Estimates now say the car was traveling at 100 mph. But aren’t roads marked in kilometers?

Anyway, if I called this story A DOUBLE WHOPPER, whould that be considered a slur?

Lew Rockwell thinks Lincoln was a fascist.

Are you down with that? As I said Lew’s opinions are not too reliable when he spouts one principle and supports another.

Who knows what he means by fascism? Colored folks allowed to vote? That would be my take based on numerous conversations I had with Lew before the war.

In any case Lew like most of what is left of “official” Libertarians today spouts the communist party line on “American imperialism”. I left the communists in my youth and joined the Libs to avoid that sort of world view. I find it interesting that these days the Libs have so much in common with the communists.

So you can call me a neocon because there was a time when I was a Democrat. And I’m Jewish to boot.

In any case it is no surprise to me that Lew supports the leftist position. Lew was always against American intervention and liberation of the subjugated. Starting with 1861. At least.

He thought FDR was a fascist too.

Wilson as well. And that other Roosevelt – Teddy.

In fact I think if you check with Lew personally he will be unable to name a non-fascist American President since 1900 or perhaps before. In any case he would definitely put Lincoln in that category.

I’m still trying to figure out why with hundreds of bullets shot the car is in such good condition. And why Segregina is still alive.

Her story does not fit the evidence.

Neither does yours.

Nice job sticking to the party line that the US was in the dark about the whole thing. Don’t bother explaining how this is possible, since an Italian jet and an American officer were waiting for Sgrena at the airport. Also, don’t bother explaining how it is that prior to the attack, Reuters had already announced her release, but we somehow didn’t know about it. (I guess it’s comforting to know that Reuters has more up-to-date information about important events on the ground in Iraq, compared with our military.)

Also, don’t bother explaining why three experienced intelligence agents would take the very ignorant and suicidal step of ignoring a clearly-marked US checkpoint (unless there was no checkpoint).

Also don’t bother explaining why, according to all acounts I’ve seen, they had already traveled over five miles on this heavily-patrolled airport road and no attempt had previously been made to stop them or check them.

By the way, today the Italian Foreign Minister (Fini) told the Italian House of Representatives that the US account doesn’t add up. According to Fini:

1) The officer at the wheel knew Baghdad very well.

2) The car was traveling at less than 17 MPH at the time the attack occurred.

3) There was no checkpoint.

4) The attack occurred as the car was moving slowly around a sharp turn. (In my opinion, this is consistent with the design of an ambush, and not consistent with the design of a checkpoint.)

5) Shooting started with virtually no warning, immediately after the car was illuminated by a floodlight.

6) The driver could see from tracer rounds that fire was being directed at the occupants’ chest and legs.

7) Several automatic weapons were fired for about 15 seconds.

Audio of Fini’s statement (in Italian) can be found here. An unofficial translation of it can be found here. By the way, Fini is hardly a leftist. He’s a leading figure in a government that has been very friendly to Bush.

“managed to kill only one person”

One dead, one seriously injured, one moderately injured (Sgrena apparently suffered a bone fracture and a bruised lung), one uninjured.

According to Fini, the fire came from a shoulder to the side of the vehicle. My guess is that the two people sitting on that side of the vehicle were the ones who were killed and seriously injured (respectively).

“some type of armored vehicle”

There’s good reason to wonder what kind of vehicle(s) were involved, if any. It’s true that Sgrena is reported to have said something about a “tank” or “tanks.” Keep in mind, however, this is probably some kind of translation from Italian. Also keep in mind it was nighttime, it was raining, and a moment before the fire started a bright floodlight was pointed at her vehicle. And then she was dealing with bullets flying and a man dying in her arms. So it’s understandable if she had a hard time seeing clearly what kind of vehicle(s) were used in the attack.

Also, some reports indicate she was kept at the scene for some time after the attack, so it’s possible she was making a statement about vehicles she saw during that time.

I think examining the car will reveal a lot. I think it’s interesting that at least one early report creates the impression that the military did not want reporters to see the car. I saw a more recent report indicating the car is on its way to Italy.

“I wouldn’t take [Rockwell] too seriously. Unless you are a secret slaver.”

Exactly. Thanks for helping me make my point. Rockwell is no leftist, and yet he’s not shy about raising a warning about fascism.

Lew Rockwell is a man who claims to stand for principle.

He admits that the rights of free association and contract are greater than states rights. Yet he thinks slavery was Okey Doke. I wouldn’t take him too seriously. Unless you are a secret slaver.

