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Giuliana Sgrena tells her full story

WoodPeckr

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Italian hostage: Nicola said, 'You are free. Come with me.' Then they shot him
Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq for a month, lies today in Rome's Celio military hospital recovering from the wounds she received when US troops fired into the car carrying her and her secret service liberator, Nicola Calipari, to Baghdad airport. In that short drive, Calipari died as he flung himself across her, saving her life for the second time that day. Here, for the first time in a British newspaper, she tells her full story in her own words

13 March 2005

I was lying on the bed as usual, and I noticed my two guards were not wearing their usual long shirts. They were looking almost elegant in tailored shirts and trousers. I said to them jokingly, "What's up, are you going to a wedding?" They replied, "Congratulations, you are going to Rome. Where are your things?" They were in a great hurry. They kept asking me: "Are you ready? Are you sure?" They wanted to alert me, they told me. "Look, it's going to be complicated. If something goes wrong, they will kill us all. If we are stopped by either the Americans or Iraqi police, don't make any gesture; don't tell them that you are a Westerner."

I put on the black tracksuit top with the zip, black jeans and on top my very anonymous hooded jacket, which is just what you want in an Arab country. They gave me back my stuff, but not everything. They gave me back my press accreditation, my documents, nearly all the money. I had $1,000 and they gave me back $800, a significant gesture. They did not return my notebooks, the mobile phones, the digital camera. Before leaving the house the made me put padding under my sun glasses; for all I knew it could have been broad daylight or night time.

They made me get in the car, and they got in too. Although I could hardly see I realised there was a third man driving. They spoke on their mobiles; maybe there were others in front of us and behind us. I can't be sure. We drove for about 20 minutes. At last we stopped - I've no idea where, as I was blindfolded. They told me to wait. I stayed where I was, I was terribly scared. I didn't move from the car. I was there on my own, in terror. I understood that this was a moment of passage; I was going to be handed over. There were cars stopping. I asked myself, "Is this the one?" At a certain point excited voices were coming from outside. All of this lasted no longer than half an hour. I felt agitated but it was no longer than half an hour.

I could hear police sirens and an American helicopter flying above me. When one of my guards came back, he told me, "Ten minutes." I started counting. I told myself when I count up to 60 it will be a minute. I counted up to 600 which surely took less than 10 minutes. In the meantime I knew I could have ended up in the hands of another [terrorist] group.

Then Nicola Calipari arrived. He opened the door on the right - I was seated on the opposite side. He said, "I am a friend of Pier's and Gabriele's [Pier Scolari, her partner, and Gabriele Polo, editor of Il Manifesto]. You are safe. You are free. Come with me." I didn't take my sunglasses off. I didn't even think about it. "Don't worry, come with me," Nicola told me.

Their own car must have been right there; we reached it in no time. "I'll sit next to you," Nicola said. A colleague of his was driving, the seat next to him was empty. I was still blindfolded; after a few seconds Nicola told me, "You can take your blindfold off." The first thing I saw was a street on Baghdad's outskirts but I didn't pay much attention in that moment of joy. It was not like when I was kidnapped when I would stare at things trying to retain every detail. Then Nicola said, "They told me not to come back without Giuliana." At that point I understood I was free. I felt as if I'd been reborn.

When I took the bandage off, the driver made a phone call, I guess to somewhere in Baghdad. "There are three of us. We are arriving," he said. I guessed that someone was waiting for us at the airport, maybe a colleague of theirs. In the meantime Nicola told me, "Now we'll call Rome." But he couldn't make the call because he couldn't find his glasses. He tossed one of the mobile phones on the front seat as it was not working. With the other phone he was able to call the chief of SISMI [Servizio per l'Informazione e la Sicurezza Militare, Italy's military security service] in Rome. He put me on to him, I can remember I told him "Thank you". Then Nicola told him: "I will call you back." I know it did not feel like an emergency situation. The same thing goes for when the driver said: "From here it is 700 metres to the airport." He said it in a normal tone of voice.....

link to balance of article:

