Sgrena contradicts the US: the car wasn't speeding

No Headlines in Italy for this:

Sgrena contradicts the US: the car wasn't speeding

13:04 Sgrena contraddice Usa: "L'auto non andava veloce"
"Non andavamo molto veloci, date le circostanze", ha detto oggi Giuliana Sgrena ricostruendo il drammatico incidente di ieri sera a Bagdad dopo la sua liberazione, in cui è stato ucciso Nicola Calipari.

www.repubblica.it...

Reminder:
500,000 people demonstrated in Italy for her and against Italians in Iraq - the largest demonstration in many, many years in Europe.

Sgrena alive was the last thing that Berlusconi wanted.

And it says the US knew about the car:

13:11 Scholars: "Americans knew of the passage"

"the Americans and the Italians had been inform you of the passage of the car. They were to 700 meters from the airport, wants to say that all the controls had passed ". Pier has said Scholars exiting from the Celio.

I guess "it" can say whatever it wants... Even if the command knew it was coming, if it didn't pass that little bit of info along before hand, those peple, tragically, were handled correctly. The car didn't have to be speeding... If they were signaled to stop and did not, then that is most unfortunate.

In a combat zone, one does not get the opportunity to make too many mistakes that impact someone elses life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

According to Turkish Press a companion of Sgrena also said that:

"They were 700 meters (yards) from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints."

we are yet to see the last of this...



source



[edit on 5-3-2005 by transient]

[QUOTE]What a load of BS, in the unlikely event that the Americans wanted that granny dead, they would have used Arab-dressed dudes, maybe even make a video.[/QUOTE]

The plan was to kill her (or at least wound her) AFTER she was released.
It's the same mind control program to terrorise the sheeple that started with the FBI burning children live in Waco, 1992.

NATO didn't murder Kelly because they were afraid of his "revelations".. At the time he was murdered even the last sheeple knew that there were no WMD in Iraq and it was all forged.
NATO (i.e. the illuminati) murdered Kelly to terrorise the sheeple. To show them what anyone compromising them must expect.

I completely agree with MM's words, that the powers that be knock people off as a message to say, "This is what happens when you oppose us."

However, they don't make mistakes like this one. She was only lightly wounded and was discharged from hospital. In the event of this being a planned assassination, one of the "soldiers" would have been a plant and would have made sure the job was done right.

That being said, her reporting has always been ANTI-Iraq invasion and describing the sufferings of the Iraqi people since the invasion began, so the motive is still there.





[edit on 2005/3/5 by wecomeinpeace]

Also FYI -


The Italian media has been going public with US dirty laundry. Especially depleted uranium and its health effects on soldiers.

This looks like payback. ...have also read that the journalist had "information."

IRAQ-MEDIA: All Flights Lead to Rome

Also see: Poison DUst: Depleted Uranium Kills


.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
However, they don't make mistakes like this one. She was only lightly wounded and was discharged from hospital. In the event of this being a planned assassination, one of the "soldiers" would have been a plant and would have made sure the job was done right.

If you view this was done by "them" - I disagree, they make mistakes all the time.

There were undetonated bombs in Oklahoma City. John Doe two was sighted by several people.

The first WTC bombing was meant to bring the building down, but they didn't park the van close enough to the support beam.

So if you believe in the "they" theories, they're certainly not infallible.

I don't know. I not so willing to write this off as an "accident". The soldiers could have been acting alone for all we know or they were acting under orders. Let's watch and wait to see what comes of this. What information does this reporter have I wonder. Will she release it now, or will she bury it for fear of another "attempt" on her life. Soldiers can be pretty Patriotic to the point of blinding them, they can also become sadistic or careless(when in a Warzone, war brings out the Best and Worst in people, mostly the Worst unfortunately). Basically all I am saying is to not jump to conclusions as of yet. These questions need to be answered first. Who knew she was in that car and when did they know it? That is the key.

[edit on 5-3-2005 by sardion2000]

An updated story says it wasn't even a roadblock, just a patrol, and they fired as soon as they put the spotlight on them:

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.

who should we believe with no proof, how do we know she wasnt disoreinted and really couldnt tell how fast they were going or if it was a checkpoint, she admits they didnt stop and they dont use spotlights randomly, this shows they didnt know who it was.