BTW the vaunted American military in a hail of 400 (according to the authoress) bullets from some type of armored vehicle that left numerous spent bullets on the seat of the vehicle managed to kill only one person. I’d call that a failure of gun control. The guns were not under enough control to hit the target. Or perhaps the only target was the driver of a vehicle that refused to stop when ordered. In that case I’d say the gun control was excellet.

I still like Roger’s idea. A double cross.

Speaking of avoiding facts, it’s not a good sign for your argument that the best you can do is hyperbole and ridicule, which I notice comes to you quite easily even though the subject matter is deadly serious.

And speaking of making light of things that aren’t funny, I notice you throw around the idea of fascism as if it’s some kind of a joke. You should have a talk with the raving moonbats over at a magazine called The American Conservative. They’re not laughing. Likewise for the well-known pinko subversive Lew Rockwell. You should let them in on what’s tickling your funnybone.

“What is the terrible secret that Sgrena will reveal”

Maybe more of what she’s already revealed. Some people give her credit for being “one of the first journalists to collect evidence of rape among women detainees at Abu Ghraib.” It’s also possible she has done further investigation regarding her charges of napalm use in Fallujah.

Speaking of rape, note that it’s very recently been revealed that soldiers in a unit of the 3rd Infantry Division were under investigation for rape (and variety of other abuses) a while back. The soldiers who attacked Sgrena were also apparently “with the 3rd Infantry.”

Speaking of interesting coincidences, the attack on Sgrena happened at virtually the same moment that the Army released a large new batch of FOIA documents, including documents regarding the aforementioned investigation of a unit of the 3rd Infantry.

Note that only three countries (US, UK and S. Korea) have more foreign troops in Iraq than Italy does. And in Italy domestic support for the war has been very shaky. By the way, Sgrena is read widely in Europe, not just in her own paper, but in other major papers such as Die Zeit. And it seems that unlike certain folks here (like you, perhaps), there are lots of folks in Europe who are just the sort of girlie-men to actually feel concern when they read about rape and other forms of abuse.

Anyway, nice job trying to argue that no one in our angelic government or military could possibly have a reason to silence or intimidate her.

“yet clumsy and incompetent”

It wouldn’t exactly be the first time we executed a plan and it didn’t turn out quite the way we expected. Maybe a hasty and opportunistic decision was made, at the expense of ignoring basic flaws in the plan. “As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.”

Italian opera lovers add soap when they hear a story that a women “screaming I AM AN ITALIANO” at the top of her lungs, can really be heard on stage, as background noises fill with shots of massive ordnannce flying around.

Am I missing something? Hasn’t the MSM suffered another blow to their own “talking heads.” Their heads just keep bobbing along.

And, in Iraq, when a good movie opens, we will see Baghdad Bob commenting on how “there are no American troops in the streets of Baghdad.”

And, when story interest heats up, we will get this Italian floozy, and her bagman dropping dead right on top of her. WHere in Journalism school is it taught “you carry in $6 million, and the terrorists who take your money set you up for some sort of target practice?

Let alone to the hits Italian drivers are now taking. WAIT. WAIT. NASCAR’S COMING! We can show those dirty Italians a trick or two when real drivers are behind the wheel.

Or we can watch the MSM continue to try and blame everything, including the weather, on Bush.

I LOVE MY PRESIDENT. And, I think the bloggers have scored another victory. While Eason Jordan still hasn’t told us, by releasing the Davos tape, just what he did say about our wonderful soldiers.

SOON THE STORY COMES TO A THEATER NEAR YOU. Will it be like a Mel Gibson film? Earning hundreds of millions, but passed on by starving studios? Or will we finally see Academy Award performances setting the moving going public on fire with a real desire to see this on film? Otherwise, the Candidate of the Year DARWIN AWARD WINNER should be Calipari.

Folks, we’ve won this round. What color polish rounds out our nails?

Whoops, it was allowed to speak! So what does it have to say? What is the terrible secret that Sgrena will reveal that will cause incalculable damage to the Bushitler wehrmacht? Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting episode of As the Conspiracy Turns!

Dafydd

This Washington Times report is trying to argue that the US was in the dark, but, ironically enough, it includes substantive information that indicates otherwise:

“Mr. Calipari and another senior SISMI operative concluded the deal for her release on Friday in Abu Dhabi and then flew to Baghdad aboard a secret service Falcon executive jet to collect her, La Stampa said. At the airport, they met an Italian military liaison officer and U.S. military authorities issued them passes allowing them to travel around Baghdad carrying weapons, the newspaper said citing SISMI sources. The sources said the Italians explained ‘the terms of the mission’ and ‘the exact nature of the operation’ to U.S. officials at the airport. Sources also said an American officer was instructed to wait at the airport for Mr. Calipari and the freed hostage.” Several reports described this American officer as a colonel.