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=619537
 

red

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Nov 13, 2001
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its unfortunate, but a car approaching a road block is always a risky proposition.
 

oldjones

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red said:
its unfortunate, but a car approaching a road block is always a risky proposition.
An article in this Sunday's NYTimes described typical checkpoint operations from the point of view of an American Marine captain who set them up. He had little or no training in such stuff, described using "a roll of concertina wire" across the road as a standard marker—completely ineffective when the approaching vehicle was a tractor trailer at speed—and most tellingly, he talked of stealing a stop sign from an intersection, and what a difference that bit of equipment made. Wouldn't ya think that'd be standard issue to roadblock teams? Along with some instruction on how to use it.
Since shooting to disable a vehicle was too unreliable even for his sharpshooters, you can imagine the only recourse left for this ill-equiped, untrained bunch of kids with guns when approached by a vehicle that just might be carrying a quarter ton of explosives. The death of the Italian agent was stupid and tragic, but more to be pitied are the American soldiers whose stupid, conniving leaders have put them in such avoidable situations of danger.
 

onthebottom

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I have a good friend who lived in Italy, married a girl from Rome and speaks fluent Italian. He says this is nothing more than a terrible accident that the communists (apparently they actually have them there) are trying to whip up.

I don't know, this is second hand analysis but he's a solid guy on this kind of stuff.

Is a shame.

OTB
 

Peeping Tom

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They do have them there - the real deal communists. I would be disappointed if it was a mere accident. A communist agitator in Iraq, hmm that sounds like an enemy combatant and an unlawful one at that.

onthebottom said:
He says this is nothing more than a terrible accident that the communists (apparently they actually have them there) are trying to whip up.
 

onthebottom

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Peeping Tom said:
They do have them there - the real deal communists. I would be disappointed if it was a mere accident. A communist agitator in Iraq, hmm that sounds like an enemy combatant and an unlawful one at that.
Sorry, but I don't find that funny.

OTB
 

WoodPeckr

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Peeping Tom said:
They do have them there - the real deal communists. I would be disappointed if it was a mere accident. A communist agitator in Iraq, hmm that sounds like an enemy combatant and an unlawful one at that.
They have commies all over the world, even in the USA. I'm more concerned with the commies in Red China. There are far more in Red China than anywhere else in the world. Condi Rice is even concerned about Red China and their growing military buildup of late, which is largely being enabled and financed by Corporate America........ :rolleyes:
 

onthebottom

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WoodPeckr said:
They have commies all over the world, even in the USA. I'm more concerned with the commies in Red China. There are far more in Red China than anywhere else in the world. Condi Rice is even concerned about Red China and their growing military buildup of late, which is largely being enabled and financed by Corporate America........ :rolleyes:
China trades with many countries.

It's the capitalism that's driving China's economy, if they were truly commies (ala Russia) they'd be poorer (although at $800 per capita, that pretty farking poor).

Any Dictatorship can build a big army, look South of China for a smaller example.

OTB
 

slowandeasy

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No interest in buying the article

When this first happened, the reports was that the vehicle approached the roadblock at a high speed, and was warned to stop. They did not show any signs of stopping so the soldiers opened fire!!!!!!

The communist journalist claimed otherwise....

Let's see.... she's a communist or she's a journalist sitting on what could be the biggest story of her career.... hmmm no incentive to embellish or fabricate stories here.

I sympathize with the Iraqi People, the soldiers trying to do their job, aid workers trying to make a difference, Iraqi who are afraid of the Bush Administration, many of the reporters trying to cover the story... but I have very little sympathy for a communist journalist... does that make me a bad person????
 

