I want to read Giuliana Sgrena’s story

CNN executive, Jordan Eason, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is said to have said that the U.S. military deliberately targeted journalists–he knew of about 12 who’d not only been killed but had been targeted as a matter of policy.

Jordan Eason, reportedly having said to have said the above, then resigned from CNN and said he hadn’t meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when they accidtantally killed journalists.

Today comes the news of another U.S. checkpoint slaughter in Iraq. This time the car taken aim at was one in which was Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, just released after being held hostage for a month. She was wounded. The Italian secret service agent, Nicola Calipari, who had facillitated her release “threw himself over her” and was killed. Two other agents were wounded.

It’s said that US forces thought they were under attack. The car is given as having approached the checkpoint at a high rate of speed. U.S. troops are said to have fired warning shots, waved arms, then “shot into the engine block” of the car after it failed to stop.

Where’s the engine block of a car? In the approximate area of the windshield?

Il Manifesto, the paper for which the journalist works, says they don’t believe that Sgrena was targeted by the US for her writing about abuses at Abu Ghraib (she was one of the first journalists to collect evidence of rape of women prisoners at Abu Ghraib).

Sheik Abdel Salam al Quobaisi, of the Association of Islamic Scholars, had denounced the abduction of the journalist. As to any Iraqi groups who had claimed responsibility, he said, “We still have our doubts. We don’t know if what they say is true. We believe that no Iraqi organization would organize a kidnapping of this kind, especially not of a journalist who intended to interview the refugees of Fallujah, victims of the American occupation.”

I just wonder at all these cars approaching U.S. checkpoints at high rates of speed and not heeding warnings to stop. You’d think everyone would be aware by now that U.S. checkpoints are bad news.

Why am I now thinking of the Cold War Iron Curtain and all those movies of people gunned down at checkpoints by faceless bad Russians or East Germans? Is that too out-of-line an association to pop up?

That engine block. Instead of saying the car was fired at they instead say the engine block was fired at in order to stop the car. Like the engine block was the target and the humans were just collateral damage. Seems kind of like saying you were aiming for the spider on someone’s shirt pocket and not them, so sorry.

The whole of Italy was anxious for Sgrena’s release. They’re not going to like this. When they are over celebrating her return, they’re going to be really pissed off.


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