On Friday March 4th 2005, American troops fired on a car rushing Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to freedom after a month in captivity, wounding her and killing the Italian intelligence officer who helped negotiate her release. On February 4th, Giuliana, who was working for the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, was kidnapped in Baghdad and on February 15th, she appeared on a videotape begging for her life and for Italian troops to leave Iraq. While the US claimed that they fired on the car because it was speeding towards a checkpoint, Giuliana Sgrena has said that they were past the last checkpoint and the US shooting was most likely intentional and intended to discourage others from negotiating to free hostages.Some 190 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq in the past year but the number of Iraqis seized is far greater. Hotels in Jordan are thronged with middle-class Iraqis who have fled in fear of being kidnapped.
Giuliana Sgrena: My truth | Italians, Shame On You | Democracy Now: Il Manifesto Founder on Sgrena Shooting | World Socialist Web Site | Companion of Freed Italian Journalist Says U.S. Attack Was Deliberate | No One Safe on Baghdad's Roads, Iraqis Say | Bulgaria Says Soldier Killed by U.S. Troops in Iraq | Italia.Indymedia.Org | Il Manifesto