The Sgrena Gambit (UPDATED and CORRECTED)

This morning, I woke up to the news that Giuliana Sgrena was disputing the US military’s version of the events that lead to the death of Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari.

ROME — The Italian journalist wounded by American troops in Iraq after her release by insurgents rejected the U.S. military's account of the shooting and declined Sunday to rule out the possibility she was deliberately targeted

Meanwhile, an autopsy performed on the agent who died trying to save Giuliana Sgrena (search) reportedly showed he was struck in the temple by a single round and died instantly as the car carrying Sgrena sped to the Baghdad airport.

God rest Mr. Calipari. Too bad he had to give his life to save such a one as this.

From Reuters:

Speaking from her hospital bed where she is being treated, Sgrena told Sky Italia TV it was possible the soldiers had targeted her because Washington opposes Italy's dealings with kidnappers that may include ransom payments.

"The United States doesn't approve of this (ransom) policy and so they try to stop it in any way possible."

(Boy, I’m glad I went to church before I read that steaming pile.)

Don’t you love the “logic” and the narcissism? The soldiers allegedly got the word from on high to kill her all-important self after the ransom was paid because Washington is opposed to ransom payments. And killing her would somehow stop Italy and other Coalition Partners from paying ransom for hostages taken by terrorists.

But if the Americans knew that it was her in the car and were trying to kill her, one would think that every one in the car would be dead, since,

Sgrena told colleagues the vehicle was not travelling fast and had already passed several checkpoints on its way to the airport. The Americans shone a flashlight [ed. note probably more like a floodlight] at the car and then fired between 300 and 400 bullets at if from an armoured vehicle.

Rather than calling immediately for assistance for the wounded Italians, the soldiers' first move was to confiscate their weapons and mobile phones and they were prevented from resuming contact with Rome for more than an hour.

So Ms. Sgrena, wounded though she was with a dead man lying across her, just *knew* no assistance was called. She got to the *American* hospital somehow, just by a turn of luck. And, the soldiers just *knew* there were Italians in the car—and her all-important, targeted-for-assassination self specifically—so, of course, weapons and cell phones are totally innocuous items, even in a war zone in which bombs are constantly activated by cell phones.

BTW, does this look like a car that received three to four hundred .50 caliber rounds to you?

Poor Mr. Calipari and his family. I won’t go so far as to say that his death is on Ms. Sgrena’s head, though some have their doubts. I will say that she is using his dead body to twist the incident in favor of her preconceived ideology: that the Americans and their troops are evil.

The question still remains, however: did the Italians let the Americans know that this car was on its way to Baghdad? We shall see.

(Thanks to Noble Eagle)

UPDATE (Correction) : Michael King discovers that the above photo is not the car in question.

An Iraqi driver stands near his damaged vehicle at the site of the kidnapping of an Italian journalist outside al-Nahrain University in central Baghdad, February 4, 2005. Giuliana Sgrena was snatched from the street as she conducted interviews near the university, police sources and diplomats said. Gunmen pulled up alongside her vehicle, forced her driver and an Iraqi journalist with her out of the vehicle at gunpoint and then drove off with Sgrena, the sources said. The driver said that the gunmen hit his car as they were rushing away from the scene following the kidnapping. (Akram Saleh/Reuters)

I'd sure like to see a photo of the real one. All other comments stand, however.

UPDATE: Someone at Roger's had this question: what was the caliber of the round that killed Mr. Calipari? Surely it couldn't have been a whole .50 caliber round, because if it were--not to be too graphic--it would have probably taken out Ms. Sgrena as well. Maybe it was a *piece* of a round.

Comments

[Noble Eagle]

Three to four hundred .50 caliber rounds would have (literally) shredded that car. If the bloodthirsty imperialist soldiers were so intent on killing her, why is Ms. Sgrena still alive. Her story has more holes than that car. A lot more.

[Noble Eagle]

Just read the correction. I still have my doubts about the 300-400 rounds of .50 cal claim. Since .50 cals were used to shoot down Japanese fighters in the Pacific in WW II, I'm still disinclined to believe that you could light up an ordinary car with one to the tune of hundreds of rounds without killing everybody inside. Unless of course you were trying not to kill them.

[Dave]

I was told long ago that if you stand in the middle of an average city street and look around, you can be comfortable in knowing that nothing you see can stop a .50 caliber round. Not the masonry, not the engine blocks of the car. Not you. Nothing. 300-400 rounds into whatever vehicle the italians were driving would make that vehicle look like a burned-out husk, and more importantly, Giuliana Sgrena would be just as dead as the man who leaped on top of her.

[John Anderson]

"Sgrena told colleagues the vehicle was not travelling fast and had already passed several checkpoints on its way to the airport."
Odd. Elsewhere (Reuters?) she was interviewed and said they had passed NO checkpoints.
And was it a patrol, or a checkpoint?

Anyhoo, I tend to believe the driver panicked. I mean, shouting "We're Italians" in a presumably air-conditioned (windows closed) car while still several football fields away instead of stopping?

[jb]

Anybody home?

What is wrong with Americans anymore? Can we not see our culpability in total stupidity? Does it really matter how many .50 C rounds would have shredded the car? I mean, what sort of total heartless asshole would even ask such a stupid rhetorical question?

Calipari is truly dead, like 1494 US military in the field, and 3000 + more as they were aero-vaced from the theatre . . dying en route but not reported in either the American press or the US military. Imagine if America wer told that almost 6000 soldiers were dead.

It would be like Vietnam again, and George W Nobody would be back in Texas, losing money as he always did, in between skipping his fucking military duty. Yes he did, and all you assholes who defend him are wrong. George skipped on his duty, and one day you will realize that. Or, you could realize it now, and end a lot of this total fucking bullshit. Got balls?

