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March 8, 2005
The Sgrena Vehicle Exposed

Giuliana Sgrena described the American "assassination" attempt on her life as a "rain of bullets" that still somehow managed to leave her alive. We have asked to see the car that the Italians used to transport her and the deceased negotiator, Nicola Calipari, to the Baghdad airport to see whether the damage matches her description of the incident. Now La Repubblica has a slideshow of photographs that pretty much demolished the notion that the American soldiers at the checkpoint fired indiscriminately at Sgrena's vehicle:

This clearly shows that the vehicle did not come under heavy fire but probably got shot by handheld weapon trying to disable the vehicle. This picture is last in the slideshow; others show bullet holes on the fringe of the front windshield, which otherwise remains intact.

Whatever else happened, this vehicle did not come under heavy-weapons fire or indiscriminate automatic-arms fire. The fact that it's still got all of its fenders and its hood intact tells us that. One tire got shot out and one front-windshield bullet, possibly two, are all that La Repubblica can point out.

Sgrena lied.

UPDATE: More at Michelle Malkin and LGF. The other photos are in my extended entry.


Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at March 8, 2005 3:28 PM

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» Giuliana Sgrena: Checking the Facts from Slings and Arrows
Here's one side of the story:Sgrena's editor at the daily Il Manifesto, Gabriele Polo, said Italian officials told him 300 to 400 rounds were fired at the car. Italian military officials said two other intelligence agents were wounded in the... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 4:24 PM

» Italian Idiots - Update V from Flopping Aces
The Italian paper La Republica has the pictures of the communist reporters vehicle [Read More]

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» Sgrena lied. from Myopic Zeal
Captain Ed says "Sgrena lied." ... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 5:33 PM

» Blame Italy for the Sgrena Incident from BIG DOG's WEBLOG
Just as we thought, the Sgrena story will not go away. She still contends that she may have been targeted by the US forces intentionally. The MSM and foreign press still trumpet her story to the world. While all this makes for good drama, it ignores... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 5:52 PM

» Wanted: Better Weapons Training for US Troops from Coyote Blog
Italian communist Giuliana Sgrena claimed to have been specifically targeted by US troops, and had hundreds, perhaps thousands of rounds shot at her oncoming vehicle from a US checkpoint. [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 6:39 PM

» Images of Sgrena's Car from The Jawa Report
Italian television station Tg1 is running images of a car purported to be the one used by Giuliana Sgrena. If this is the car then it would contradict earlier reports that Sgrena's rescuers had used a truck. If accurate, the... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 8:14 PM

» Sgrena update from JacobsRoom.net
While italian journalist and escaped hostage Giuliana Sgrena described what was inflicted on her and her rescuers by US troops as a "rain of fire and bullets", and italian officials have reported that 300 to 400 bullets were fired in... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 8:15 PM

» It Remains A Strange Tale from Joust The Facts
Despite what a commenter to this post says, the Giuliana Sgrena story remains a strange tale. Oh sure, there have been other kidnapped individuals released in Iraq, some of them even after making a [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 8:22 PM

» Bullet riddled car from Air Force Voices
Michelle Malkin, Little Green Footballs, and Captain Ed have spectacular photos (?) of the automobile that came under heavy weapons fire during the unannounced hostage release of an Italian journalist (HT: La Repubblica.it). I saw a couple of similarly... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 8:34 PM

» Sgrena's car proved she lied from The House Of Wheels
As you can see, there's virtually no damage to the car at all. Here's some low-quality photos of an armoured car hit 36 times: ... We can safely say that an ordinary car hit 300-400 times will have at least 10 times the damage as an armoured car hit 36... [Read More]

Tracked on March 8, 2005 8:38 PM

» “For them, war is war." from Cranial Cavity
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Tracked on March 9, 2005 3:29 AM

» Hail Of Bullets? from Epoch3 Blog
Several days ago an Italian Journalist, Giuliana Sgrena was delivered from her captors in Iraq, apparently by Italian Secret Service personnel and a very large but undisclosed ransom payment [Read More]

Tracked on March 9, 2005 5:41 AM

» Sgrena's Car Photos from Secure Liberty
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Tracked on March 9, 2005 9:56 AM

» Bring in the F.B.I. from g i a n t c i t y
This Sgrena affair has been making me see red since it was first reported over a week ago. The fact that the MSM dares not even mention - let alone question - the questionable history of Sgrena's "abduction", the mystery... [Read More]

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