So why did U.S. Soldiers fire on that Italian Hostage?

[Sandpiper]

Was it just a mistake?

Did she write something unflattering about Bushco?


I haven't read a lot about this, and was wondering if those who are better informed can shed some light for me.

[Cuban_Liberal]

1. That's the $64,000 question. n/t

[shadowknows69]

2. just following orders n/t

oh wait that was the guards at auschwitz

[Octafish]

10. No. USA PATRIOT Act gives Bushler authority to KILL

Remember the American citizen who got blowed up real good by the Phoenix missile fired at a terrorist he was in the same car with? Bush had declared the fella an "Enemy Combatant" meaning he was doomed.

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/11/08/yemen.american/

How long before posters on DU are similarly, um, categorized.

[WoodrowFan]

3. I thought it was just trigger-happy soldiers

now I'm not so sure, especially after reading Orcinus. He's very much NOT a tinfoil hat type so I take his suspicions very seriously.

http://www.dneiwert.blogspot.com/

[On Par]

4. Whatever Happened, It's A Perfect Reason For Italy...

...to pull out of Iraq, and tell Bush to take his war and shove it.

OP

[FreedomAngel82]

23. I know

that's what I'd do. I wouldn't let my people stay another second if I had my way. Of course I'm just a misley little citizen.

[DistressedAmerican]

5. Because after two years of occupation we do still do control a seven mile

strech of road. Our soldiers are scared to death over there and itchy on the old trigger finger!

[Igel]

I just keep hoping for new facts.

And decent hearsay is getting harder and harder to come by.

'Sermonti, who spoke with Scolari, says, further, that "Calipari was speaking in English with someone in the airport telling them to get ready when, just as they reached the airport, without any warning, the opened fire." '

I.e.:
Orcinus says that Sermonti says that Scolari (says that Sgrena) says that Calipari was speaking with someone.

[madrchsod]

6. you must have just got here...

we at du were on the story the moment it broke.go back thru the pages and you`ll find lots of info.

[AlamoDemoc]

7. Well, it is said that

just before she was kidnapped by unknown Iraqi resistance group she was the only western reporter in fallujah reporting atrocities taking place in fallujah at the time...this was the second Fallujah assault by the US marines before she was kidnapped.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Reminds me of the S.S. Liberty "incident" of '67. Same motivations

I would imagine... warcrimes noted and attempts made to silence the witnesses. In the case of the Liberty though... it was an ally trying to sink one of our ships and killing 47 U.S. sailors in the process. My my how things never change.

[FreedomAngel82]

24. She also

I read had reports about them using naplom in Falljuah so that would've been damaging. Who knows what else she knew.

[Nikepallas]

8. From what I have read of her articles and all reports she had the goods

If half of her articles are true it would be a matter of time before BUSHCO is up on human rights violations.

[FreedomAngel82]

25. I hope

so. Because it's pure madness. It's awful what they're doing to everybody involved. I hope she isn't silenced in any way.

[Yosie]

11. Napalm

The buzz is that she blew the whistle on the US use of mapalm -- numerous DU posts with reference to an Italian newspaper story.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. It was perhaps an opps or

a) She knew too much and was a liability to the Admin.

b) The US was miffed about her ransom being paid. (Her theory)

c) A reason yet unknown.

It's like, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? The world may never know.

[applegrove]

13. Don't drive through the road block!

[shadowknows69]

15. tin foil...is it possible?

that the soldiers in question were ordered to ambush an oncoming "insurgent motorcade" and stopped attacking after they realize it was civilians. I still think the temple shot that killed the negotiator sounds too much like a first shot from a sniper in a larger ambush.

[bklyncowgirl]

14. One question. If this was a hit, why is she still alive?

I don't believe the administration's version for a moment.

On the other hand, if this was a deliberate hit wouldn't the US forces perpetrating the attack make sure that the object of the attack was good and dead. We know they cut off the cell phone transmission to the Italian Prime Minister. At that point a simple bullet through the head would have ended the problem and insured that there were no witnesses.

Instead, the survivors were given first aid.

This argues rather strongly for the screw up theory--unless of course a detachment of US troops were placed in the area and kept deliberately unaware that the triumphant Italian hostage team was coming through.

Strange, very strange.

