Freed Italian Journalist's Car Shot Approaching US Checkpoint
The Word Unheard out of Iraq today is that the car carrying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena was fired on after it failed to slow down approaching an American checkpoint following her release from captivity. Sgrena was shot in the shoulder, two other occupants were injured and one Italian intelligence agent, Nicola Calipari, was killed as he shielded her from incoming rounds. Sgrena was abducted February 4, 2005 and said to Italian media upon her return to Rome that her captives never treated her badly.
The news is bittersweet. Sgerna is free, but not before the tragic death of an Italian intelligence agent in what should have been a joyful and uneventful return to freedom. President Bush has promised the Italian government a full investigation that surely was underway in earnest before anyone in Washington or Rome was even aware of the events.
Once again, we have another vehicle failing to slow down for an armed checkpoint. Why does this continue to happen? Are the checkpoints not clearly visible and obvious? Are the 'rules of the road' around Baghdad not clear to everyone, let alone our own allies? Did the driver assume that the checkpoint knew who they were? Did the American soldiers clearly signal for the car to stop? All are questions that beg to be answered fully and addressed immediately.
According to the American military:
The U.S. military said the car was speeding as it approached a coalition checkpoint. It said soldiers shot into the engine block only after trying to warn the driver to stop by "hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots."
Curiously missing from any accounts available so far are the Italian driver's accounting of events. Why? Does his story parallel the American soldiers' accounts?
You are driving in a car approaching Baghdad. Nearing a checkpoint with armed and uniformed military personnel, warning shots are fired. What do you do? Let's assume the driver did not see or hear them. A couple of rounds strike the engine, still approaching an American roadside checkpoint. What do you do now? Slow down or crash the gates? Maybe even stop?
The only plausible explanation for the driver's actions is that he did not recognize the checkpoint as American and thought he was coming under enemy fire. If that is the case, how can it be possible that among three intelligence officers escorting a former hostage to freedom, none of them were aware of points of importance along the route? Where was the failure in communication?
The only other scenario available is that the Americans in Iraq are a bunch of trigger-happy loose cannons who need to be reigned in. That approach should be summarily dismissed out of hand. Apparently, with some it is not.
Reading the Associated Press article from the Chicago Sun-Times, The Word Unheard notes how swiftly the story shifts to a focus on anti-war protestations to both the incident and the Iraq War generally. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the 23 paragraph story read:
But Bush's phone call late Friday to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi did little to assuage anger In Italy, which has been holding its breath over Sgrena's fate for weeks. The shooting was likely to set off fresh protests against Berlusconi for keeping 3,000 troops in Iraq despite strong opposition.
"Another victim of an absurd war," said Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, leader of the Green Party. A communist senator called for a protest Saturday in front of the U.S. Consulate in Milan.
Gotta get that in early, otherwise the short-attention-spanned readers may never get that fed into their heads. Just how much anger is there in Italy over Italian participation? The Sun-Times would have you believe that Berlusconi is defying majority public will. Just how much of Italy do the two mentioned Green Party and Communist Party politicians actually speak for? Not the sizable chunk the typical reader is left to assume. Of course the Greens and Communists are going to protest. They protest anything American or Free Market. What's new? Nothing. Not even Chicago Sun-Times bias.
With car bombs galore in the persistently hot Sunni Triangle area, this cannot be spun as an American failure and aggressive over-reaction by hair-triggered blood-thirsty US soldiers manning roadside checkpoints.
But the Associated Press, the Chicago Sun-Times and others are surely trying. Still.
For the most thorough and up-to-date blogging on this, go here:
The Jawa Report: Multiple Updates & Very Current Coverage
Great job, Jawa!
posted by USMC_Vet | 3/05/2005 05:35:00 PM
6 Comments:
I'm glad you're on this one; I noticed the "Greens and Communists" emphasis in the AP story, too.
But it feels like there must be something in this that reflects well on the US military, because the MSM is soft-pedalling it, relatively speaking. There isn't a big push on the story -- not the one that you would expect, with repeated headlines, sorrowing relatives of the slain agent, etc., etc. It makes me think that the Italians must have messed up big time, and that there are wire service stringers who know it.
No evidence for this -- just deducing it from the dog that didn't bark.
It sure doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. You'd think anyone whose been in Baghdad for any period of time (like a day) would know about the American Checkpoints.
I heard that within that 7 mile stretch to the airport there have been 53 Iraqi/coalition deaths - sorry, no link -- caught it on a news broadcast today (hopefully someone will confirm this info) caused by IED's, snipers, etc.
So, it's well known that the US has checkpoints all over that stretch of highway.
Your question is an excellent one. Did the Italians not recognize the US checkpoint? If not, why not?
You'd think they would have communicated the fact that they would be "speeding their way out of Iraq" with a former hostage to the US, if no one else.
I agree with you, we can not just assume that our military are a bunch of unruly, trigger happy killers. That's not one I'm buying without real specific proof.
Let the communists and greens complain and let's hope DoD and others will get to the bottom of what is truly a bittersweet event.
Cheers,
Thanks for the reminder on this one, Baron. I had heard the story over air while out & about and your reminder brought me back to it. (A tipping of the hat, sir.)
You are feeling correct that there must be something that reflects well...and that's almost certainly whatever the driver has said but gone unreported (to my knowledge).
Cheryl, there won't be any specific proof. What isn't so cannot be proven. It can be lied about, it can be argued persuasively, but it cannot be proven.
And that's just the way it is.
I did not have the time to hunt down her paper, Il Manifesto.
Has a nice Marxist ring to it, though doesn't it?
I am going to add a link to The Jawa Report to the bottom of the post, as they seem to be all over this one...and they confirm that her beloved Il Manifesto is indeed Italy's premiere Communist paper.
Hat Tip to you as well on that link, Cheryl. Thanks!
Cheers all.
My guess, and this is just a guess.... The Italian personel did not see a need to heed the warnings and abide by the checkpoint. Perhaps they were too focused on their rescue, and common sense went out the window? That is the best I can come up with, as I have seen that in my military years.
It is sad that the only aspects the MSM seems to focus on is that a freed hostage was shot and a rescuer was killed by the US. They conviniently forget to report the tense situations involved and the risk of vehicles that blow up and kill our troops. They are all too happy to report the body count, but paint the troops in a bad light when they are doing their job.
Glenn
www.talkmilitary.com
Interesting story...but wouldn't you like to have been a fly on the wall inside the vehicle as they increased their speed coming up to the checkpoint? Seems like the ultimate in hubris -- i.e., "those Americans know who we are, they won't dare stop us..." IOW, a not-so-subtle Italian gesture at the troops/checkpoint.
Were I Bush -- or whomever he puts in charge -- I'd be demanding that the Italian Prime Minister explain how and why his intelligence officers behaved so irresponsibly. The excuse of Italian bravado only carries so far...
This is a tempest in a teapot, as are most MSM rants...
~D
PS Your site looks wonderful. Seems like you've hit your stride and are making it look effortless...good writing style, too. Amazing how this blogging effort disciplines one, no?
On-topic article in today's (March 7th) WashTimes: Italians kept U.S. forces in dark.
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