more bad news from iraq: recently freed Italian journalist fired on by US troops

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U.S. Forces Fire at Freed Reporter's Car, Agent Killed

43 minutes ago

ROME (Reuters) - U.S. forces fired at a car carrying Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena shortly after her liberation, killing an Italian secret service agent and lightly wounding the journalist, her newspaper said on Friday.

Gabriele Polo, the editor of Il Manifesto newspaper, said Sgrena's car was fired on as it made its way to Baghdad airport.

"This news which should have be a moment of celebration, has been ruined by this fire fight," Polo told Sky Italia television.

"An Italian agent has been killed by an American bullet. A tragic demonstration which we never wanted that everything that's happening in Iraq is completely senseless and mad," he added, struggling to fight back his tears.

The Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi sent his condolences to the family of the dead agent, who was named by Il Manifesto's Polo as Nicola Calipari.

Sgrena was seized in the Iraqi capital on Feb. 4 as she conducted interviews on the street near Baghdad University.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

of course, tho (and this thread is prolly guilty of it too) this will get more media coverage than, like, actually dead iraqis.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Wounded in the shoulder apparently. Did the Italian secret service and the U.S. Army not talk about all this together? If not, why not?

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Irony's a better read, I guess.

― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

probably because we don't have any italian translators, or some other stupid fucking reason. gah.

i mean, don't get me wrong, i think this is a top-down leadership problem. most of the soldiers and marines i've met who've been over there (at least once a weekend a guy comes in the bar, super-drunk, on his 14 days R&R, and we talk about it, and i have to admire their courage in the face of so much carnage and stupidity) (and i've got friends there too, a good friend from hs who is a marine lt., just married, ships out this month) realize the job is impossible and cope with it the best they can (ie. we're gonna have a lot of damaged guys when this whole thing is over). i am in no way blaming the dudes who have boots on the ground. but it's clear that the US military leadership, both civilian and career military, has got some serious problems.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there more to the story? Like, if the US military said "Stop" and the car didn't stop, S.O.P. is kill the driver. There have been plenty of US troops killed by bomb-laden vehicles, in case anyone hadn't seen those stories.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:44 (twenty-one years ago)

it just was run on the wire 40-some minutes ago, so i'm sure more details will emerge.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, there's probably more to the story. maybe the italians were throwing firecrackers out the window to celebrate?

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

that's what i'm saying, dave: it might not be entirely the gi's fault if the rules of engagement themselves are fucked up, dig?

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Did anyone else see that footage of soldiers lighting up a car of Iraqis who were following them too close near the end of 'combat operations' last year or so? They obviously get sketched out when people who dont speak their language get too close and dont show signs of letting up.

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure what else anyone expects them to do.. Is there a better way of dealing with that situation. If a guy with a bazooka tells me to stop, I'm going to either stop or change course - not keep driving at him. But I'm assuming a lot here - we still don't know what happened.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't know if there's a better way either, i do think however that current roe in iraq isn't work (obv.).

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i definitely don't have an answer as to how roe should be changed, either. i would expect perhaps some military dudes might be working it out (when rummy is not asking them to draw up syria or iran invasion planz).

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe the Iraqi gunmen should keep all these journalists in protective custody until the end of fighting, just to be on the safe side.

― andy --, Friday, 4 March 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

The soldiers involved have been cleared - Italians not happy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4485429.stm

The Italians in the car say they did inform the US of the rescue and were not warned until very close to the checkpoint, at which point they stopped the car and THEN the US soldiers opened fire. It'll be interesting to see how Berlusconi deals with this.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

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