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Giuliana Sgrena Blasts U.S. Cover Up- Confirms she was shot at from behind-not in self defense

by Open-Publishing - Thursday 28 April 2005
44 comments

Edito Newspapers-mags Wars and conflicts International USA Italy

Yesterday, I spoke with Giuliana Sgrena by telephone from Rome, where she is recovering from the injuries she suffered as a result of the shooting. I began by asking her reaction to the Pentagon report.

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, for the moment we have not an official result of the reports, but we have some rumors about the conclusion of the report, so I am very sad about that because I was - is words that I was waiting. I thought that maybe the Americans will spoke of accident or something like that, but now they say that the US military because they have no responsibility for what happened the 4th of March in Baghdad. They say that they respected all the engagement rules, and that is not true, because I was there and I can testify that they just shoot us without any advertising, any intention, any attempt to stop us before.

So I think that it’s very bad this conclusion because they don’t want to assume any responsibility and they don’t mind about our testifying, my one and the one of the Italian intelligence agent that these are quite the same. We were there and we are in a position to testify what happened, so it’s not true that the Americans say, what the commission say. So we are very afraid, we are very worried about that, and also the Italian government for the moment, they doesn’t accept this conclusion, and those of the Italian members that were in the commission, so it is a very bad situation. They wanted to give a strike to the Italian government even if they are allied in the war in Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: Giuliana, the US military says your car was going very fast.

GIULIANA SGRENA: That’s not true, because we were slow, and we were slowing down, because we have to turn. And before there was some water, so it’s not true that the car was going fast.

AMY GOODMAN: They say the soldiers used hand and arm signals, flashed white lights and fired warning shots to get the driver to stop.

GIULIANA SGRENA: No, they didn’t. No, no. No light, no air fire, nothing at all. They were beside the road. They were not on the street. They were away ten meters, and they didn’t give us any sign that they were there, so we didn’t saw them before they started to shoot.

AMY GOODMAN: Did they shoot from the front or from the back?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No, on the back, not on the front. They shot on the back, because Calipari was on the back on the right and he was shot dead immediately, and I was injured on my shoulder, but I was shot by the back. So I am a proof that they were shooting on the back and not in front of the car. We can see by my injured where I was shot.

AMY GOODMAN: Did the Italians do this report with the US military?

GIULIANA SGRENA: There were two Italians in the commission, but they don’t accept the conclusion of the commission, so now there is some discussion between the Italian authorities and the American ambassador here in Rome. But the two members of the commission, they don’t accept the conclusion of the commission, so there is a problem.

AMY GOODMAN: Did the Italians — were they able to inspect the car?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No, we are expecting for the car tonight in Rome. We are supposed, the car will be in Rome tonight, and so the judges that they are doing the normal inquiry they can, they could see the car. I hope to see the car also, but we don’t know in which condition we will receive the car. And the Italian judges, they don’t know also the names of the soldiers that were involved in the shooting.

AMY GOODMAN: The other person in the car.

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Did the two of you testify?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, he did the same testifying as mine, but the American, the commission didn’t take in account our testifying. It seems to be like that, because they didn’t mention about our testifying.

AMY GOODMAN: After they shot you and killed Calipari, what happened to the other man?

GIULIANA SGRENA: The other man left the car and was shouting that we were Italian and of the embassy, and he was speaking on the telephone with the Italian government. And we have, my husband, for example, he was there listening the call. And at a certain moment the soldiers, they imposed to these agents because these are agents of the Italian intelligence, and they imposed him to cut the call with the weapons.

AMY GOODMAN: Say that again. What did they do?

GIULIANA SGRENA: They stopped him to — he was talking by telephone with the Italian member of the government. It was Berlusconi there and the — it was his advisor Letta, there was the chief of the intelligence and also my husband and the director of my newspaper, because they were there waiting for our news of the liberation. And they was talking about the shooting and at a certain moment the soldier, the American soldier stopped him and with the weapon they imposed him to cut the communication.

AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened?

GIULIANA SGRENA: And then what happened I don’t know, because I was injured, so they brought me to the hospital, and I don’t know what happened to the other man, to the other agent.

AMY GOODMAN: Did you get permission, did Calipari get permission to drive on the road to the airport?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Of course, I was there when they called. They called the Italian, because there is an official that is linked to the Americans. And this Italian general spoke to the Captain Green, that is the American one, telling him that we were on this road and that they were aware that we were on that road. And this happened at least 20-25 minutes before the shooting.

