The Eye In The Sky Documents The Lie
Joe Gandelman
The eye in the sky reportedly saw it all.
U.S. and Italian authorities have agreed to disagree over the March 4 day from U.S. military fire of Nicola Calipari, an Italian intelligence agent who had just freed journalist hostage Giuliana Sgrena. But it turns out there was a witness to one important bone of contention:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US satellite reportedly recorded a checkpoint shooting in Iraq last month, enabling investigators to reconstruct how fast a car carrying a top Italian intelligence official and a freed hostage was traveling when US troops opened fire.
The report, which aired Thursday on CBS News, said US investigators concluded from the recording that the car was traveling at a speed of more than 60 miles (96 km) per hour.
Giuliana Sgrena has said the car was traveling at a normal speed of about 30 miles an hour when the soldiers opened fired, wounding her and killing Nicola Calipari, the Italian agent who had just secured her release from a month's captivity.
US soldiers said at the time of the March 4 incident that the car approached at a high rate of speed and that they fired only after it failed to respond to hand signals, flashing bright lights and warning shots.
U.S. and Italian officials are at still odds over various aspects of the case. CBS, citing Pentagon officials, said US officials believe the satellite is as good as an eyewitness when it comes to the speed of the car:
It said the soldiers manning the checkpoint first spotted the Italian car when it was 137 yards (meters) away. By the time they opened fire and brought the car to a halt, it was 46 yards (meters) away. CBS said that happened in less than three seconds, which meant the car had to be going over 60 miles an hour.
Meanwhile, this is still a huge issue in Italy:
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says CBS was wrong in saying Italy paid a ransom. He says he hasn't talked to George Bush and restated Italy's good relations with the U.S and its commitment to the war in Iraq.
Sgrena calls it a cover up and is calling for the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.
The BBC reports that the continued controversy is expected to intensify pressure on Italian leaders to pull Italy out of Iraq. Italy's PM has been one of Bush's staunchest allies. This will also add to Berlusconi's long list of domestic woes.
UPDATE: The U.S. Army's report has formally cleared the soldiers and recommends no action against them in a report released today, the AP reports:
The investigation concluded the killing may well have been prevented by better coordination between Italian and U.S. forces in Iraq....
None of this will make any difference in the any. This controversy has just gotten too politicized in Italy, where some are using it to demand Italy pull out of Iraq. Anything the U.S. presents will be called a whitewash which implies that the only "true" verdict would be one that says the soldiers shot at them without there being any explanation for it (oh: that they were intentionally whacking journalists..that'll be the implication).The U.S. investigation concluded the vehicle had failed to slow down as it approached the checkpoint and the soldiers who fired at it had acted in accordance with the rules of engagement.
