The Calipari affair
The QandO Blog
Posted by: McQ on Tuesday, March 08, 2005
I've read as much as much as is available about the sad accident which cost the Italian agent his life after the freeing of a hostage in Iraq. I've looked at every angle and tried to put myself in the place of both those in the car which was fired upon and those at the checkpoint in question.
While I think it is a very unfortunate and avoidable accident, I come down firmly on the side of those manning the US checkpoint. Obviously the Italians see it differently:
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Italy's foreign minister urged the United States Tuesday to punish any soldiers found guilty of wrongdoing in the killing of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq last week.
"It is our duty to demand truth and justice," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told parliament, casting doubt on the U.S. military's account of the shooting of Italian agent Nicola Calipari outside Baghdad airport.
Calipari has been hailed as a hero after he died shielding a newly freed Italian hostage from the U.S. gunfire.
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A couple of points. How to approach a checkpoint is not something which is unknown by those in Iraq. In fact, as an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution points out, a concerted effort has been made to inform everyone of the proper procedure:
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U.S. forces have used Iraqi media and even passed out leaflets in Arabic informing Iraqis and Westerners in Iraq how to conduct themselves as they approach checkpoints to avoid drawing fire.
"It is tribal wisdom, it is street knowledge in and around Iraq, how to behave around traffic control points," Venables said.
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Obviously a speeding car which won't respond to warnings and signals to stop is not a proper way to approach such a checkpoint.
Car bombs are proximity devices. The closer it is to the target the more damage it will do. I don't think I have to tell anyone that US troops at checkpoints have been targets of car bombs.
Point 2. Apparently none of the troops at the checkpoint knew the Italians were coming through. Now its not completely clear whether that's the fault of the US command or the Italians, although the Italians say they checked in with the US command before proceeding. They also said they had the car lights on to identify the car (although I'm unclear how that would have been particularly useful). What this 'checking in' consisted of is still not clear. Subsequent events, however, argue that the troops on the US checkpoint were not aware of any such mission. They apparently had no reason to assume a speeding car coming at their checkpoint was anything but hostile.
Point 3. Troops fired at the engine block. If your intent is to target and kill the occupants of a vehicle you don't fire at the engine block. You fire into the interior of the vehicle at the driver and passengers. If the intent of firing at the car was to kill the occupants, or target them as some alleged, they'd be dead right now. Instead it appears the troops, after warnings and attempts to stop the car by non lethal means finally made the decision to protect themselves from a nonresponsive and potentially lethal threat. But their aim appears to be to disable the car before it could get into their proximity and possibly detonate any explosives on board.
Point 4. US troops on the scene, once they realized what happend, apologized profusely:
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The intelligence officer who survived the attack was forced to kneel in the road until the soldiers realized who he was.
"Two young Americans approached our officer and, demoralized, they repeatedly apologized for what had happened," Fini said.
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These are not the actions of people who are accused by some of deliberately and wantonly targeting a civilian vehicle. The actions of the US troops speak to a proper response to a perceived threat. Their subsequent apology, on the scene, speaks to an understandable and lamentable mistake. In fact it should be pointed out that according to reports, all-in-all their response to the perceived threat was a very measured one. It could have been much worse had they raised their aim and fired into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Had that happened, its doubtful that any of the occupants would have survived.
It is indeed unfortunate and tragic. An apology from the US is appropriate, just as anyone would apologize after such an accident. But again, barring extensive new evidence to the contrary, it appears a lack of communication and a lack of forethought on the Italian side combined with troops on a checkpoint who reacted to a perceived threat were the cause of the accident. Had I been on that checkpoint and assuming most of the facts are correct, I'd have reacted in precisely the same manner.
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