AMY GOODMAN: This road...

GIULIANA SGRENA: They knew that we were on this road.

AMY GOODMAN: How do you know that they knew?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I know because I was there when the agent called the Italian one, the general that is in charge for the communication with the Americans, and this general did a testifying, telling that he was there with the Captain Green, and Captain Green was immediately informed about our traveling to the airport. And the Captain Green didn’t say no, so I think that he’s right. And he’s a general. I don’t think that this general made a wrong, false testifying.

AMY GOODMAN: So you’re saying Calipari spoke to — this was an Italian or US general?

GIULIANA SGRENA: The Italians, they can’t speak to the Americans directly. There is a man, a special man, a general that is in charge for the communication with the American commanders. It’s impossible for an agent, an Italian agent, to speak with the Americans directly. I knew the rules because I was there many times. And I know that every time always in Iraq there is an Italian that is in charge for the communication with the Americans. And in this time, in this moment, was a general that was there speaking with the Commander Green that was the correspondent, American one. So I knew about that. And in all the newspaper, Italian newspaper, was published that. So there is no problem of communication. Commander Green knew about our presence on that road. If he didn’t inform the mobile patrol, we don’t know. But he knew, the commander, the American commander knew about it.

AMY GOODMAN: And where did the conversation take place? Was it in the Green Zone?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Which one?

AMY GOODMAN: The one where Calipari talked to the Italian general.

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t follow the general, because they are the places in the Green Zone I don’t know where, I can’t know where are the general. You know is a secret place. Because it is very dangerous in Baghdad, they don’t say where they meet.

AMY GOODMAN:Giuliana Sgrena, can you explain the road? This wasn’t the regular Baghdad — the road to the airport that you traveled on? This was a special road?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes. It was a special road for people that are working in embassies, or they are Americans, or they are contractors. Special people that go to the airport.

AMY GOODMAN: And did Calipari inform the Americans when he arrived in Iraq what he was doing?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know. This I don’t know. I can’t testify about it. But I think that the intelligence has the possibility to do — anyway, he got a badge from the US commanders, because he has to go around with weapons and so. But I didn’t know what he told to the Americans he wanted to do. I can’t say.

AMY GOODMAN: You mean a badge he got, like permission to go?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes. I don’t know. To go around in Iraq you need a badge. And Calipari got a badge from the American commanders in the airport. And they knew that he was there with a car, with weapons, and with another agent, and all these kind of things, because if not, he couldn’t go around. But what he really said to the Americans, I can’t say. I can’t know. They are intelligence. They don’t say to other people like me what they say, what they are doing. You know?

AMY GOODMAN: Giuliana, did you encounter any other US military on that road before you were shot?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No. No, we didn’t.

AMY GOODMAN: And where did Calipari pick you up? How did you get rescued?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know, but I was not — I was covered.

AMY GOODMAN: Right now, do you think that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is doing enough in your case?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Sorry?

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think your prime minister, Berlusconi, is doing enough in your case?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, because I am free. I think that he did before. Now I don’t know what he is doing? But before, he did, because I am free now, you know? And I am happy to be free.

AMY GOODMAN: What do think should happen right now, Giuliana Sgrena?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know.

AMY GOODMAN: What are you calling for?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I am calling for the withdrawal of the troops.

AMY GOODMAN: From Iraq?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, of course. The Italian troops from Iraq, and also the Americans. But for the moment, as I am Italian, I ask for the withdrawal of the Italian ones. But my situation will be the withdrawal of all the troops from Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: Are you satisfied with Berlusconi saying they will come out by the end of the year?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Sorry?

AMY GOODMAN: Are you satisfied that Berlusconi has said they will pull out the troops by the end of the year?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I am not so sure they will, so before, I want to wait if they will really withdraw all the troops.

AMY GOODMAN: And in terms of your report right now, the US military is saying the Italians don’t want to sign off on it. Will the Italian commissioners sign this report?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know. How can I know? I don’t know. I can’t meet the Italian members. I don’t know.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you feel like a fair investigation has been done?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No, I don’t think so.

AMY GOODMAN: Who do you think should be held responsible?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know. I wanted to know, but if there is no further inquiries, it’s impossible to know.

AMY GOODMAN: Right now, you are calling for the troops to come out. Are you now continuing to write about Iraq? How are you feeling?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Now I am very bad, because my physical situation is very bad, so I can’t work for the moment. This is my problem. I am not well, I am very sick. Still I am still very sick, so I can’t work for the moment. I am going every day to the hospital. I am very tired, you know?

