Posted on 03/05/2005 6:21:41 PM PST by Lessismore
"She got the money for her terrorist friends, maybe they convinced her that their cause was lost without a "martyrdom" operation."
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Maybe her whole "kidnapping" by the terrorists was a set up, and she went there willingly, so she can write about how well they treated her -- that is what she is saying, now when she no longer has to fear them.
Maybe they ran the checkpoint, expecting to be fired on, so she can agitate against the Americans, that they shot at her -- they just didn't expect anyone to die, but it was worth the sacrifice, as long as it helps their anti-American cause.
Things are not always what they seem. Your comment made me thing along these lines.
Sgrena also needs to get her story straight. First she claims the military used a flashlight, then a spotlight, then:
in an interview with Italian La 7 TV, Sgrena said "there was no bright light, no signal, and at a certain point, from one side, a firestorm erupted." http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=554726&page=2
Well, she is a communist so I suppose the truth ain't in her.
The soldiers said they aimed at the engine block -- that is very reasonable, because they wanted to stop the car, in case it had a bomb. Killing the occupants, wouldn't necessarily stop the car.
Besides, we only had the journalist's word on the idea that the agent died because he was covering her -- this sure made it sound more dramatic.
How in blazes would soldiers who were manning a checkpoint in the middle of bum-f*ck Iraq, in the middle of the night, possibly know that the passengers in the vehicle which was speeding toward them, and ignoring major league signals to stop (gunfire, etc.) were "Europeans, journalists, Italians, Communists and terrorist sympathizers"? Think about what you are posting.
"Then I personally hope that President Bush makes it clear to our friend Berlusconi that we demand an investigation into why the Italian car, driven by an experienced Italian agent, attempted to blow a security checkpoint."
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Exactly!
You mean the bullets were aimed at the car?
The car not stopping, but instead speeding toward a checkpoint?
In a region swarming with suicide car bombers?
BTW, machine gun bullets are not stopped by a single human body...even after penetrating a windshield. He did not save her by covering her with his body. She just lucked out with a shoulder wound.
Another money laundering transfer from the start.
I think we've had enough of your US Military-bashing, A. Hole.
An unmarked vehicle with local plates travels at a high rate of speed towards the airport and refuses to stop at the US military checkpoint. What did they think was going to happen?
A.Pole doesn't have a brain. Not one that works anyway. If it was known who was in that car, US forces would have wanted her alive to find out all she knew about her contact with the terrorists, where she was held, etc. To kill someone with potentially useful information just because of she was an Italian or a commie is absurd to the n-th degree.
Well, for the sake of our people who are actually having to make life-changing decisions in an instant, please try not to confuse them with the postings here from people frustrated by the willingness of some media outlets to portray American soldiers as "Scared, trigger-happy cowboys with blood on their hands."
Whew, long, run-on sentence, sorry.
But, really, when you get down to it, who derives the most benefit from something like this? For every person who thinks that American troops deliberately targeted this woman, there's one who thinks that something smells rotten in Denmark.
A website forum like this one is certainly going to be represented by more of the latter. If you went to DU's site, it would be 180 degrees different.
You might want to try looking over there to compare what those people think about this. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of people there who advocated trying and executing GWB or D. Rumsfeld for war crimes. Is that what they really feel? I dunno, all I know is that the Internet is an updated version of the CB radio syndrome, where everybody can adopt a different, more agressive persona with relative anonymity.
I completely agree. Unless there are significant facts that have not been disclosed which would justify what is happening (which I doubt), President Bush should immediately intercede and put a stop to this maliscious, demoralizing, and destructive prosecution. In any event, whoever is responsible (including the accuser) should be severely punnished for the harm being caused to the USA.
I have a little more faith in our military justice system than you appear to.
Plausible. And if true, a cell phone call (by the Italians) might have avoided the shooting.
The Italians reputedly paid $5 million to get this America-bashing communist reporter freed. As a practical matter the reporter was able to fund the terrorists she sympathizes with to the tune of $5 million. That will buy a lot of car bombs to set off against American Marines and soldiers.
"I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the whole kidnapping exersize was a publicity hoax (to damage the capitalist West in general and the USA and Berlisconi specifically). "
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GMTA -- I was wondering about the same thing.
I guess some of us are more willing to take the word of the US military, than that of anti-American, pro-communist, pro-terrorist sympathizer.
I sincerely hope that you're right. However, as a former enlisted man, I know for a cold, hard fact that if it's your word against an officer's, guess what? What size sledgehammer would you like? Unlike the Ski Lift fiasco in '99 where a hot shot pilot (an officer, naturally) got off after deliberatly flying his aircraft below the ridgeline to get a cool video of it (which he and his fellow officer conspired to destroy, and what the Italians are actually angry about) cutting the cable and sending a bunch of people plunging to their deaths, an enlisted man is going to be screw, blued and tattooed, and that's after being crucified. If you don't believe that, I would have to say that you weren't ever in the service. If you were, my apologies. Unless, of course, you were an officer. Wink.
I am a retired Air Force JAG. Believe it or not, some of us went after officers more aggressively than we did enlisted. I certainly did. I always believed officers should be held to a higher standard.
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