Originally posted by namehere
who should we believe with no proof, how do we know she wasnt disoreinted and really couldnt tell how fast they were going or if it was a checkpoint, she admits they didnt stop and they dont use spotlights randomly, this shows they didnt know who it was.

Agreed. If I had just been released after months in captivity, even going 90 mph in a car would probably seem like it was crawling along, I'd be in such a hurry to get out of there.

I wonder why the US spokesman in Baghdad isn't giving details on the checkpoint. What are they hiding?

Kansas.com

"It was not a checkpoint, but a patrol that fired after having shone a floodlight at us," she told ANSA.

Sgrena also disputed that the car was speeding.

The U.S. military did not describe the nature of what it called a checkpoint, such as whether it was marked or well lighted. An American spokesman in Baghdad said he had no further information.

When stopping a car or investigating a possible bomb, U.S. patrols often set up makeshift checkpoints by parking Humvees in the middle of a darkened highway and treating any vehicle approaching as hostile. Iraqi drivers sometimes don't realize they are upon an American position until it is too late. Dozens and perhaps hundreds of Iraqi civilians have been killed in the last two years after failing to stop while approaching military convoys or checkpoints, including at least nine in the last two months, according to news reports and U.S. military statements.

American incompetence at its best We'll never know the true story with all the disinformation from the US military and the corporate media combined with the demonizing that will come out of Italy

thanks,
drfunk

More details are surfacing from Sgrena including the following quote:

"Everyone knows that the Americans do not like negotiations to free hostages, and because of this I don't see why I should exclude the possibility of me having been the target."

There's definately more to this story than is being told from the garbage rags of CNN/Fox news. It doesn't appear that the usual trigger happy U.S. soldiers were the 'real' culprits here. It looks like the U.S. is going to make sure that they isolate Italy in much the same fashion that they have severed good nation ties with France, Germany, etc.

news.bbc.co.uk...

brill

all these "checkpoints" are famous by their "fire at will" tactics upon the approaching cars. first of all, we have to understand their point of view. they are soldiers, who are following orders. they are stationed at the most critical point: a checkpoint, where thousands of people pass everyday. i understand that they have strict orders, to prevent the unpredictable suicide assaults. so that maybe "justifies" their action a little bit. because if they REALLY wanted her dead, they would leave that dirty work to the iraqi "insurgents" and terrorists. why would they want that blame on themselves? why would they kill an italian agent and get the relations between usa and italy worsen? in italy there are 100.000 people protesting against war in iraq, so why would they risk an action like this?

this is all too weird for me....

Another PR triumph for the US army. Shoot an Italian spy and then refuse to explain what happened. There really is no justification for such a screw up.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Look here this suggests more than that...

In fact she suspect the US wanted her dead!

[edit on 6/3/2005 by Corinthas]

a few points about sgrena:

- her reports filter the impact of conflict through the lives of ordinary people
- shewas one of the founders of the peace movement in the 1980s
- she refused to become embedded with the u.s. military during the war
- she interviewed an iraqi woman who said she was held at abu ghraib prison for 80 days by u.s. forces
- sgrena's outspoken anti-war stance should have endeared her to iraqi insurgents fighting the u.s.-led forces
- she told italian radio of the "rain of fire" on her car, which she said was not going particularly fast.
- she told her colleagues that her captors "never treated me badly"


now for a few questions:

who held her hostage? and what was the motive?
why was such a high profile, newly released hostage, not given a military escort to the airport?
or was she given a military escort to the airport?
why was there no radio contact to the US checkpoint warning of her passage?

Originally posted by Souljah
a few points about sgrena:

- her reports filter the impact of conflict through the lives of ordinary people
- shewas one of the founders of the peace movement in the 1980s
- she refused to become embedded with the u.s. military during the war
- she interviewed an iraqi woman who said she was held at abu ghraib prison for 80 days by u.s. forces
- sgrena's outspoken anti-war stance should have endeared her to iraqi insurgents fighting the u.s.-led forces
- she told italian radio of the "rain of fire" on her car, which she said was not going particularly fast.
- she told her colleagues that her captors "never treated me badly"

Don't forget to add:

1. Not only is she anti-war, she's anti-American - and has been for years.

2. She works for a Communist Newspaper