Is anyone suprised?

[bfp]

Pinko Commies.....



The AP reports that the Italian story of Giuliana Sgrena's release and later wounding at an American checkpoint, which also resulted in the death of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, [continues to fall apart]. Two Italian newspapers now say that the general in charge of the Sgrena operation did not inform the US that Calipari's mission was to free Sgrena, and one of them reports that General Mario Maroli didn't even know it himself:

U.S. forces in Iraq were only partially informed about last week's Italian intelligence mission to release a hostage, which ended with a shooting on the road to Baghdad airport and the death of secret service agent Nicola Calipari, Italian newspapers said Friday...

Both newspapers cited a report by Gen. Mario Marioli, an Italian who is the coalition forces' second-in-command. The report has been given to Rome prosecutors investigating the killing.

According to the newspapers, Marioli informed U.S. officials that Calipari and the other Italian officer were there, but not that the mission was aimed at releasing Sgrena.

The papers had conflicting versions over how much Marioli knew: Corriere said he knew the Calipari was working to have the hostage released, La Repubblica said he didn't.


Sgrena also changed her story, subtly but significantly today:

In a statement released after the shooting, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said the vehicle was speeding and refused to stop. The statement also said a U.S. patrol tried to warn a driver with hand and arm signals, by flashing white lights and firing shots in front of the car into the engine block.

In interviews published Friday, Sgrena said that no light was flashed at the vehicle and that the shots were not fired in front of the car.

"It's not true that they shot into the engine," she told Corriere della Sera, adding that the shooting came "from the right and from behind."


That qualification changes the entire tenor of the story. Either one would have to believe that the checkpoint soldiers stopped the car and then shot it out -- from behind! -- or that the car never stopped at the checkpoint and traveled so fast that the soldiers could only catch up to it as it passed through. Think about the options for a moment. If a checkpoint successfully stops a suspicious vehicle, why would soldiers walk around behind it to open fire? They'd risk hitting their unit at the front of the car. Tactically, little gain would come from getting behind a potential VBIED in open space when one could get at least some partial protection from a potential explosion by the checkpoint barricades.

This story gets fishier and fishier on every retelling. First we have a "rain of bullets" and Sgrena scooping them up by the handful off the seats, and then we see a car with two bullet holes in it, one of which went through the right front tire. Next the Italians tell us that the US had full operational knowledge of the mission when it turns out their own military leadership was possibly kept in the dark. Now Sgrena tells us that the Americans fired from behind the vehicle when they stopped at the checkpoint, the only position where US soldiers would risk hitting their own troops.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Element4040]

Guess what I think?






Someones lying

Originally Posted by Element4040

Guess what I think?






Someones lying

I suspect a journalist with no combat experience (and clear antipathy toward the US) who has been held hostage for a month and then has her car shot and a rescuer killed is in a poor position to be a credible witness to the events.

I'd bet she has a poor detail memory of the events and I bet I would too.

How many guards were at the check point and how many witnesses not in the car? Do their stories echo one another?

[Satchel]

lol citing the AP are we?

[bfp]

I have no problem quoting the AP, so long as their reports are accurate.

[Satchel]

how do you make that distiction?

[bfp]

Originally Posted by Satchel

how do you make that distiction?

By finding multiple sources that report the same/conflicting information.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by bfp

By finding multiple sources that report the same/conflicting information.

Please cite them. Until then this is "he said she said" and both parties have an interestin lieing and putting a "spin" on this event.

[bfp]

Originally Posted by Krash

Please cite them. Until then this is "he said she said" and both parties have an interestin lieing and putting a "spin" on this event.

What kind of information would you like? There is alot of information related to the subject at the present time.

Here are some right now at the moment. I will find some more:


[Here]

[Here]

[Here]

[Here]

[Here]

[Satchel]

lmao X 10chars

[bfp]

Originally Posted by Satchel

lmao X 10chars

Alright. Thanks for explaining your positions so well.

Originally Posted by bfp

This story gets fishier and fishier on every retelling. First we have a "rain of bullets" and Sgrena scooping them up by the handful off the seats,

did she really make this claim?

if so did she mean it metaphorically?

does she realize how fucking hot lead is coming out of the barrel of a gun, and then emerging from penetrating steel?

[Satchel]

Originally Posted by bfp

Alright. Thanks for explaining your positions so well.

I don't have a position to take. I'll wait and see how it plays out. I just thought it was funny when I clicked on your "source" Uncle Sam told me to take my dirty liberal pinko ass to canada or something like that

[bfp]

Originally Posted by xiannaix

did she really make this claim?

if so did she mean it metaphorically?

Suddenly as they were talking to each other without any signal a flashlight was switched on and three or four hundred bullets were shot towards the car. Giuliana told me she collected handfuls of bullets on the seats.

[Here]

does she realize how fucking hot lead is coming out of the barrel of a gun, and then emerging from penetrating steel?

That's why everyone thinks she's full of shit.