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News :: International Relations |
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Italian Reporter held hostage believes U.S. troops targeted her for Death |
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by jane
(No verified email address) |
06 Mar 2005
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The Italian journalist who was freed by her Iraqi captors says U.S. troops deliberately tried to kill her in an ambush type attack |
Giuliana Sgrena, who writes for the left-wing daily newspaper Il Manifesto, said her Iraqi captors warned her U.S. forces "might intervene."
The shooting has fuelled anti-American sentiments in Italy, where the people were deeply upset by their prime minister's decision to deploy the nation's troops to Iraq.
In an article in the paper titled "La mia verita" or "My truth," Sgrena described how gunfire from U.S. forces erupted, in what she believed to be a deliberate ambush.
The gunfire wounded her in the shoulder and killed the Italian secret service agent who negotiated her release.
"It was the happiest and also the most dangerous moment," Sgrena wrote.
"If we had run into someone, meaning American troops, there would have been an exchange of fire, and my captors were ready and they would have responded."
"The fact that the Americans don't want negotiations to free the hostages is known," Sgrena told Sky TG24 television by telephone.
"The fact that they do everything to prevent the adoption of this practice to save the lives of people held hostages, everybody knows that. So I don't see why I should rule out that I could have been the target."
In her article she wrote that Nicola Calipari, the Italian secret service agent, dove on top of her when the barrage of bullets hit their car. She felt his last breath as he died, she said. An autopsy has shown that Calipari died instantly after being struck in the temple by a single round.
Sgrena recounts that she suddenly remembered a warning from her captors : "To be careful because the Americans don't want you to return."
The U.S. military said the Americans flashed white lights, used hand and arm signals and fired warning shots in an effort to get the speeding Italian car to stop.
But in an interview with Italian La 7 TV, Sgrena said there were no bright lights, no signals, and the car was moving at "regular speed."
The U.S. military has promised a full investigation.
After her return on Saturday, Sgrena was taken to a hospital where she later met with Calipari's wife, according to the Italian news agency Apcom.
Calipari will lie in state at Rome's Vittoriano monument and a state funeral is planned for Monday. He will be awarded posthumously with a gold medal of valour for his heroism.
In an statement posted on the Il Manifesto's website, editor Gabriele Polo writes that their joy lasted but a few minutes after hearing of Sgrena's release.
Polo writes: "We got a comrade back. We lost someone who would have become our friend."
Officials have not confirmed the details that led to Sgrena's release.
An Iraqi lawmaker, Youdaam Youssef Kanna told Belgian state TV that he had unofficial information that $1 million US ransom was paid for Sgrena to be set free, Apcom reported.
Sgrena was abducted by armed men near Baghdad University on Feb. 4.
Sgrena had been working for Il Manifesto, a newspaper that criticized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Berlusconi's deployment of the nation's troops. |
This work is in the public domain |
