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Originally posted by MattMarriott
The reason Sgrena was not executed after being injured was that they would have to kill any other officers that were not aware of the plan.
Originally posted by WeBDeviL
The Marines at the Checkpoint see a speeding car coming at them, so what do they do? Warn it to stop.
Originally posted by MattMarriott
After the demonstration of 500,000 people in Italy, following her videos accusing the US of destroying Iraq.
Sgrena alive was the last thing that Berlusconi wanted.
Originally posted by kenshiro2012
The Italian Secret Service Ignored protocol, did not identify themselves, did not obtain the proper clearances nor communicating with the U.S. forces.
This is on top of this check point being one of the most dangerous as it has been the target of many terrorist attacks.
Ace of Base, Have you been in any situation where you have had to defend / protect yourself? Have you been in a wartime situation?
By your remarks, I am fairly sure that the answer to both questions will be no.
The troops that man these checkpoints are under orders to protect themselves. If there were not car bomb attacks occuring olmost daily in Iraq, then yes maybe the outcome would have been different.
Also remember, If you (or anyone else) come racing up to a checkpoint in any country, manned by any nationality, the chances of you being shot at are extremely high.
if the Italian SS had followed any of the normal proceedures, then instead of the car being fired they would have been excorted through by armed guards.
Originally posted by rapier28
Just out of curiosity.
Does anyone know how many clips there would've used up for 4-500 bullets?
Was they reloads?
seattletimes
Sgrena, who was interviewed by investigators at the Rome hospital, denied that the car was speeding, according to ANSA news agency.
"The firing was not justified by the speed of our car," she reportedly said, adding it was traveling at a "regular" speed. "It wasn't a checkpoint, but a patrol which shot as soon as it had lit us up with a spotlight. We had no idea where the shots were coming from."
It remained unclear whether the Italians notified the Americans at the airport that they were en route. However, the plane picking up Sgrena was a special Italian military flight whose landing would have been known at some level of the U.S. military.
The Italian journalist who was wounded by American troops at a checkpoint in Baghdad shortly after she was released by her Iraqi captors denied US allegations the car she was in was speeding.
Giuliana Sgrena gave her first account yesterday of the incident in which she was wounded and Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed.
The shooting has fuelled anti-American sentiment in a country where people are deeply opposed to the war in Iraq.
''We thought the danger was over after my rescue,'' Sgrena told Rai News 24 television by telephone.
''And instead suddenly there was this shooting, we were hit by a spray of fire. I was talking to Nicola ... when he leaned over me, probably to defend me, and then he slumped over. That was a truly terrible thing.''
Her boyfriend, Pier Scolari, said she told him that the car had not been speeding.
Sgrena subsequently told interviewers the car was traveling at ''regular speed''.
The US military said the Americans used hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and fired warning shots to get the car to stop.
But 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''.
Originally posted by cargo
I'm genuinely interested in whether there are any reversed situations where Americans take friendly fire, and how far back you have to go in decades to find such cases.