Nicola Calipari and the Soldier who Shot Him [View All]

[WilliamPitt]

This past Sunday, I posted a serious question about the attack on Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena. Analyzing the witness statements and blending the incident into the excellent reporting by TO writer Steve Weissman, it seemed a fair and necessary question to ask: Was Sgrena deliberately targeted?

Now that a couple of days have passed, and after extensive research and analysis into the situation, I feel confident in stating that it is highly unlikely that the attack on Sgrena was deliberate.I am basing part of my conclusion on Sgrena’s own words; she has voiced her belief that the attack was deliberate because the U.S. does not like the way Italy negotiates for the release of hostages. This is, to put it mildly, highly unlikely.

The other basis for my conclusion concerns the U.S. military itself. Call me crazy, but I think that if the military wants you dead, and has you in their gunsights with a kill order in hand, you’re gone. Period. If the military or civilian command had wanted Sgrena dead, why did they not use the .20mm cannon that was on the scene? The rounds from that thing are as big as Frisbees and would have done the job. If the military or civilian command had wanted Sgrena dead, why did military medics tend to her after the attack?

No, if they want you, and they’ve got you bracketed and braced, that’s the end of you. If this attack had been deliberate, we’d be reading Sgrena’s obituary today. It is terrible that she was shot, and she is to be commended for her courage in reporting on the Fallujah incursion from an eyewitness perspective, but the attack was not deliberate.

The discussion of this, while necessary and justified by other incidents and accusations of journalists being targeted, is wide of the point we should be focusing on. Giuliana Sgrena is not the most important person in this story. The center of this story revolves around two people: Nicola Calipari and the soldier who shot him.

More:

http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/3/8/102153/3833