think, or we are dealing vith imbeciles or terrorized kids who shoot at anyone," he said.

 

---A quote from the journalist's partner

 

The Bush administration can't afford for s*** like this to happen as the world is becoming increasingly distant from the United States. In this case the must do some major but kissing to the current Italy government, as they face an election against a leftist coalition next year.

 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=7816127

[YASNY]

---A quote from the journalist's partner

 

The Bush administration can't afford for s*** like this to happen as the world is becoming increasingly distant from the United States.  In this case the must do some major but kissing to the current Italy government, as they face an election against a leftist coalition next year.

 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?t...storyID=7816127

 

You are probaly right. But get somebody has to get real here. I mean suicide bombers are not unheard of in Iraq. They tried to wave them down. They fired warning shots. These soldiers' asses were on the line. I'd shoot too.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

I just recall a quote from one of my favorite movies, Cool Hand Luke: "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." I would think if an operation like this was going down, the Italian bureaucrats in the military operations there would have informed everybody to be on the lookout for it at least.

 

But either way, as sociologists' Thomas Theorem would say "Those things perceived as real are real in their consequences." so this could be a huge s*** sandwich for the PR Department of the Bushies trying to make it look like this is all running smoothly.

[YASNY]

I just recall a quote from one of my favorite movies, Cool Hand Luke: "What we've got here is a failure to communicate."  I would think if an operation like this was going down, the Italian bureaucrats in the military operations there would have informed everybody to be on the lookout for it at least.

 

But either way, as sociologists' Thomas Theorem would say "Those things perceived as real are real in their consequences." so this could be a huge s*** sandwich for the PR Department of the Bushies trying to make it look like this is all running smoothly.

 

So .... You just assume it's the fault of the US? :headshake

[Punch and Judy Garland]

No, I think he's saying that it doesn't matter because that is how it is going to be viewed by many. Bush and co. have been teflon lately so it probably doesn't matter domestically. However, it might be bad for recently improved euro relations.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

No, I think he's saying that it doesn't matter because that is how it is going to be viewed  by many. Bush and co. have been teflon lately so it probably doesn't matter domestically. However, it might be bad for recently improved euro relations.

 

Ding ding ding! Correct!

[DBAHO]

The Journalist speaks;

 

FREED Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena has said the shooting by US troops in Iraq that left her injured and an Italian intelligence officer dead was not justified.

 

She spoke out after returning to Italy, when political leaders were awaiting an explanation of the incident from US authorities.

The shooting happened on the road to Baghdad airport yesterday morning. Ms Sgrena had been just freed by militants when the US soldiers fired on her getaway car.

 

The 56-year-old correspondent for the communist daily Il Manifesto told Italian investigators the US troops' intense fire had been in no way justified by the speed of her car, the ANSA news agency said.

 

"Our vehicle was running at normal speed, which could not be misunderstood," she said, rejecting US fears of a possible suicide attack.

 

"It wasn't a checkpoint, but a patrol which immediately opened fire after they trained their light on us."

 

A companion, who travelled with her from Baghdad, levelled serious accusations at the US troops involved in the incident, saying the shooting had been deliberate.

 

"The Americans and Italians knew about (her) car coming," said Pier Scolari on leaving Italy's Celio hospital, where Ms Sgrena was treated for her wounds.

 

"They were 700 metres from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints."

 

Ms Sgrena, her left shoulder in a bandage, flew into Rome on a government plane and was immediately rushed to Celio military hospital, where she will undergo surgery within the next few days.

 

She had been given emergency treatment in a US military hospital in Baghdad.

 

The US military said yesterday Ms Sgrena's convoy had ignored signals to stop. A spokesman said soldiers had waved their hands and arms, flashed white lights and fired warning shots in a failed attempt to get the vehicle to stop.

 

US President George W. Bush has promised a full investigation into the incident.

 

Meanwhile, about 100 protesters have gathered outside the US embassy in Rome, calling for a US withdrawal from Iraq and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's resignation.

 

They carried a banner reading "Bush has changed: now he even kills Italians".

[KipWellsFan]

Not looking good.

[Rex Kickass]

This just sucks.

