Italian Journalist Has No Credibility
By Dave Gibson (03/10/05)
Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena claims that American troops targeted her and intelligence agent Nicola Calipari. This woman's story is not only absurd--it appears that she has a history of making up the news as she goes.
Sgrena had been held hostage by Iraqi terrorists for a month and was speeding toward the airport, when U.S. troops opened fire on her vehicle. Our troops say that they made several attempts to stop the vehicle. However, the driver continued to speed towards the checkpoint. The U.S. soldiers waved their arms, flashed bright lights, fired warning shots into the air, and even fired into the car's engine block.
Considering the number of car-bombings which our troops face daily and the fact that they were providing security for the airport, it is fairly obvious that this was a very unfortunate accident. Furthermore, when traveling through a war-zone, it is a good idea to stop when the occupying troops attempt to flag you down.
Sgrena claims that she was targeted for death by U.S troops because the government of Italy paid a ransom for her release. In an interview given from her hospital bed, Sgrena said: "The Americans are against this type of operation. For them, war is war, human life doesn't count for much. The fact that Americans don't want negotiations to free the hostages is known. So I don't see why I should rule out that I could have been targeted."
Much to Sgrena's chagrin, Italian Cabinet Minister Maurizio Gasparri recently warned her to temper her remarks. He said: "I understand the emotion of these hours, but those who have been under stress in the past few weeks should pull themselves together and avoid saying nonsense."
So why would someone lie about the circumstances of such a tragic event?
Giuliana Sgrena works for Il Manifesto, which is one of Italy's communist newspapers. The paper has been strongly opposed to the war in Iraq, as well as Italy's involvement. There are currently 3,000 Italian troops serving inside Iraq.
Il Manifesto claims that the death of the Italian intelligence officer (Calipari) was in fact--an assassination. The paper calls U.S soldiers "imbeciles" and "terrorized kids who shoot at anyone."
Sgrena has been doing her level best to derail the war efforts of both the U.S. and Italy. She not only writes with a leftist slant, she tells her readers outright lies.
On Nov. 12, 2004, Sgrena's column was entitled "Stop The Massacre," which is how she described U.S. forces battling against the terrorists in Fallujah. She claimed: "The people of Fallujah want peace to save their own lives, but also the lives of Iraqi soldiers, of those who are in the middle and of the American soldiers manipulated and forced to act in such a way." She also stated that during the battle for Fallujah, the U.S. was employing the use of "forbidden arms." Though she never offered any evidence to support her ridiculous claim.
Perhaps, Sgrena's most outrageous lies can be found in her offering from Nov. 23, 2004. In that article, she makes the unfounded claim that the U.S. was using Napalm to attack Iraqi women and children. In that same article, she also suggests that U.S. planes dropped "nuclear bombs" on Baghdad!
Throughout Sgrena's delusional reporting, there runs the constant theme that Americans are evil and the Iraqi terrorists are somehow heroic freedom-fighters. To the objective reader, it is blatantly obvious that Giuliana Sgrena is much less a reporter and much more a propagandist.
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