AMY GOODMAN: Where did the bullet lodge in your body?

GIULIANA SGRENA: The bullet was in the shoulder, but some pieces reached the lung, so I am very, very sick.

AMY GOODMAN: And your time in captivity, do you know who held you? And how were you treated?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I was treated normally, treated from the material point of view. But I was prisoner, so I was without freedom. And this is very terrible. But I didn’t know where I was. I was in Baghdad, but I don’t know where.

AMY GOODMAN: And do you know who held you?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No.

AMY GOODMAN: We all saw the videotape. What were the circumstances of the videotape?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Of course when you hostages, they tell you what you have to do, what you have to say, you know? But I don’t like so much to speak about my period of kidnapping, because I spoke so much about it that every time that I think about that I am so sick. That is bad for my health, you know? I always go back to these things and I prefer it, if possible, don’t to speak so much about that, because it is very bad for my health.

AMY GOODMAN: President Bush. Do you have a demand of the US President, the American President?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No. I want only the truth. But they don’t seem to be interested to find the truth about what happened in Baghdad that night.

AMY GOODMAN: Will you go back to Iraq?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No.

AMY GOODMAN: What will you do?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Sorry?

AMY GOODMAN: What will you do?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know. For the moment, I don’t know. I have to take care of my health, you know? I am very bad — in very bad situation.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you feel like there is a cover-up here?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Sorry?

AMY GOODMAN: Do you feel like there is a cover-up? Do you feel that the investigation has been covered up?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, of course. They don’t want the truth. They don’t want to tell the truth.

AMY GOODMAN: What would make them tell the truth?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t really know. Maybe if the Americans, they press the American government to tell the truth. Because, if the Americans, they don’t mind; we are small, we are Italians, we are few Italians, what we can do? I think that it is important that the Americans, they press their government to tell the truth, because it’s in the interest also of Americans, the truth. Not only of Italians, I think. So if you make actions with press on the government, you, maybe you can do something for us.

AMY GOODMAN: And when you were in Iraq, as a reporter, before you were captured, what do you think was the most important story for us all to understand?

GIULIANA SGRENA: I was looking around to see what the people were thinking about. And overall, I was interested in Fallujah. But when I went to interview some people from Fallujah, I was kidnapped. Some people were not interested in my story about Fallujah, I think.

AMY GOODMAN: What did you have to say about Fallujah? What did you discover?

GIULIANA SGRENA: Just stories. I have not a scoop about Fallujah, just stories.

AMY GOODMAN: Why did you go to Iraq to begin with? It was a dangerous place. You knew that.

GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, I knew. But I am a journalist. I went to Somalia. I went to Afghanistan. I went to Algeria. I went every places. And I went to Iraq also. I can’t go only where the places are not dangerous. It is our work that is dangerous.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you regret having gone to Iraq?

GIULIANA SGRENA: No, I don’t regret.

AMY GOODMAN: And in the car, before you were shot and Calipari was killed, what did he say to you? What did you talk about?

GIULIANA SGRENA: About the liberation, about experiences. About I don’t remember, really. I was very happy to be free. But I was happy only for 20 minutes, and then it’s finished. And now I am very sad. I am very painful, I am very tired. I am very...

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much for being with us.

GIULIANA SGRENA: Okay. Thank you.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/27/1350235

Forum posts

  • Ms.Giuliana Sgrena by her own account is not telling the complete truth. First she stated she was shot from the front, and now she says they were shot at from behind. In both cases she also states Mr. N. Calipari used his body to cover her from bullets. But there is no logic in why he would cover her using his body if shot from behind given that would not protect her at all. IF shot from the rear what would be logical would be for both people to get down on the floor of the car which she did not state occured. Ms. Giuliana also stated she was shot in the shoulder. But if a bullet entered behind her, she would have stated she was shot in the back---and she didn’t. These are just two examples of Ms. Giuliana’s accounts that simply do not bear logic.

    • Kindly cite your source of any quotation from Sra. Giuliana stating she was "shot from the front." The American soldiers might have said they fired from the front but in what article did Mrs. Guiliana state it?

      If you were sitting up in a car that was being fired at from the back, wouldn’t you try to get down on the floor or would you remain sitting upright making yourself an easy target? Once you were down wouldn’t it be logical for someone trying to protect you to get on top of you? In nonviolence training people are sometimes taught to fall on people being beaten to protect them from being beaten.

