Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian journalist taken hostage in Iraq, has made claims that the car they were in after she was freed March 4, 2005 was travelling at a normal rate of speed when it approached a US checkpoint and was fired on "hundreds of times". Troops at the checkpoint claimed that it was a threat as it was traveling at a high rate of speed. An Italian agent and negotiator, Nicola Calipari, was killed in the incident. Now there is irrefutable evidence that the car was travelling at over 60 MPH.
Yahoo/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.
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CBS, citing Pentagon officials, said the satellite recording enabled investigators to reconstruct the event without having to rely on the eyewitness accounts.
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.
That pretty much puts a nail in it for me. As for the soldiers...
Reuters
U.S. investigators have found that American troops who shot dead an Italian agent at a Baghdad checkpoint on March 4 committed no wrongdoing and will not be disciplined, an Army official said on Monday.
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"The soldiers were only complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints, so therefore are not culpable to dereliction of duty (charges)," the Army official said. "Everybody feels terrible about it. But given the climate and the security atmosphere, the security procedures at the checkpoint operations have to be run by the letter."
Other Commentary:
Say Anything here and here
Rusty calls bullshit on the satellite images.
Hyscience
