[Wiz]

Uh oh, more inconsistency spotted on the incident of the shootings. The expected speed of the vehicle is being altered and several versions of stories are coming from Italy.

AP - Italy Foreign Minister Disputes U.S. Claim

Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, speaking to parliament, also ruled out suggestions that the shooting that killed Nicola Calipari was the result of an ambush, but reiterated the government's demands for a full explanation from Washington.

"The car was traveling at a velocity that couldn't have been more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) per hour," Fini said. There were no attempts to stop the car, as indicated by the U.S. military, he added.

Guess what mr. Fini have said on another day.

Reuters - Italy doubts US version of Iraq shooting

As they neared the airport, the car slowed to about 40-km/h because the road was wet and because the driver had to make a sharp turning. Half way around the curve, a searchlight picked out the car and guns opened fire for 10-15 seconds, Fini said.

Reuters - Italy doubts U.S. version of Iraq shooting

According to Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera, the driver, an unidentified Italian agent, said: "We were driving slowly, about 40-50 km/h (25-30 mph)."

Sgrena, if my memory is correct, claimed 50 Km/h (30mph), and the soldiers claimed 80km/h (50mph). While there is a gap between Italy and the US on the speed, there is also gaps beween Sgrena, the driver and mr. Fini. I wonder if anyone had an eye on the speed meter in the vehicle second by second?

[SZonian]

Michelle Malkin has this interesting little tidbit on her site.........
CNN DOES IT AGAIN
By Michelle Malkin · March 08, 2005 06:49 AM
Yesterday, CNN published an article stating:

In an article published Sunday in her communist newspaper, Il Manifesto, Giuliana Sgrena wrote, "Our car was driving slowly," and "the Americans fired without motive."
About 15 minutes after I pointed out that Sgrena's Il Manifesto article said no such thing, CNN quietly removed the fabricated quote and replaced it with this:

In an article published Sunday in her communist newspaper, Il Manifesto, Sgrena also described a "rain of fire and bullets" in the incident.
CNN neither mentioned the change nor provided an explanation as to how the erroneous quote appeared in the article in the first place.

I thought that was the end of it, but this morning I learned that the fabricated quote is back! Bob K., the reader who brought this matter to my attention yesterday, points to this article, published yesterday at 3:32 pm EST. The article reads in part:

CNN's Rome Bureau Chief Alessio Vinci said that in various interviews Sgrena disputed the U.S. account that the car was driving fast and warning shots were fired.
She wrote in her paper that "our car was driving slowly" and that "the Americans fired without motive."


Oops!

We know the quotes didn't come from Sgrena's Il Manifesto article, despite CNN's repeated assertions.

So where do the quotes come from? According to this article, Sgrena's driver that said he was driving slowly:

According to Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera, the driver, an unidentified Italian agent, said: "We were driving slowly, about 40-50 km/h (25-30 mph)."
Maybe CNN has simply gotten Sgrena confused with her driver. If so, it's not a hanging offense, but I don't think it's too much to expect CNN to note its error and stop repeating it.