  • does anyone know what happened in fallujah? does anyone have a picture of the supposed toyota corolla that they were driving?

    I don’t care about giuliana, but if fallujah is like another my lai massacre in vietnam, I could see why so much attention is being paid to discredit her

  • I trust the words of Giuliana over anything that the US media has made up. Of course they are going to try and cover up what the US did, shooting at journalists is a war crime. Of course the US has been shooting at journalists the entire time. There was the incident at the palestine hotel, the same day that they US ’accidentally’ bombed al jazeera and another tv station. And then there was Mazen Dana, who had reportedly filmed mass graves in Iraq, who was shot while filming. The US thought his camera was a gun. Sure.

    The reason the US would shoot at reporters is that they are reporting the truth about what is happening in Iraq. Now why in the world would the US want to hide the truth? Giuliana could have been taking pictures of all the reconstruction.

    It is really sad, with Giuliana in captivity that whole time, the Iraqis at least kept her safe and treated her with respect. They were happy for her the day they were to set her free. They even warned her that the Americans wanted to kill her. Then when she is set free, maniacal killers shoot her, lie about it and now she has to deal with trying to get the real truth out while trying to heal herself and it doesn’t sound like she’s in a good way. It might have something to do with the DU in the bullet they lodged in her shoulder that hit her lungs.

    Get Well Giuliana! There will be justice.

  • Rules of Engagement, folks. You just don’t like it because "La Mia Disgrazia" was a communist, pro-terrorist Komrade. Too bad about that. When a Marine with an M16 that can fire a shot through a concrete wall tells you to stop, you stop, dammit all. Or, you go down. And when they say slow down, you slow down. Take your pick. Iraq is a war zone, whether you agree with it or not. A full investigation has taken place, though I understand few on this site will trust its’ conclusions.
    You say she "may have been photographing reconstruction work." Are you serious? Sgrena was an America-hating, Bush bashing Communist journalist who despised the war, and did everything in her power to subvert world opinion to thinking Americans are the criminals and Saddam was the greatest thing since sliced bread. No, my friend, Sgrene would NOT ever been reporting on the reconstruction efforts or anything remotely positive about Iraq, unless it was how many soldiers died at the hands of terrorists, her heroes.

    And by the way, have you noticed how the left wing mainstream media i.e., everyone EXCEPT Fox News and the New York Post - dropped this story like a bad habit? They know Sgrena’s version stinks like 3 day old fish, and they cannot afford another scandal like Rathergate or Jason Blair. Even if it means they have to pass up another opportunity to bash the US military or make the USA look bad, and Yes, I’m referring to especially the New York Times and the Washington POst. They despise their country, shame on them and their liberal Jewish owners. Have you ever heard a Chinese speak out against China? Or a Russian speak out against Russia? Or a Frenchman speaking out against Chirac? Of course not. It’s unheard of for a person to betray their country. Only Americans, who have entirely TOO MANY FREEDOMS to open their mouths and chat rubbish, and too much idle time on their hands to do these treasonous things (i.e., Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, and others from Holly-weird).

    Sgrena’s party deliberately gunned the engine, taunting the military to take a shot at them, thinking they would not. Just like Saddam, they "chose wrong."

    Gardis
    Proud to be an American

    • I’m sitting in Wisconsin, USA, and am deeply ashamed of the last comment I read on this string.

      The soldiers I encounter who are on leave from the Iraq war, are the most embarrassing bunch of swine imaginable. The military seems to have brainwashed them into fascist killing machines. They aren’t Americans anymore, they are damaged goods and should go find another country to live in.

      The USA has been seized by criminal scum. Would the civilized nations please remove them ? Send UN peacekeepers, quick! The Iraq war is criminal. Germany got spanked and divided for a while. Partitioning the USA into several countries, at least for a few decades, would be a great idea.

    • Gardis,

      Running for president?
      You sound like the type who can sort the world out.
      if only there were more people like you. right?

    • Proud of ambushing, murdering, stealing, torturering and bombing?
      If that is the case - my God may bless you and give you some brain. The American God is a merciless figure from fairy tales.

    • From Gardis, to Gardis....oh how I love me, Am I running for president? Well I should I’m such a great and smart guy. There’s nobody quite like yours truly, the paid stoog and troll for Bu$hco.

    • Just following orders folks. Or the devil made me do it. Or God appeared to me and in a vision told me to murder all of those nasty brown mistakes for the oil and anything else Bu$hco needs. Sounds good to me.