[Texsox]

Let us not forget this regrettable situation, also in Italy.

 

(CNN) -- In a verdict that stunned many Europeans, a U.S. military jury acquitted a Marine pilot Thursday of all charges that he recklessly flew his jet into an Italian ski lift cable, killing 20 people more than a year ago.

 

"This has been a tragedy for all involved," Capt. Richard Ashby said after a jury of eight Marine officers found him not guilty on every count.

 

"My heart and my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this tragedy," he told reporters at a news conference about an hour after the verdict was announced.

 

Ashby, 31, declined to say anything else, but his attorney repeated what the defense has maintained throughout the case. "This was a terrible, tragic training accident," Frank Spinner said.

 

When the verdicts were announced, cheers erupted from Ashby's family in the courtroom at the Camp Lejeune Marine base, while relatives of the European victims sat in stunned silence, some sobbing.

 

"I'm sorry," military prosecutor Maj. Stu Couch whispered to several relatives of the victims who had been flown to the United States this week to see the verdict.

 

Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said through an interpreter that he was "baffled" by the verdict.

 

"We need to explore the reasons behind the ruling," he said through an interpreter while in Boston.

 

D'Alema is to meet with President Clinton on Friday for a previously

[southsider2k5]

That was at least 5 years ago, I am not sure how that is relevent to now?

[Texsox]

That was at least 5 years ago, I am not sure how that is relevent to now?

 

Once again the US military kills innocent Italians. France declined to back us in Iraq a couple years ago, yet many people here still think it is relevant, don't you think the Italian government and people will immediatly remember the plane accident?

[southsider2k5]

Once again the US military kills innocent Italians. France declined to back us in Iraq a couple years ago, yet many people here still think it is relevant, don't you think the Italian government and people will immediatly remember the plane accident?

 

Exactly how long are you able to hold a grudge against a forgein military, just out of curiousity?

[Texsox]

Exactly how long are you able to hold a grudge against a forgein military, just out of curiousity?

 

It seems like forever, didn't we talk about American military deaths in France from over 50 years ago, as why France should have backed us in Iraq? Didn't we also discuss what Saddam had done in Saudi Arabia more than 5 years ago to justify taking him on again?

 

My point is this ratchets up anti-American sentiment not only in Italy, but in other countries as well. I am not saying that the soldiers acted inappropriately, that more than likely will be up to a military trial, if it even comes to that.

[southsider2k5]

It seems like forever, didn't we talk about American military deaths in France from over 50 years ago, as why France should have backed us in Iraq? Didn't we also discuss what Saddam had done in Saudi Arabia more than 5 years ago to justify taking him on again?

 

My point is this ratchets up anti-American sentiment not only in Italy, but in other countries as well. I am not saying that the soldiers acted inappropriately, that more than likely will be up to a military trial, if it even comes to that.

 

So I guess we just throw Mussolini in their face and call it even?

[Texsox]

So I guess we just throw Mussolini in their face and call it even?

 

I'm not certain where you are going with this. My much earlier post was pointing out that recently, the Italian public and government was outraged at US military conduct and punishment. Public opinion in Italy will once again be anti-American for this action.

 

If you think they are wrong for remembering the prior act, all I can say is it is human nature to remember, much harder to forget. 20 innocent Italians on ski holidays died. Not in a war zone, but on a mountain. It is very hard to forget that.

 

The world remembers when we got an address wrong and bombed the Chinese Embassy, just like we remember Tiananmen Square; where China's government was on the wrong side of freedom and democracy. We should remember the Holocaust to be certain it doesn't happen again, (sadly we remember but do not act for the Sudanese, who are being slaughtered). We remember Pearl Harbor and the world limits Japan's military decades later.

 

I do not know if it is fair or not to remember these things, but we do. I suspect it is a universal human trait. We remember the bad much longer than the good. Perhaps that is a hard wired survival mechanism. Remember the food that got us sick or the animal that kicked our ass when we only had a spear.

[Rex Kickass]

Remember the food that got us sick or the animal that kicked our ass when we only had a spear.

 

To be fair, that hamster was like HUGE!

[Soxy]

To be fair, that hamster was like HUGE! 

And it had a gun!!!