Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. Posted March 8, 2005.

On Friday, U.S. soldiers in Iraq shot at the car of an Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, killing the Italian intelligence agent who helped free her and wounding three others. Sgrena had just been released after a month in captivity by the Iraqi resistance.

The agent, Nicola Calipari, was killed as he tried to protect Sgrena from the bullets. Sgrena was wounded in the shoulder in the attack.

Giuliana Sgrena was kidnapped in Baghdad and been held captive since Feb. 4 by a group calling themselves "Mujahedeen Without Borders." She had just been released and handed over to three Italian agents on Friday when the car was shot at as they drove to the Baghdad airport.

In an interview with Sky Italia, Sgrena described what happened:

We were on our way to the airport, and we thought we were finally safe, because the area where we were was under the control of the United States. We therefore thought we had escaped the gravest area and entered into a more friendly area, although I was still nervous as my hostage takers had warned me to be careful, because it was the Americans who did not want me to be free and returned to Italy alive. I just took that as a last threat from my hostage takers and did not really take it seriously. But then suddenly we found ourselves under an immense amount of bullets, something terrible, without any warning, and we realized that nearby there was an American tank which was shooting at us.

The U.S. military has a different story. They say the car was speeding as it approached a checkpoint. In a statement, the military claims soldiers first tried to warn the driver to stop by "hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and firing warning shots in front of the car."

In an interview with Italian channel La 7, Giuliana Sgrena disputed the military's account, stating that there was no bright light, no signal – and that the car was traveling at regular speed. She also told SKY TG24 that a ransom was paid for her release and it was possible that she was deliberately targeted by U.S. forces. She said: "The fact that the Americans don't want negotiations to free hostages is known. The fact that they do everything to prevent the adoption of this practice to save the lives of people held hostage, everybody knows that. So I don't see why I should rule out that I could have been a target."

The Pentagon has said only that the incident is under investigation.

Amy Goodman speaks with Luciana Castellina, a leading public intellectual and one the founders of Giuliana Sgrena's newspaper, Il Manifesto. She had just returned from the state funeral of Nicola Calipari, the intelligence official who was killed.

Amy Goodman: It’s very good to have you on Democracy Now! again. Can you describe the funeral today and the atmosphere in Rome?

Luciana Castellina: There were thousands and thousands of people who attended the funeral. Since yesterday, in Piazza Venezia, there was a long queue; everybody wanted to go and [pay] homage to Nicola. He is called Nicola now by everybody, ... everybody was so grateful because he sacrificed his life. So, the funeral was very human. Everybody was there, from the government, the opposition, all the institutions, the family, the friends, the representatives of the church. I think the Italian government was quite embarrassed. ... It’s not an easy situation.

Talk about the attitude of people right now, what this means with a population very opposed to the occupation, but a prime minister, Berlusconi, who is very much an ally of President Bush.

Well, let's say that the population, in general, is very angry. Not because they think that this was a deliberate killing, you know. I mean, there is an inquiry of the judges. It's an inquiry for murder, bluntly, murder. They wouldn't say what really happened. Maybe would one never know. ... In Iraq, they shoot, and they shoot everybody with great arrogance, and not taking into account lives of human beings. And this is the war. This is the result of the war, of the violence which the war brings. And the majority of the Italian population has been against the war, we had perhaps the biggest demonstration for peace in Italy. So, you can imagine that now people have a sense of anger and the idea that you have to pull back the occupation, the military presence in Iraq, is very, very strong. Why should we stay there, because not only are we against the war, but ... if an American patrol can shoot a car without thinking seriously about what they were doing [we don't have a say]. This idea, of the violence which the war brings and that war never brings a new and better society, this is very strong, and people are really very angry. You can feel it in the population – I mean, among the people who were attending the funeral, this anger.

Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program Democracy Now!

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