The Italian foreign minister, Gianfranco Fini, has given the following account of what happened when special agent Calisparo was killed and journalist Giuliana Sgrena was injured:
- The agent, Nicola Calipari, had established "all necessary contacts" with the American authorities in Bagdad when he arrived in Bagdad earlier the same day.
- The car was driving "no faster than 40 km/h", which should be about 25 mph.
- The light was turned on inside the car.
- A bright light was suddenly directed at the car from a distance of about 10 metres. The driver hit the brakes and the car comes to a near standstill.
- Then a hail of gunfire is directed at the car.
(
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3218,36-40074... )
In French, but can be Babel Fished of course.
Someone here speculated that the GIs might have directed their searchlight at the car, in a split second seen "swarthy" faces and perhaps guns, panicked and fired. But if the light was turned on inside the car, that doesn't make much sense.
Would one mistake an embassy car (presumably of the black, expensive sort) with the interior lights turned on for Iraqi suicide bombers or drive-by shooters?
Fini dismissed the claim that the Americans were not informed of the rescue operation.
Any idea where Eason got his crazy ideas from?