Italian hostage freed in Iraq, then shot by US soldiers

[smudgex68]

In the shoulder; but they were apparently accurate enough to kill an Italian special services agent

[smudgex68]

Blimey

lmao

[smudgex68]

[ QUOTE ]
"This unfortunate incident took place very near the airport: it was a shootout at a US checkpoint," Mr Berlusconi said.

"Some gunshots hit the car. One man was hit by a deadly bullet. We are petrified and astonished at this twist of fate."


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[BCPVP]

[ QUOTE ]
"About 2100 [1800 GMT], a patrol in western Baghdad observed the vehicle speeding towards their checkpoint and attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car," it said in a statement.

"When the driver didn't stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block, which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4320111.stm

That's a good way to get yourself shot in Iraq. The Italians should have known better.

[smudgex68]

[ QUOTE ]
The Italians should have known better

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You've obviously never driven through Milan in rush hour

[BCPVP]

Baghdad is not Milan. The Italian driver all but assured that they'd be shot at. In fact, if it went down like it says in the BBC, than I would expect nothing less than those boys to fire on the car. That a person is dead and the journalist is wounded is entirely the driver's fault.

[smudgex68]

According to the Italian news this morning:
The US had been advised of their arrival at the airport
They had already passed thru other US checkpoints
They were 600 m from entering the airport
Over 100 rounds were fired into the car
The US soldiers did not subsequently approach the car and offer aid, thus the agent died from his wounds
Sgrena has stated they were not speeding

[BCPVP]

[ QUOTE ]
According to the Italian news this morning:
The US had been advised of their arrival at the airport
They had already passed thru other US checkpoints
They were 600 m from entering the airport
Over 100 rounds were fired into the car
The US soldiers did not subsequently approach the car and offer aid, thus the agent died from his wounds
Sgrena has stated they were not speeding

[/ QUOTE ]
1) Had the individual soldiers been made aware, or was it just a message to the State Dept, etc?
2) What difference does it make whether they'd been passed through other checkpoints? If you speed towards a checkpoint or patrol, I don't think the soldiers have enough time to play telephone tag to find out if it's friendly or not.
3)Distance to the airport is irrelevant. Driving towards a U.S. military patrol/checkpoint w/out identifying yourself is asking for trouble.
4)100 rounds? Sounds a little high. That's about 5 guys emptying their M16s into a car. Nonetheless, I'd hope that we wouldn't get thrifty with bullets when you think your life is in danger.
5) I would hope that the soldiers would NOT approach the car. Assuming they were trying to stop the car instead of kill everyone inside of it, what sense does it make to waltz over there and get blown up by whoever's got their finger on the button?! DUH!
6) I don't know how credible the journalist is. She's probably a little shaken from the event and I'm sure she's not going to admit that they were being reckless and speeding. I trust our boys over some commie journalist.

And it makes no sense for us to want to execute civilians allies. Why would we try and scare off allies?


And thatpfunk, I knew he was kidding. But it's hard to laugh about someone being killed and several people being wounded.

[mojorisin24]

[ QUOTE ]
According to the Italian news this morning:
The US had been advised of their arrival at the airport
They had already passed thru other US checkpoints
They were 600 m from entering the airport
Over 100 rounds were fired into the car
The US soldiers did not subsequently approach the car and offer aid, thus the agent died from his wounds
Sgrena has stated they were not speeding

[/ QUOTE ]

1. This is Iraq, where one of our enemies main weapons is VBIED's (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices). Speeding or not, all vehicles MUST stop when instructed by US forces. Any failure to do so is considered a threat, and force protection allows that spraying the car's engine block with machine gun fire is the appropriate action to take.

2. The agent in the car died because he was shot in the temple and killed instantly, not because US forces did not approach the car fast enough to offer aid.

3. Sgrena stating they were not speeding is irrelevant. Her memory of what happened could be be almost entirely different after suffering the type of trauma she has.

And regardless of how many checkpoints they had already passed through, the bottom line is that they did not follow correct protocol when approaching this particular one. US troops do not shoot randomly at cars unless provoked, and perhaps most telling is that this was the only civilian-casualty incident reported that day from the checkpoint. Logic dictates that the Italians' car was breaking the rules, and in a war-zone, that'll get you killed.

[smudgex68]

We'll have to wait for the report, but it seems like a tragic accident caused by frightened, poorly trained troops.