Peeping Tom

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The intent was not humorous. Why do you think there is an insurgent terrorist movement in Iraq, so dearly championed by the western left? Would this latest spatch of terrorism have achieved any goals whatsoever, save for its exposure, in a prominent fashion, by the leftist media?

onthebottom said:
Sorry, but I don't find that funny.
 

oldjones

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Peeping Tom said:
The intent was not humorous. Why do you think there is an insurgent terrorist movement in Iraq, so dearly championed by the western left? Would this latest spatch of terrorism have achieved any goals whatsoever, save for its exposure, in a prominent fashion, by the leftist media?
Let's see because the most powerful country in the world invaded them; because things have gotten worse ever since—from having one of the highest average annual incomes in the Arab world, Iraqis now are among the lowest. It's bad enough all those cowboys in kevlar can't manage security, but they can't even keep the electricity on to the levels Saddam's guys managed during the war.

There's more, but if you really are wondering Peeps, why there's an insurgent movement, I'd say being invaded and occupied is reason enough. D'ya s'pose there'd be no insurgents in Michigan if the RoW (Rest of the World) liberated the US from the Cheney-Bush Puppetshow of Evil? Just joking, 'cause I know your 'question' was just rhetoric. Not so sure about your media-bashing.

Damn that free press anyway, imagine saying what they believe and reporting what they see! (sorta like the UN inspectors before the invasion—oops sorry, off topic) If we could just shut them up, there'd be no problems at all. Trouble was the guys at the checkpoint killed a secret service guy and missed the journalist, right?
 

someone

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oldjones said:
Damn that free press anyway, imagine saying what they believe and reporting what they see! (sorta like the UN inspectors before the invasion—oops sorry, off topic) If we could just shut them up, there'd be no problems at all. Trouble was the guys at the checkpoint killed a secret service guy and missed the journalist, right?
Although I also find PTs views distasteful, they seem to becoming more common in the U.S. For information on the views of young Americans on this type of issue see http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6888837/. To quote: "Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories."

There seem to be a lot of future PTs amoung these high school kids.
 

langeweile

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oldjones said:
Let's see because the most powerful country in the world invaded them; because things have gotten worse ever since—from having one of the highest average annual incomes in the Arab world, Iraqis now are among the lowest. It's bad enough all those cowboys in kevlar can't manage security, but they can't even keep the electricity on to the levels Saddam's guys managed during the war.

There's more, but if you really are wondering Peeps, why there's an insurgent movement, I'd say being invaded and occupied is reason enough. D'ya s'pose there'd be no insurgents in Michigan if the RoW (Rest of the World) liberated the US from the Cheney-Bush Puppetshow of Evil? Just joking, 'cause I know your 'question' was just rhetoric. Not so sure about your media-bashing.

Damn that free press anyway, imagine saying what they believe and reporting what they see! (sorta like the UN inspectors before the invasion—oops sorry, off topic) If we could just shut them up, there'd be no problems at all. Trouble was the guys at the checkpoint killed a secret service guy and missed the journalist, right?

Like papa would say...............YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN.
Aren't you guys ever getting tired recycling the same old same old.........get over it..it is done..and it will be over soon.

In 20 years from now when we will have free and democratic election you guys wil have a lot of humble pie to eat.
 

Peeping Tom

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They should be encouraged - they will look really good in 2008 when they keep repeating this type of nonsense.

langeweile said:
Like papa would say...............YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN.
Aren't you guys ever getting tired recycling the same old same old.........get over it..it is done..and it will be over soon.

In 20 years from now when we will have free and democratic election you guys wil have a lot of humble pie to eat.
 

someone

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Peeping Tom said:
Where did I say that I wanted the media silenced? What I find distasteful is comments made by those who didn't bother to read my post.
You said you wanted her shot. Then you said you meant that statement to be serious and defended it on the grounds that she was a left wing journalist. Sometimes I wonder if you're serious. You must realize that your arguments hurt the causes you claim to believe in.
 
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oldjones

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langeweile said:
Like papa would say...............YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN.
Aren't you guys ever getting tired recycling the same old same old.........get over it..it is done..and it will be over soon.

In 20 years from now when we will have free and democratic election you guys wil have a lot of humble pie to eat.
"Same old" somehow never gets countered, as it didn't this time. Glad to know you'll finally be having free and democratic elections in 20 years though. I'd save some pie for you to celebrate, but I've noticed it doesn't seem to agree with you.
 
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