Me?

Been there, done it all--aero-vaced the dying who were never counted in the official death counts back in '73. Heard alll the official explanations. Dear God, what bullshit! mean I was really there for the bullshit, not just someone who hits keys on their computer and imagines they are fighting a war. AMerican presidents lie their asses off, not to protect us, but to protect themselves. And we defend them?

Holy shit, as Jesus WOULD say to Caesar.

WTF? Americans shot and killed the best Italian negotiator and damn near killed the hostage, and we should be upset that others might be upset that our troops are so fucking goddamned stupid? Or so afraid they shit their pants and shot at everything that moved? That is real impressive! Damn, talk about military precision.

Idiocy. GWB addicted. Not a constitutional clue. NOt fucking one, even for every ad hominem comment that will follow trying to prove me wrong.

LOL Go for it. We learned nada from the past, so now we repeat it. Idios - Greek for staring at one's navel . . . LOL . . .

Except . . . it is no laughing matter. Germans excused Hitler in the same manner.

Liars are liars, even American military. Ask a real soldier to tell you about that!

Most Americans understand the military like people in Oakland understand E-bonics.

Too funny, and even worse, way too sad. The American dream is dead, and thoe who defend it most, have the fewest clues.

They quit being vigilant, and believed politicians. They bought the snake oil and make fun of everyone else.

American soldiers tried to kill an Italian journalist . . . that is a very real matter of fact that cannot be denied for all the bullshit.

Truth hurts . . . it usually does.

[Patrick Chester]

Fortunately, jb isn't anywhere close to truth, just it's own prejudices which it thinks are the truth.

The truth is, the soldiers tried to stop a car speeding towards their position. They succeeded.

That, apparently, is so painful to you that it inspired a long rambling post full of hate and invective against the war and Bush in general.

[Steve]

Sgrena accomplished her mission. A bogus kidnapping to allow some Italians an excuse to fund the insurgency with millions in cash. Hows that for a pile-on of sinister motives if that is what we are going to do?

[Noble Eagle]

jb,
It's likely going to be a long war. Don't drink all the koolaid in one sitting.

[McGehee]

I guess JB used up all his good sense when he said nice things to Acidman about his mother.

[Andrea Harris]

Note to jb: switch to decaf. You'll feel better after you do, honest.

[Dave]

Does it really matter how many .50 C rounds would have shredded the car? I mean, what sort of total heartless asshole would even ask such a stupid rhetorical question?

What does it matter? We are given one eyewitness account of the matter. How are we to guage her credability in this matter, to take what she said and guage it against what we know. It isn't a rhetorical question.

WTF? Americans shot and killed the best Italian negotiator and damn near killed the hostage, and we should be upset that others might be upset that our troops are so fucking goddamned stupid?

It was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened, and it does sound like part of the problem is the way they do checkpoints. But if the discussion is on the wild conspiracy theories rather than a flawed checkpoint SOP, then changes that might fix checkpoints might never happen.

American soldiers tried to kill an Italian journalist . . . that is a very real matter of fact that cannot be denied for all the bullshit.

Let's get the phrasing straight here. American soldiers tried to stop a vehicle at a checkpoint, and when nonviolent means failed, they moved to violent ones. It turns out that the vehicle contained an Italian journalist and an agent of the Italian government. Once they figured out what was happening, the journalist was medevac'd. If they were trying to kill Giuliana Sgrena, she'd be dead.

[John from WuzzaDem]

"(Boy, I’m glad I went to church before I read that steaming pile.)"

ROTFLMAO!

"It's likely going to be a long war. Don't drink all the koolaid in one sitting."

And again!

[Michael]

The sad truth is that in war you do stupid things you die. These people did a stupid thing and they died. I have no sympathy for them. My only concern is the harm that will be caused to our soldiers because of this incident.

As far as I am concerned the only thing we owe Italy is an invoice for the cost the of ordinance expended. (I understand that in light of Italy's support that is a bit harsh, but it is how I feel).

[baldilocks]

Jb: Can it. You're not the only one who's served around here.

As for the rest of your missive regarding Sgrena's account of the events, perhaps you should read the update, before you go off half-cocked. (Thanks to those who responded to jb.)

Ultimately, what this whole thing amounts to is whether the Italians told the Americans whether Sgrena and company were on their way.

[Dishonorable Schoolboy]

Terrific. Of course we wanted her dead. She's Italian and you know we just want all of our allies to get so pissed they pull out and don't stay involved. What a moron.

Of course I would listen to warnings from kidnappers that "the Americans don't want to see you live" rather than think in any logical manner. What's it matter, they all dislike the USA anyway, if not overtly then is some quieter method.

[Steve]

There is a quote from Sgrena that seems to imply that the vehicle she was in was speeding as it was headed for the airport. She mentioned how funny it was, after all she'd been through, that they almost wrecked leaving Baghdad trying to avoid all the water puddles. CNN I believe was the source of the story. CNN later took the quotes off the statement but it doesn't make any sense being out of quotes because it is obviously a personal account.

I feel sorry for her, in a way, but y'know it would have been the same if I or anybody else did the samething as her driver did. He's the one that needs to take responsibility. It does seem like a no-brainer that you can't behave that way in a situation like that. A big, "ooops, that's right, I forgot about that!", on his part.

[a reader]

Who was the driver? What happened to him, what is his story, why haven't we hard about him?

(The most I've heard is that he is an unnamed "Italian agent" who was not injured in the attack.)

Is "a single shot to the temple, killed instantly" possible with the weapons found at the checkpoint?

What were the relations of the reporter and the dead agent with their respective workgroups preceding the events?

I'm also interested in whether the reporter was screened for drugs, and whether she was conscious and alert at the time of the incident, although the first few questions could be more immediately important.