In other words, Calipari had been at the airport just a few hours earlier. Waiting at the airport was an Italian jet and an American officer. And we’re supposed to believe that troops patrolling the airport road weren’t told to be on the lookout for a car carrying certain important people? And to be careful about opening fire on our allies? At best, that seems like gross negligence and incompetence.

Another indication that the US knew about Sgrena’s release is that it was public information. This Reuters story (announcing Sgrena’s release) was filed at 8:48 PM, local time. According to the US, the attack took place at 8:55. In other words, the fact of Sgrena’s release was public information at least seven minutes before the attack took place. This is another indication that her approach to the airport was not exactly a closely guarded secret. To put this differently, it’s not a good sign if Reuters knows more about important events on the ground in Iraq than the US military does.

Note that our government doesn’t seem to mind lying about this: “U.S. officials said the Italians failed to inform military or diplomatic officials that Sgrena was on her way to the airport.” Given that an Italian jet had arrived that day at the airport, how can we claim we didn’t know what was happening?

More dissembling from our government: “At the White House, a spokesman said the origin of the incident lay in ‘a lack of co-ordination’ between the Italians and the Americans. It was said that the Americans were not informed about the progress of negotiations with the hostage-takers, and were not aware that Ms Sgrena had been freed.”

Right. An American officer and an Italian jet were waiting at the airport for Sgrena. Reuters had the news that she had been freed. But the Americans “were not aware.”

There is also an interesting common-sense perspective on the question of checkpoints. According to Sgrena, the attack occurred when she was only 700 meters from the civilian entrance to the airport. (700 meters is 766 yards or 0.43 miles.) I’ve seen no one claim otherwise. The road to the airport is approximately 6 miles long. In other words (if Sgrena is correct about the location, and no one has claimed she’s not), Sgrena had already safely traveled over about 93% of this road, before she was attacked. And undoubtedly the first five-and-a-half miles of this road, over which she travelled safely, were guarded by any number of US troops who were well-aware of her car going by and (by all accounts) made no effort to impede her travel in any way.

In other words, if for any reason it was felt to be important to stop and check her car, surely this would have been done before she got within less than half-a-mile of the airport. Conversely, the occupants of the car would surely not expect that they would suddenly be blocked just 700 meters from the airport, given that there had apparently been no effort whatsover to stop them in their first 5.6 miles of travel on this road.

An interesting personal perspective on this can be found in a freeper post, by someone who surely is no friend of Sgrena’s, and also claims to be familiar with this road. The post says “once its inside the checkpoint, no American unit is going to fire on anyone else without getting fired on first…I know because we used to fly down the roads to the airport virtually every single day … I would bet it was a static checkpoint but the distance is more than 1000 yards from the entrance to the civilian side of the airport.”

This person seems to be claiming that once you’re within 1000 yards of the airport, you’ve passed any potential checkpoints. This person also seems to be claiming that it would be very unusual to open fire without very clear provocation.

This WSJ article offers helpful information about the airport road, and also indicates that “exceedingly strict rules of engagement” are the norm. The article quotes an named officer who states “even if you’re hit with an IED or an ambush, you need to see someone holding a weapon or a triggering device before you engage.”

Also, it’s helpful to understand that Calipari was no idiot. He was the top Italian intelligence agent in Iraq. He had two other men

in the car with him. He had been instrumental in other hostage extractions in the past. It’s simply not plausible to suggest that these three men would not have known how to recognize a clearly-marked checkpoint, or would have been ignorant with regard to how to safely approach a clearly-marked checkpoint.

At the very least, it appears that there was a very major failure of communications and discipline. Recall that we’re supposed to be there, in part, to protect Iraqis. How can they feel safe if we’re shooting our allies?

Very few media reports are mentioning that there was apparently another deadly friendly-fire incident on Friday night.

This article is very helpful background on the nature of checkpoints.

More background on the airport road here.

And, she’s got a lot of “splaining” to do. In Italy. Where it wasn’t so long ago that American troops were in the streets (1943), and the women came out and through flowers on our soldiers. Took our soldiers to bed. Made love to our soldiers. And, everyone was so pleased to see them, no one was shooting on our troops from hidden positions in alleyways.

Her story stinks. It has enemies to ponder. And, writing opportunities, galore. Because there’s a DEAD BODY DROPPING RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING. What was going on?