Reply #23: Good points. The aircraft might have flown in agent Nicola Calipari ..

[DemoTex]

But consider this. Agent Nicola Calipari is said to have been on his cell phone talking with Prime Minister Berlusconi in Rome at the time of the attack. That establishes that he had a working cell phone. I think it is fair to say that Calipari made other calls on his cell phone on the ride to the airport and in the days prior to the event. He probably checked with the pilots of the Italian jet to make sure the airplane was ready for a hasty departure from Baghdad.

US military aircraft, such as the Army RC-12, have the capability to intercept and DF (locate) cell phone calls. The USAF and Navy have aircraft capable of similar COMINT, SIGINT, and ELINT (communication, signal, and electronic intelligence). These aircraft are "up" 24/7.

Calipari and hostage Giuliana Sgrena were certainly persons-of-interest to the US government and the US military. I think that it is highly likely that Calipari was being watched "electronically," if not physically too. Perhaps the check-point did not get the word. Fog of war. Perhaps they did. Perhaps it was not really a check-point. It is pretty much an academic argument because, given the well-honed secrecy of the Bu$h regime, we will probably never know.