Transcript: Giuliana Sgrena interview......BBC

[Blue to the bone]

Did the Americans continue to fire when your car had come to a halt?

Our car was destroyed. And then the driver got out and was shouting "we're Italian, we're Italian". So they came and they saw what happened. But I was badly injured so I can't explain exactly what happened after because I was waiting for 20 minutes on the road for a military car to bring me to the hospital.

I don't know if they knew what they were doing or not but it's a big responsibility so they have to respond to what happened because it's impossible to shoot a car on a road to the airport without giving any signal, any stop or any check.

Do you think it was deliberate?

I can't say it was deliberate because we can't say if there was a lack of information. But also a lack of information in this case is responsibility because you are in a war field and you have the responsibility to pass immediately any information.

The information was given to the Italians to tell the Americans that we were on the road. Now, I can't say why they shot at us in this way but it's a very big responsibility and we ask for a response on what happened.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4324251.stm

[b...]

1. pretty interesting

i wonder how the driver and passenger in the front made it out okay, but the people in back were shot were injured or killed, while the US forces were shooting out the "engine."

[Say_What]

2. Shoot first ask questions later--STUPID F*CKS!!

One wonders how many more innocent people are dead at the hands of trigger happy *soldiers*. :puke:

From the article:


...When did you become aware that your car was being fired at?

We had no signal. We were just on the way to the airport. They started to shoot at us without any light or signal. There was no block, there was nothing. It was so immediate. I didn't know how I was alive after all that attack.

...So what did this security agent do when he heard the firing?

When the driver said "they're attacking us", one of the tried to say we're Italians but it was impossible to get out of the car because the car was under this rain of fire.

And the other one tried to protect me and he died. I was pushing down to avoid the bullets and after I don't know how long, I found that he was dead.

[Straight Shooter]

3. Can cell phone transmissions be monitored?

I'm thinking about all those "insurgents" who avoid the use of cell phones. Is it because the signal, itself, can be traced, or is it because the actual conversation can be monitored?

If it is the conversation which can be monitored, then was the conversation between Berlusconi's office and Sgrena's occupants being monitored? If it was just the signal, would the U.S. military have known that the call was being conducted between the vehicle and Berlusconi's office?

One way or the other, this is too bizarre an episode. 300 to 400 rounds, and the driver leaps out? In every other shooting, hasn't the driver been killed, almost instantly?

[Junkdrawer]

4. "They started to shoot at us without any light or signal."

"We had no signal. We were just on the way to the airport. They started to shoot at us without any light or signal. There was no block, there was nothing. It was so immediate. I didn't know how I was alive after all that attack."

[mimitabby]

5. yet the us press continues to bolster the "official story"

of speeding cars, no communication, and checkpoints.

[Junkdrawer]

6. The Italian government opposes this theory only because it makes..

them look bad in the eyes of the Italian people.

My guess is that the US press will continue "the big lie" until the story drops from view. Then, quietly here, publicly in Italy, the current official story will give way to a "scared kids with poor command" story and an official apology.

[Blue to the bone]

7. For some reason, she seems to have toned down her story.

Hasn't she also said there was no doubt they wanted to kill her.

I wish the friggin' Pentagon would allow reporters to question the soldiers involved. That may not be SOP, but in a case like this with international reprecussions, it would seem to be the wise thing to do.

Of course, when was the Pentagon ever accused of being wise?

SNAFU = Situation normal, another fuck up.

[bemildred]

9. She has never stated that in the affirmative.

It was always "might have been".

The one thing I see here that is interesting is she says
the car was destroyed, whereas the one in the pictures put
up today is shot up a bit but not destroyed.

[GetTheRightVote]

8. I thought she stated that the Soldiers were trying to kill her ???

Why change in tone of story ??

:kick: