[lit-ideas] Re: Iraq, anybody?
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:10:11 -0800
For the daily *La Repubblica* [published in Rome, circulation approx. 646,000]
, close to
the center-left opposition, the beginning of an explanation lies in the fact
that "the three
American units responsible for security on the five kilometers (three miles) of
road
separating the airport from the city are not used to conditions on the ground,
having
arrived less than a week before, on Feb. 27." "And the ranks of one of them,
the 256th
Infantry, are full of National Guard reservists," adds the newspaper.
Inclining toward the hypothesis of a tragic mistake, *La Repubblica* cites the
example of an
American sergeant who "killed about thirty civilians in 48 hours" at a
checkpoint in Iraq.
This soldier's orders were to fire at anyone who didn't halt at a raised-hand
signal to
stop; only later did he discover that in Iraq this gesture signified a greeting.
The other wounded Italian officer said that "the Americans knew about our
mission,"
according to the newspaper.
"Hour by hour, the version provided by the State Department is beginning to
fall apart. The
hypothesis of an absence of coordination . . . has fallen. The presence of an
American
colonel at Baghdad airport, in the company of Italian officials who were
waiting for Mrs.
Sgrena and her liberators, shows that the job was carried out with flawless
coordination,"
writes the newspaper.
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