The War on Terror & friendly Fire : Interview

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Monday May 22, 2006 22:10 by iosaf

The decision by Mr Prodi to honour the public will of the Italian people and withdraw the Italian presence in Iraq, and also to describe the war as "illegal" and a "mistake" has allowed Italians to give more attention to the manipulation of information during the Berlusconi years and return to the causes of Italian casualties & hostages during the Iraq war. The most senior officer of the Italian forces to be killed was Nicola Calipari of the Italian secret service who was shot by the US army.

on the 4th of March 2004, after one month spent in captivity, Giuliana Sgrena a journalist of the italian newspaper "il Manifesto" was released after negotiations had been opened by Calipari and brought to "safety". Their route had been communicated to their US coalition partners before hand. It is important to remember that the murder of Calipari and his subsequent state funeral prompted Berlusconi to first suggest the withdrawl of troops, but unconstitutionally, as he made the offer through his own TV station & not in parliament. Giuliana Sgrena has now published a book on her experiences & granted an interview, which I am reproducing in english translation here.

The Italian Secret Service Car had 58 "lethal shots" one is circled.

I have added background information in italic script after each of Giuliana Sgrena's answers.
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in response to the question "why did they kidnap you if you had spent months writing on the suffering of the Iraqis?"
I ask myself the same question, they confessed to me that when they kidnapped me they only knew I was Italian and a journalist, but knew nothing of my work. They told me I was much more dangerous than my colleagues who stayed in the Hotel and only worked from there. They told me I spoke to people, and they were worried I knew things "I ought not know".

the Hotel referred to is the Palestine Hotel, 13 months before the US had fired on it killing members of the press corp and spanish journalists, Spain is still seeking extradition of captain Philip Wolford lieutenant colonel Philip de Camp all of the the 64th armoured regiment of the 3rd division of infantry. C/f http://indymedia.ie/article/70167

in response to the question "Is it possible to recover from an experience such as yours?
I am trying. But I can not get Nicola Calipari out of my mind.
Sgrena is now grey haired and suffers ticks and her speech has slowed.

in response to the question "How was the incident?"
We were travelling in the car, Nicola Calipari the driver and I. We were heading for the airport. With only 700 metres to go, a US patrol began to fire at us, killing Calipari and wounding me. They were there, they said because the US ambassador to Iraq John Negreponte had to pass by the same road and they maintian we were travelling too fast, but that is not certain. Negreponte had already arrived at the airport and they knew that and we had advised [the US forces] several times that we would pass that point.
John Negreponte had served as US ambassador to Honduras and was implicated in death squads. He was chosen by Bush to occupy a new position of White House co-ordinator of the 16 US secret services later that year.

in response to the statement " you have not discounted that you were in fact a target of friendly fire"
Thats something said by others, but I am sure it wasn't an accident. They fired on us deliberately and I want an explanation. There are many flaws in their version, the Italian inquiry states they fired a total of 58 lethal shots.

the inquiry was steeped in white wash and conflicting versions emerged that very weekend
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4323361.stm
http://rai.it/news/articolornews24/0,9219,4120662,00.html
http://rai.it/news/articolornews24/0,9219,4120660,00.html the full Us report can be read at Swiss indymedia in pdf http://ch.indymedia.org/media/2005/05/32228.pdf or here
in html: http://213.160.111.174/unclassified.htm
or in .doc http://www.corriere.it/Media/Documenti/Unclassified.doc


in response to the question "how do you see the future of Iraq?"
I don't see any future for Iraq if foreign troops do not leave, I've gone many times since the war began, and every time I see deterioration. Foreign troops only exacerbate the situation.

This is the main theme of her book :- "Friendly Fire". goto the library.

in response to the question "are you not worried Iraq will descend into civil war?"

There has been civil war in Iraq for two years. One can not say what will blow up if all troops withdraw. There would be no motive for the resistance, because they fight against the occupiers.... There is only a future for Iraq if foreign troops leave.

in response to the question "is it possible to report on Iraq?"

It is not possible now....

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The incident of "friendly fire" was not the only alledged against the US forces in Iraq.

Bulgaria also raised questions of armed action against servicemen and journalists
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/swissinfo.html?siteSect=14...82811

more background information
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/swissinfo.html?siteSect=14...80092
the french asked at the time "with friends like this who needs enemies?"
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3210,36-400565,0.html
http://libe.com/page.php?Article=280211

it is also worth considering the kidnapping of Italian human rights activists later in 2004 http://www.indymedia.ie/article/66498

very interesting trivial & historic fact :-

Barcelona, Italian and Irish indymedia suffered server problems in the real time of this story. As Calipari was given his state funeral, the Italian state under Berlusconi made one of its 4 attempts to close italian indymedia. They failed. no-one closes indymedia.

There are certain reproduction rights attached to this english translation, which is the first english version to appear in either cyber or print media.
if you wish reproduce it contact me at [email protected]