Thursday, March 24, 2005


The United States promised 'full cooperation' (1) to Italian authorities in their investigation of the attack on the car carrying Giuliana Sgrena to the Baghdad airport. Apparently, 'full cooperation' doesn't include allowing the Italian investigators to actually see the car in which she was being driven, as the Pentagon has barred two Italian policemen from examining the car (2). This is the respect the Americans show their ally Italy, whose citizens are dying in the place of Americans in the illegal and immoral American occupation of Iraq. Of course, the Americans can't show the Italians the car, as the bullet holes in it would clearly demonstrate that it was not the subject of some unfortunate checkpoint misunderstanding, with bullets flying everywhere from terrified American soldiers, but a carefully planned and executed ambush engineered to kill only one person, Giuliana Sgrena. The bullets were fired to stop the movement of the car, allowing the sniper one clean shot at the intended target.


Some feel that the real target (3) of the assassination was actually Nicola Calipari, but I think that is unlikely. The Americans have had many chances to kill Calipari, and would have had many more. The killing occurred at the last possible moment they had to kill Sgrena before she was flying back to Italy. Calipari must have sized up the situation and understood immediately that it was an ambush directed at his passenger, and jumped in front of her out of instinctive motives of morality and duty, thus taking the bullet intended for her. At earlier checkpoints the Americans no doubt saw where Sgrena was seated, and thus radioed their sniper to direct his shot at the passenger seated in the middle of the back seat. The shot was perfect, but the sniper could not have counted on Calipari moving in front of the shot. The Italians should respond to the obvious insult of not being allowed to see the car by pulling out all their troops immediately.

Notes

1. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/03/68e26dc1-0236-4
c98-a92a-b33ecc8bbd45.html

2. http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-740304.php

3. http://www.uruknet.info/?p=10332
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=10372
http://www.zmag.org/Italy/cardulli-intervistachiesa.htm