NEWS: American Soldiers Cleared In Italian Agents Death

In either case and example's, AceofBase, then it would appear that both parties are incorrect on their claims to the vehicle's speed, are they not?



seekerof

WyrdeOne

I’m 99% sure that what happened here was an accident and the whole US death squad after her was just complete bull(anti us-propaganda) after all the whole reason she went to Iraq was to dig up such information. I wouldn’t be surprise much if she made up the part about her abductors telling her that she was a target of the US military. Besides even if the military were to undertake such an operation (which I highly doubt) I doubt it would have been an normal army patrol doing such a delicate job even most Special ops teams wouldn’t sign up for such a Op. If they wanted to and it’s a very big “If” because in the scheme of things she’s was a very minor person prior to this incident it would have been done by contractors, (mercenaries) or specialize Iraqi/middle eastern death squad. Besides there is no way that anybody could have foreseen what happened at that check point and the tragic results of this check point is the only thing giving this loon any credibility with a mostly Anti-American crowd to beginning with. This little incident is going to cost us Italian support at the very least as well as other countries who hare been haging on to the by a thread despite heavy resentment from their domestic population.

And the whole cold blooded murder bit, if you look around there are allegations of CIA lead hits on many prominent civilians in south America and other hot spots of the cold war where foreign death squad would eliminate anti-US Influential people. Granted it was done by non-American death squad these operations were done under consent and/or knowledge of American officials (CIA ext….). There are stories of prominent leftist reporters been taken out in my parents home country on behalf of US interest in the 60s and 70s. I would not make it modus operandi and it’s not a particular good route to take but it shouldn’t be written completely off the books, highly compartmentalize and done in the most extreme and controllable of cases.

If post 9/11 we are willing to shoot down a civilian airliner if the case was desperate enough I wouldn’t see a problem in taking out an anti-American propagandist (don’t know if it’s word) who would deal a serious blow to American interest in dire times as long as it can be done quietly and with enough plausible deniability to not come back and bite us in the rear. If you don’t have the stones to do something like that in the bleakest of times then the chances of ever defeating people who have no qualms of blowing themselves or women and children to make their point. Until the last couple of years we have been seen as a paper tiger by Islamic radicals, Iran, N Korea and there Ilk because of the way we have neuter our covert ops. But like I said this incident was 100% percent accident, and I wouldn’t bet on the army or even Special Ops (at least post Cold war) taking on such a mission, maybe delegating it to foreign assets but hey you can hope to be Player on the world stage by tip-toeing around with your heart on your sleeve.

And let’s say a reporter would cost us British support which is substantial in our efforts against terrorism wouldn’t you quietly and very compartmentalized eliminate such a threat either directly or by omission (letting someone else do it). And if you don’t at the very least contemplate such an option I would seriously doubt your abilities of protecting our nation in the darkest and dire times than I disaggre but respect and applaud your dedication to your altruism and Idealism.


[edit on 5/1/2005 by Oblivions void]

The Italians will be releasing a report on their version of events so it will be interesting to see what the differences are between the two reports.

Mercurynews

In a statement on its Web site Sunday, the Italian foreign ministry said the Italian report will be made public on Monday evening, providing its own version of the March 4 "friendly fire" shooting of agent Nicola Calipari, who had just won the release of an Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena.

On Saturday, the U.S. military released its report, contending the car Calipari was riding in as he headed to Baghdad airport with the ex-hostage didn't slow down at the checkpoint and that the American soldiers didn't do anything wrong.

The two Italian experts who participated in the joint U.S-Italian probe of the shooting refused to sign off on the American's conclusions, and after several days of negotiations failed to yield a common final report. Both sides essentially agreed to disagree on the findings.

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Originally posted by jsobecky
Agreed. The minimum that should be done is that the journalist be made to pay for the legal costs of the courts martial.

Since when was Sgrena the prosecution in this military trial? What court costs exactly is she responsible for? Since when do witnessess to an incident become responsible for what happend?

Originally posted by jsobecky
The journalist should be put on trial for lying about the circumstances surrounding this event. Jail time would be appropriate punishment for her crimes.

How on Earth can you know she is lying? She is a material witness and her account of events corresponds to the other Italian agents.

Senstationally saying that Sgrena should be put in jail is groundless and just cold blooded. She was kidnapped and fortunately rescued by her government only to be shot at by the United States Army.

You should ask yourself why the Italians would of disregarded American warning shots. Why would they put themselves in obvious danger by flouting the requests of American forces? It just doesnt tally. They were doing nothing wrong so any requests by the Americans to stop would of been granted, if they actually occured. These Italian special agents know full well that not heeding the call to stop will ultimately get them killed so to say that they willingly ignored these calls is ludicrous and flies in the face of common sense.

Theres more to this story than what the US soldiers have said happend and prosecuting the surviours is just ridiculous.