    • What exactly are you proud of, you damn fool?

      Our destruction of Falluja? Invading an occupying a country that posed no threat to the US? Spending billions of dollars on a war and occupation that could have been used more productively to meet domestic needs and to support worthy international projects, like fighting AIDS? Jingoistic characters like you who mindlessly support the policies of the worst president since Reagan are the reason Americans are so hated around the world. And if you don’t think that’s true I suggest you travel a bit.

    • It sounds like you’re all for a communist system even though you hate communists. Perhaps you should see a doctor about this. Although the first thing they might do is deal with thoughtless rambling. Probably give you a post as a lawyer, politician or your own show on FOX.

    • Why don’t you go hang out with your buddies in the Northwestern Frontier of Pakistan and see how they treat you? Your treachery is disgusting. Millions risk—and many lose—their lives to get to America and take advantage of everything you take for granted. The soldiers you hate keep your head on your shoulders.

  • That is the only way American soldiers can fight: unarmed old people, children and women and to add more heroic touch to their God’s work - shoot them in the back.

    Americans, Britains and Israelis they are all alike.

    • I do not know the truth here and I expect few do. There is now a claim of satellite images that have the car approaching the crosspoint at 60 mph. This is now, whether you want it to be or not, a very dangerous place. Only a fool does not give way to man with a gun pointed at him. This was a special road with a known checkpoint with men with guns in charge. It would only seem a little prudent to be cautious? It appears the men who held Giuliana Sgrena were after money in the form of ransom, mere thugs, and they had found someone willing to pay. They are the worst kind of vulture capitalists the world has to offer.

      Where oh where is the truth I ask? The truth is twisted to fit your political bent, no matter which side you chooose. Both sides seem willing to lie to fit their political desire.

    • it is quiet a councidence that the US satellite would take a series of pictures of the right area at the right time, don’t you thing? Or does US have billions of satellites taking zillions of pictures of everything everywhere all the time? Sounds to me like a nicely made up cover-up. You need more than 1 photo to establish speed.

    • "I’m referring to especially the New York Times and the Washington POst. They despise their country, shame on them and their liberal Jewish owners."
      — Gardis, Proud to be an American

      ". . . shoot them in the back.
      Americans, Britains and Israelis they are all alike."
      — Unnamed America Basher

      So which is it? Is Proud American right that Jews publish treasonous anti-war propoganda? Or is America Basher right that Jews are the primary war-mongers, in Iraq and other hot spots? Either way, the good news is that opposing extremes in international conflict have reached full agreement: Whatever the problem is, it’s all the Jews fault.

      In related news, leaders from disparate and occasionally warring religious factions (including conservative and fundamentalist Jews, Muslims, and Christians) convened a press conference to declare full agreement and solidarity — in hating gay people.

      So you see, the solution to all complex international conflicts is easy. We just have to find some minority group to hate together.

      Martians maybe?

      — Adam

  • The only people supporting this Communist piece of scum are the Communists scum at Democratic Underground - you know: the silver spoon wannabe rebels that are mainly Colleg Kids on mommy & daddy’s tuition money.

    • If that’s your idea of an argument, that’s pretty pathetic. But what else to expect from a right-wing Bushlicker than such mindlessness?

    • How about our silver spoon wannabe president Bush , who was mainly a college draft dodger on mommy and daddy’s tuition money and political connections , you freakin’ waste of oxygen .

    • NOTHING THAT’S IT!

    • Communists, communists, communists, communists, communists, communists, communists, that is all the Moron Bush buttkissers can think up.

    • Don’t mind him, he just works for the CIA in the
      propaganda department for misinformation.

    • You are a disgrace. You have a coward for a President, a thief for a vice president and an unfortunate space between your ears. The lady was shot...... by your lot. End of story. You destroyed Fallujah, she knew it and you weren’t happy because the truth seems to be a stranger to your nation. Although I don’t know why they don’t just tell you of their atrocities because it seems that people like you would actually be proud to be known as part of a tribe of savages.

  • Give me 1 reason Guiliana would lie. What would she have to gain?
    I believe this woman is a LOT more credible then the Bunch of Chronic Liars that the U.S. calls the W. Administration.
    The US will kill ALL those who report the truth, they need to be in FULL contol of all the propaganda that comes out of Iraq... re
    member W’s good old statement" You are either with us or against us"?
    How about the young americn womn who died last week (she was couning the civilian casualties in Iraq), they should investigate he circumstances of her death, as she WAS a liability and suddenly she was supposedly killed by a car bomb.
    You are with them or against them and if against them...You must go!!

