Posted on 03/08/2005 10:13:31 AM PST by Crackingham
Gianfranco Fini, the Italian Foreign Minister, increased a diplomatic row with the United States today by demanding that Washington identify and punish those responsible for the shooting of Rome’s top intelligence agent in Iraq. Signor Fini dismissed the American version that a lack of communication was responsible for the death of Nicola Calipari, who died in a hail of gunfire from US troops as he escorted a freed Italian hostage to Baghdad airport on Friday. Signor Calipari had made "all the necessary contacts" with US authorities in Baghdad, the minister said.
In his account to parliament of the shooting, which has sparked a diplomatic row with the US, Signor Fini said: "The reconstruction of the event does not coincide fully with what the American authorities have told us."
He said that the car carrying Signor Calipari and the freed hostage, Guiliana Sgrena, to freedom was not speeding and was not ordered to stop by US troops, as American officials have indicated. He also dismissed as "groundless" a suggestion from Signora Sgrena, the hostage in question, that American forces had ambushed the car because they disagreed with Italy's policy of paying the ransom demands of Iraqi kidnappers.
Italy reportedly paid more than $6 million (£3.1 million) for Signora Sgrena's release, which was negotiated by Signor Calipari himself.
"The car was travelling at a velocity that couldn't have been more than 40 kilometres (25 miles) per hour," Signor Fini said.
Rejecting the ambush claim, Signor Fini said: "It was an accident. This does not prevent - in fact it makes it a duty - for the Government to demand that light be shed on the murky issues, that responsibilities be pinpointed, and, where found, that the culprits be punished.
"We ask for truth and justice."
The minister took pains to point out, however, that Italy has an "old and empathetic friendship" with the United States, adding: "We hope that that within the next few hours this affirmed wish for loyal co-operation will yield its first major concrete result.
"We hope that this is not an opportunity to whip up political campaigns and to sow anti-American sentiment in public opinion, which certainly have no reason to exist."
Thanks much, piasa! Those links/references help put together the history of the M.O. they seem to be using, as well as the connections between the Antiimperialista and the Iraqi insurgents. As I'm thinking about this I'm wondering if it puts together some puzzle pieces with respect to other psyops the antiwar movement has pulled in Iraq--you'd have to figure some of the same people were involved with, e.g., Michael Moore's stunts, etc.
It's past time to send a message. IMHO we badly need to send some "white boys" (i.e. non-Muslim, non-Islamists) to the Big House, or even better to Gitmo. There's a danger that the left will successfully spin this as a new "McCarthyism" (of course, despite the posturing, they're deep racists and will have a whole different range of reaction when white-skinned radicals are targeted) so the signature cases will have to be airtight and will have to be handled adroitly.
What's really enraging is that, apart from the conservative press, the MSM has globally ignored this phenomena. For example it's been several years now that we've watched associates of FARC, Hamas, Abu Sayaf, etc, speaking at "anti-war" rallies, and not a peep about it from the mainstream media. Literal warmongers leading "peace" rallies, and ABC-CBS-NBC-NYT-WP-LAT couldn't care less. If remotely similar acts of deception and hypocrisy were carried out in the name of any non-left movement it would be trumpeted in banner headlines.
Who could this information be sent to where it might result in jail time and/or debilitating lawsuits for the perps?
Ah, I forgot Lynne Stewart. That's a start.
Don't push your luck, Tony. Look what's happening to French wine.
Since you noticed the fishy Japanese hostage thing right off, here's another ping.
I love listening to a politician unafraid to speak his mind. What a little weasel.
--Boot Hill
Incredible, the idiot with his foot in his mouth wants the world to believe that on the single most dangerous and bloody highway in all of Iraq, that Sgrena's car "couldn't have been doing more than [25 miles] per hour"!
LOL, and he wants the world to beleive that the concrete barriers in the middle of the road weren't part of any U.S. Army check point, where they'd have to stop and identify themselves, heck no, they were there simply to break the monotony of the long drive!
I love people stupid enough to advance a theory that has a logic hole in it big enough to drive a truck through. It takes a politician and/or a lawyer to do that with a straight face.
--Boot Hill
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