Posted on 05/02/2005 4:48:13 PM PDT by Para-Ord.45
ROME - Italian investigators blamed U.S. military authorities for failing to signal there was a checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad road where American soldiers killed an Italian agent, and concluded that stress, inexperience and fatigue played a role in the shooting, according to a report released Monday. The probe found no evidence that the March 4 killing of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was deliberate. The Italians challenged the American contentions that the car was traveling more than 50 mph, saying it was going half that speed. But, despite their refusal to sign off on the U.S. report that the soldiers bore no blame for the death, the Italian investigators didn’t object to many of the American findings of fact Calipari was killed just after he secured the release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena from Iraqi militants who held her hostage for a month. U.S. soldiers fired on the Italians’ vehicle as it approached the checkpoint near Baghdad’s airport. Sgrena and another Italian agent were wounded. 'Inexperience and stress' “It is likely that the state of tension stemming from the conditions of time, circumstances and place, as well as possibly some degree of inexperience and stress might have led some soldiers to instinctive and little-controlled reactions,” said Italy’s report. U.S. investigators, in their report made public Saturday, said the American soldiers gave adequate warning, beaming a light and firing warning shots, as the car traveled toward Baghdad’s airport. They cleared the U.S. soldiers of any wrongdoing, sparking outrage in Italy, where Calipari had been hailed as a hero.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
OK,why would anyone manning that check-point with half a brain go one mile up the road and WARN EVERYONE there`s a check-point up ahead !!! ???
I think the inexperience and stress is on the part of the Italian driver
or the fact the Italians have no concept of what was going on in Iraq the last few years to understand why the Americans haven't got time to second guess......
do they admit they never informed the Yanks of this operation as the Italian commander on the ground admitted previously
Para-Ord.45 wrote:
OK,why would anyone manning that check-point with half a brain go one mile up the road and WARN EVERYONE there`s a check-point up ahead !!! ???
--> They think they live in california?
Not even Caltrans will warn you they are going to F* you that far ahead of time.
What about the fact that the soldiers at the checkpoint reported that 15-20 other cars passed the checkpoint without incident that night before the Italian car came upon it? Why didn't the soldiers' "inexperience" cause them to shoot at those cars? Maybe because the drivers of those cars weren't speeding towards the checkpoint at 60mph while chatting on a cellphone, talking excitedly with those in the backseat and paying little to no attention to what was going on around them.
Exactly so. Now Italian pride wimps out to communist lies.
I wonder if the Italian whitewash, err investigation, commented on the Italian government's unofficial policy of paying bribes to terrorists? Do they think that this may have contributed to her kidnapping in the first place? Just who put Italian citizens in jeopardy?
lol......no wonder the Roman Empire crumbled.....too many manned checkpoints with advanced notice I guess
Yo, Berlesconi, check the autopsy again. Calipari was shot in the head at very close range WITH HIS OWN PISTOL! Check the round, check the wound, check the powder burns! Sgrena murdered Calipari as they were driving to the airport! Check her personal finances! She how she explains all the recent cash, the money Calipari was able to save by negotiating with the Muslim scum. Sgrena killed Calopari. The evidence is clear and easy to read!
This incident shows how good our guys are, in spite of people ignoring/disregarding they are in a war zone, that this doesn't happen more frequently. If anyone doesn't believe rules mean something, let them forget/ignore those rules in a war zone. I say our guys did a helluva job in not turning the car and its occupants into dust which they could have done.
The Romans would laugh at the wimpy Italian government today as a joke. Remember those guys would kill one in ten soldiers as punishment for poor proformance.
This was not caused by "inexperience". Quite the contrary, the factual real-world experience of out soldiers and thir commanders on the ground led directly to this outcome. We have learned that vehicle travelling toward a manned checkpoint at high speed and ignoring commands to stop usually have evil intent, and have to be stopped, and stopped hard, in just seconds.
I am quite sure that these soldiers followed their orders flawlessly. And I am equally sure that those ordes were necessary to provide adequate force protection.
If anything, it was the inexperience of the Italian operatives with operating in Iraq that led to their fatal errors approaching the checkpoint.
I think this is proven conclusively by the fact that several vehicles had earlier passed through the checkpoint without incident simply by behaving in a safe, sane, and non-threatening manner.
Most Americans regret that the Italians feel put out by all this, but really, it was their own d*mn fault.
Learn to drive, and for goodness' sake, coordinate your movements in a war zone!
Where is your evidence of these alleagtions?
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