    • "He [carpani] told Sergeant First Class Feliciano that he heard shots from somewhere, and that he panicked and started speeding, trying to get to the airport as quickly as possible. Mr. Carpani further told Sergeant First Class Feliciano that he continued to speed down the ramp, and that he was in a hurry to get to the airport."

      "(U) At approximately 2030 hours, Major General Marioli approached Captain Green and asked him how he was doing and if Lieutenant Colonel Zarcone had told him what was going on. Captain Green said no, but that he suspected it had something to do with the Italian journalist. Major General Marioli said “Yes, but it is best if no one knows.” Captain Green took this as an order from a General Officer not to pass that information on to anyone. (Annex 109C). Moreover, Major General Marioli did not intend for Captain Green to take any action whatsoever on that information. He only told Captain Green so that he would not be surprised when Ms. Sgrena arrived. (Annex 100C)."

      "(U) Approximately 20 minutes later, a phone call came in to the third Italian VIP at the site near Checkpoint 539. The call brought news of the shooting. Captain Green made contact with U.S. personnel in a nearby Bradley Fighting Vehicle and confirmed the shooting. Captain Green subsequently was able to speak with Captain Drew at BP 541. Captain Green discussed the matter with Captain Drew and relayed to Major General Marioli that it was best for them to return to Camp Victory as the wounded were being transported to the Combat Support Hospital in the International Zone. (Annex 107C). Major General Marioli was very appreciative of Captain Green’s coordination efforts following the shooting. (Annex 100C)."

  • Well I’m glad to see I"m not the only supporter of America on this site. We are few and far between. Yes, the left is angry, shrill, screechy and preechy. If you don’t think Saddam Hussein was a threat, my dear, I pity you. Thank god you are not in contrll of decision making. YOu should spend some time watching the History Channel. Last night a program on exactly what went on with AA Flight 11, that crashed into the North Tower. They have PHONE CALLS you idiots that blame America, from the flight attendants telling American Airlines operations center exactly what was going on. There is no question what happened, and yet you do not believe. I heard some idiot lefty try to tell me that the FBI passenger lists don’t even show the terrorists as being on the plane!! Nothing but Conspiracy Theory.

    We are facing a resolute, murderous enemy that must be crushed. So what if we are hated in the world. That’s YOUR version because you also hate us, even if you are American. I don’t give a bloody hell what the "world" thinks , according to who, Maureen Dowd? And for your information, if the Useless Nations had stuck to their guns, and insisted that the inspectors return in 1998 when Saddam threw them out, and if Clinton had the balls to force their return, none of this would have been necessary.
    Gardis

    • Iraq had nothing to do with the 911 attacks. Saddam Hussein didn’t throw out the inspectors. They were recalled to protect them from pending US bombing.

    • Thank you for your angry, shrill, screechy and preechy (sic) post, Gardis. The great unwashed and ungrateful are truly benifiting from your insights. Curious though, you seem to advocate a conspiracy theory of your own : that thousands, if not millions of people (including Americans) who witnessed the events of 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Iraq question the motives and intentions of the U.S. government not because of giant holes in the official version or blatant controlling of information by corporate media or obvious lies to their own citizens to drum up a war frenzy, but because normal, educated , free-thinking people have suddenly turned into slobbering zombie "lefties" who hate the very notion of the country they live in and the freedom of speech they abuse. I can’t risk the chance of you being right, so I’m never leaving my house again for fear that a "lefty" might spring from the shadows and suck my patriotism dry.
      ---J.C.

    • "We are facing a resolute, murderous enemy that must be crushed"....Bu$hco!!!

    • Saddaam not as bad as reported.

      1). He did not gas his own people

      2). There are not 400,000 people buried in mass graves.

      3). He was not found hiding in a hole.

      See the second article entitled Sadaam a Victim of Lies? on:

      http://bushplanet.blogspot.com/

    • Whilst the myth that Saddam Hussein forced the UN weapon inspectors out of Iraq such is not the case. They left because of the imminent threat of war.

      From the BBC - UN weapons inspectors say they have been warned by the United States to start leaving Iraq in what is seen as the clearest sign yet that war is imminent. 17th March 2003

      From CBS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday ordered all U.N. inspectors and support staff, humanitarian workers and U.N. observers along the Iraq-Kuwait border to evacuate Iraq after U.S. threats to launch war. 18th March 2003

  • Communism is stale and boring—but deadly—poison.

