Posted on 03/05/2005 8:54:10 AM PST by Lessismore
ROME - The companion of freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena on Saturday leveled serious accusations at US troops who fired at her convoy as it was nearing Baghdad airport, saying the shooting had been deliberate.
"The Americans and Italians knew about (her) car coming," Pier Scolari said on leaving Rome's Celio military hospital where Sgrena is to undergo surgery following her return home.
"They were 700 meters (yards) from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints."
The shooting late Friday was witnessed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office which was on the phone with one of the secret service agents, said Scolari. "Then the US military silenced the cellphones," he charged.
"Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive," he added.
When Sgrena was kidnapped on February 4 she was writing an article on refugees from Fallujah seeking shelter at a Baghdad mosque after US forces bombed the former Sunni rebel stronghold.
Sgrena told RaiNews24 television Saturday a "hail of bullets" rained down on the car taking her to safety at Baghdad airport, along with three secret service agents, killing one of them.
"I was speaking to (agent) Nicola Calipari (...) when he leant on me, probably to protect me, and then collapsed and I realized he was dead," said Sgrena, who was being questioned on Saturday by two Italian magistrates.
"They continued shooting and the driver couldn't even explain that we were Italians. It was really horrible," she added.
Sgrena, who was hospitalized with serious wounds to her left shoulder and lung after arriving back in Rome Saturday before noon, said she was "exhausted because of what happened above all in the last 24 hours".
"After all the risks I have been running I can say that I'm fine," she said.
"I thought that after I was handed over to the Italians danger was over, but then this shooting broke out and we were hit by a hail of bullets."
The chief editor of Sgrena's left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto Gabriele Polo meanwhile branded Calipari's death a "murder".
"He was hit in the head," he said.
Calipari will be given a state funeral Monday.
And I bet Jeff Gannon was the shooter! Well, I guess it could have been Karl Rove. Or Halliburton....
No, it was Alberto Gonzales doing the shooting!
This disgusting propaganda is proof that the media is neither free nor fair.
Terrorist sympathising reporters should not be allowed into the country. It just isn't worth it.
These nitwits brought the attack on themselves. Had they stopped they would not have been fired on.
"Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive,"
Oh PUHLEEZE!
Why did the Italians refuse to stop for the checkpoint?
This is the same Pier Scolari who just yesterday said he didn't blame the troops because they were just "scared boys" but he blames the people who sent them to Iraq.
He seems to be trying out different storylines.
The Italian communists and our Democrat party -- share the same delusions of sanity...and hatred for America.
Semper Fi
I have a feeling that this reporter and all her communist friends, in their excitement to have a perfect anti-American story, are going to push this too far until their wild accusations are not even believed by fellow Italians. I think we're approaching that point now, with the "silenced cellphone" and "US military did not want her to survive" angles. We should just play rope-a-dope for a while and let their accusations get ever wilder. They're hanging themselves. (I wonder if they're trying to throw up smokescreens to cover the fact that a ransom was paid to terrorists?)
No, it was John Adams who did the shooting!
2: No communications with Allies as they neared the crossing point. One of the most dangerous, based on past history.
3: After a few rounds in front of them, they kept on speeding forward (This is not Monza, guys!).
I would say it was a successful extraction. Mission accopmplished under the terms the Italians wanted to play. Bravo Zulu!
They're also hiding something, or they wouldn't have refused to stop at that checkpoint.
If it was deliberate she would be dead. Unlike some armies our troops can and do shoot straight and hit what they aim at.
""Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive,""
Why didn't they shoot her again before they pulled her out of the car?
These people are a joke. They made sure that everyone knew that she thanked her captors. And now with her new fame she will beat the US over the head for years.
It seems to me that a troop withdraw is in order because the elections were a success. Let’s let the Italians go home.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
Extract? They reportedly paid ransom for her. If so, that wasn't an extraction, it was a pay-off. And Heaven help any other Italians in Iraq, because their country just made them bigger targets.
Okay, here we go the antiAmerican, anti-war, Italian peacenik has begun her hate-America propaganda parade. We knew it was coming.
The CNN story that he did not blame the troops was based on a mistranslation of his statements. He said that either it was intentional or else the troops are just scared boys blasting everything they see. But he never said that he didn't blame the troops.
The italian media (translations available of some stories at IGA) is now reporting that both Giuliana and the other surviving agent concur that they were not attacked at a checkpoint. A roving patrol illuminated their car with a spotlight then commenced firing.
When did Condi Rice know about this?
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