[bpilgrim]

18. if the operational cover was 'it was a tragic accident' then of course

would provide transportation and first aide to any survivers...
the only minor problem with the plan was that she survived.

be hard to explain murdering them at such close range now wouldn't it?

but the cover is still ACTIVE.

of course that is just 1 possibility.

peace

[FreedomAngel82]

29. Very true

Don't forget they were firing at her and somebody jumped in her way and saved her. I believe he's dead now.

[K-W]

20. Sometimes people survive.

That is her story, she lucked out. Not all assassinations succeed... but its hard for us to know the validity of such a claim when we have so little reliable information about what is going on in our own military.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. What if they didn't know what had already been said on the phones

If I'm correct they were talking on the one phone when the attack began. If this is true they may not have known for sure if they were already outed. This is just one theory of course.

[FreedomAngel82]

28. I wouldn't believe

the Bush administration story either. I'd believe the Italians probably more. Especially after all they've lied about.

[Azathoth]

16. From what I've seen, I think it was just a mistake

This isn't the first time we've accidentally shot up a car full of innocent people. In truth, you can't really blame the troops for being hypersensitive and overreacting, since every damn day another car bomb goes off somewhere. I think the thing that complicates this is the fact that the Pentagon immediately responded to the incident in the only way they knew how: by lying through their teeth. They knew they had screwed up, and they immediately went into damage control mode and tried to make themselves look completely innocent by embellishing details such as the speed of the car and the number of warnings they had supposedly given.

All that aside however, and despite the reporter's boyfriend venting his anger to the press, I've seen nothing to suggest that there was anything particularly unusual or sinister here. Just another fuck up in a war zone.

I think the best evidence that this was an honest mistake is the fact that the reporter lived. If the troops had meant to murder her, they could have very easily finished the job. Instead, they pulled her out of the car and sent her off for medical treatment.

[pabloseb]

17. Was it really the troops that pulled her out?

At this point there's so much we don't know. However, two things we know:

1) An innocent was killed by US troops almost at the airport - one of the most heavily fortified sites in Iraq.
2) The * administration isn't telling the truth about the incident.

Even if it was a "mistake" it's an extremely serious incident.

[pabloseb]

19. A third point

3) Even though we don't know if she was targetted, the hypothesis has enough merit to be considered. That by itself shows the level of criminality of the Iraq invasion.

[Bluebear]

26. Wow that's a biiiiiiiiig leap

"I think the best evidence that this was an honest mistake is the fact that the reporter lived."

The man who died threw his body over the reporter to shield her and was shot in the head!

[FreedomAngel82]

30. I was listening

on Laura Flanders an Italian correspondent talking about this. They KNEW she was leaving. According to him anybody wanting to leave Baghdad at the airport had to make arrangements and times. They can't just go there and leave. So if the people who shot at her were people who did checkpoints they knew she was leaving. Also, why did they cut off her phone? Also someone jumped in the way and saved her so she wasn't killed. Also not just anybody can have a car or gun in Iraq according to him as well.

[FreedomAngel82]

21. According to what I'm hearing

is she had some information. People in the place she was being held warned her about it too. I made a post about what an Italian correspondent was saying about this from Laura Flanders' show. Basically he was saying they had to know she was leaving because they have to make arrangements and times to leave. There was no "accident" in them trying to kill her. And also when you're in Baghdad not just anybody can have guns and cars there. You have to have permission and things like that. It was a complete setup.

[mmonk]

27. They were ordered to fire?

They might not have been privy to their identities although the military was alerted. It may not have worked its way to them.

[K-W]

31. It would take an investigation to get to the truth.

The question is whether a real one will be done.

[FreedomAngel82]

32. If they have

watches working I think they knew. Like the Italian guy said you can't just walk up and run to the airport and leave. You have to make arrangements and times to meet and leave. Also has anybody in the administration made a report that they were going to look into it? Or it's just a statement that said "oops" all over it?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

33. Is there only one single check-point in all of Baghdad?

What I have read is that she passed through several check points on the way to the airport. Surely, surely she was checked several times by the MANY check-points that must exist on the airport road in the green zone and that the highest level of clearance was given for her to get to the airport by U.S. officials. If a known missing Italian journalist and hostage arrives at the first check-point, what are the soldiers there going to do when they discover her identity? They're going to verify up the chain of command, ending at the highest levels. I would assume that her arrival was being transmitted to everyone along the way. I tend to think that this was an unfortunate accident, an unforgiveable breakdown in communication, on the part of the US military, because if the US had really intended to kill her, they would have used Iraqi mercenaries disguised as insurgents and they would have hit her just as she reached the green zone.