    • Prove it. I think you could probably explain your entire understanding of communism in three foot high letters on the back of a postage stamp.

    • Mao, Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, Castro, Ceausescu . . . that communism results in the death of those deemed problematic for the state is evident from even a cursory review of the past 100 years. Where has communism NOT resulted in the summary imprisonment and murder of dissidents?

    • Don’t get into trading lists.... you’ll lose..... Pinochet, Suharto, Hitler.....

    • You’re listing various dictators. That’s not what I’m selling. Try USA, UK, Canada, France (yes, France), Holland, Poland (now), Japan, Portugal—any place with rule of law, not dictators, communist or otherwise.

  • Giuliana Sgrena is a lying commie and yes I know I’m being redundant when I say that. If she had been a hostage for more than 30 days, I would question her awareness of reality at the time. Her story was that the car was met with with a hail of bullets. There was a picture of the car, it looked intact. The way she was talking I thought it would look like swiss cheese. Frankly, I found the whole situation ironic. She was taken hostage and made miserable by the very people who she thought she was going to help and support. Apparently they didn’t want or need either.

    • It is clear that if one is to take this entire event as to what actually happened to Giuliana, we can be sure that her goals as a person and personal convictions would be the reason she was chosen for this attack. This attack as all in this so called "Terrorism War" is simply nothing more that a corporate media military corporation backed propaganda stunt and a message to anyone who would subscribe to the ideals of social democracy, responsible accountable government, and a non military oriented economic oligarchy which is obviously in power at this time.

      It is an obvious response from those that live the oligarchic self deceptions that these largely money controlled institutions are, and they are namely geopolitcial use of religions as a deviding ground between common economic classes both being manipulation by the master global investor class. The middle class of both the Iraqi and American nations are in termoil that has been created by government condoned and corporation backed propaganda for profit models, clearly the Orwellian predicted method of global mind and behavior control and that is to control the free flow of infornation and the perceptions of the population especially the exploited lower and middle tax paying class. Thise corporation controlled propaganda of NewSpeak is then the final terror that will be brought against those that believe not in the way of the gun or that of social domination, but believe in the intelligent and educated use of ones mind, those in his/her community, and any that would have empathy for human life and the safety of our planet.

      The Corporation Investor organized Terrorism Propaganda based Behavior Mind Control Model which is the active profit model since the beginning of the 21st century and is being developed outside the legal scope of International Law, the UN, the US Constitution and Civil Protection afforded by these. It is the psychological fear response of information and behavior orthodoxy oligarchies (religions, military, economic programs, and media information models) to the wide and varied Internet information sources outside the channels of the traditional tools of the profit for propaganda which is the global corporate media mind control NewSpeak oriented organizations.

  • A vehicle runs a checkpoint in the dark. After curfew. Doesn’t stop. It gets shot at! Cased closed!

    • It becomes quiet clear that the use of checkpoints and GUNS is great way of bringing people closer together.
      It encourages trust when you read about the tight control and very accurate chain of command that has zero errors
      in the use of military action against only known enemies, well armed with guns. (NOT). About the children (some babies - I bet those had a bomb straped to their baby bottle when some mindless well intention MIND PROGRAMMED LOWER and or MIDDLE CLASS AMERICAN corporation slave soldier LEARNED TO FOLLOW HIS PAYCHECK MASTERS death ORDERS and NOT HIS CONCIENCE or to find HUMAN EMPATHY IN HIMSELF to decide who and what to shoot especially in the dark.

      I am sure that all the worlds problems will be solved with weapons, ESPECIALLY NUCLEAR ones. Wouldn’t is be fun if we applied your checkpoint logic to a country that MAY HAVE WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION. Hey "BOB, Lets NUKE EM" - They might have the Abomb. This sounds so stupid and so much like what your slave master and paycheck BOSS MAN wants you to think. And remmber the BOSS MAN doesn’t have to go into war only them LOWER CLASS dumb dumbs that believe my BUllSHit.

      And if they don’t sumbit to the mindless coropration dribble of kill first and ask questions about how to cover this up later through our propaganda channel back home. Lets all decieve ourselves so we "can lie about ourselves to the world as heros of death and debt to our middle tax paying class and our disadvantaged lower class that has been destroyed by the paramilitary and covert operations of using drugs in all the nation-state slave worker countries that are part of the G8 so this class of people will remain "mind controlled" in a drug stupor and will NOT ACT to retain their human dignity against their slave masters and corporation propganda prison economics. No they will be looking for their next drug fix and not the real solution to their problems the virtual total control of their mind and bodies by the drug dealing, gun selling, death promoting, and Atom Bomb build love fest we call a geopolitcial economic military government. Doesn’t that sound like an advanced well integrated and socially responsible species.

      Remember our freedom and democracy depend not on GUNS, but on the ability to communicate with other human beings HONESTLY and truthfully encouraging each other to live in peace and to aid each other in living securely and with a social compact to positive growth and responsible DEVELOPMENT----- AND not on the RULES that BOSS man GAVE me for my CHECKPOINT PAYCHECK JOB, SIR. Remember BOSS MAN is going to give me a bad report if I don’t DO AS I AM TOLD. For my will is IRRELIVANT, thats why the military TAUGHT me to leave my mind and morals behind and SUBSCRIBE to their antisocial fear agenda for profit of the slave masters and their corporation agendas which I am sure included the life long security of the check point gaurds, and their LIVES. Thats why he gave him a GUN and all the gear he needed to do the JOB. The job of killing people for the profitable sales of arms to the tax paying slaves while the profits go to the BOSS MAN TAX free and often directly to offshore accounts - so that this BLOOD MONEY will not be traced to the loving peple recieving IT.

      How many of them giving the orders or setting policy or agenda for operational logistics are ever going to RISK ANYTHING for this corporation backed War on Terror of the working person world wide. Well I am still counting on one hand and I have yet to count a single one of the liers as standing for anything but their own self decieved profits of mass stupidity. Remember they help bring us the Abomb and your family is definitly safer at night with that pointed at the major city you live in. I am sure that Nuclear Weapons had nothing to do with instilling fear in the working class ???? (NOT)

  • Why didn’t the Italian Military escort them to the airport?

    • Giuliana Sgrena is a journalist who has covered international politics for 20 years. She writes for Il Manifesto, a paper founded by Luciana Castellina, a well known Italian intellectual and one-time member of the Italian and European Parliaments.

      Many of the postings here seem to be focused on the fact that Guiliana Sgrena writes for a paper which was founded by a former member of the Italian Communist party. It would appear that most have no idea that the Communist party in Italy is ideologically much different than, say, the communist party in China.

      At first, Ms. Sgrena was quoted by news sources as saying that her government paid a ransom to free her. She subsequently reversed herself. This, I think, is a most interesting fact. George Bush has been quoted many times (as has Prime Minister Blair, of the UK) as saying that our government will not negotiate with kidnappers in Iraq.

      Might not Giuliana Sgrena have been fired upon because her government paid to have her released? She is one of Italy’s most popular and famous female journalists. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wasn’t going to stand by and watch her beheading played on the Italian television stations he owns, or have pictures of her bullet-riddled body splashed across the front pages of the Italian newspapers and magazines he owns. What if it had been, say, Barbara Walters or Diane Sawyer being held, and subsequently fired upon?

      Ms. Sgrena has published pieces strongly critical of the war; specifically, she has written about the Iraqi women and children killed over these past years. I, as an American citizen, don’t condone the killing of innocent women and children as a result of a war launched over the alleged existence of nuclear weaponry that has never been found. In September 2005, thanks to our troops’ attack on Sgrena, and the subsequent conflicting report of the commission conducting the inquiry, Italy will withdraw all of its soldiers from Iraq.

      George Bush has isolated our country from some of its most loyal post-WWII allies. He is wasting billions of our tax dollars, and sending our young men and women to their deaths. He is the Commander and Chief of an army that tortured civilians, and has established prison camps akin to those in the former Soviet Union, according to a recent report released by Amnesty International.

      Call Giuliana Sgrena a Commie and feel better. Call the NY Times a paper published by liberal Jews and feel better. Wrap yourself in the Stars and Stripes and feel better. Whew....when did we become a nation of block-headed xenophobes?

  • The U.S. really needs a regime change. That is to remove the Bush regime and replace it with a democratically elected government. Since the 2000 election was a fraud, since it disenfranchied electors in Florida and the 2004 election was stolen from the American people, by another such manoeuvre. The present regime in Washington is nothing more than a dictatorship disguised as a democracy.

    The future of the U.S. under the present regime does not bode well for the people of the United States, who will at some time in the near future have to pay the piper for the actions of criminals dressed in business suits who now pose as politicians.

    Kenneth T. Tellis