"RAIN OF FIRE?"
By Michelle Malkin March 08, 2005 04:15 PM
Photos of Giuliana Sgrena's car are available at repubblica.it. Click on "IMMAGINI l'auto colpita dai soldati Usa" beneath top story to view more pics.
repubblica.it
I can't see a single bullet hole. [Ed. note: besides the one in the circle that Rusty Shackleford points out, that is.]
LGF posted about this earlier today. littlegreenfootballs.com
Update: Reader Steve Gregg writes:
<<<
Ms. Sgrena's car appears remarkably intact having driven through, in her words, a rain of fire, and being fired upon by a tank, as she seems to claim. In Picture 3 in the Repubblica link I see what may be two bullet holes near the bottom of the front windshield, driver's side. The headlights and grill, where the troops were aiming, look undamaged. It appears our guys did not place many shots in this vehicle and those they did went high. Of course, shooting high in combat is an old army problem. Most green troops tend to fire over the heads of the enemy. That's why the old sergeants of a century ago told their troops to aim low and squeeze slowly, so as not to jerk their rifle up with an excited trigger pull. Also, if a car is rapidly advancing on you, if you fire at where the radiator was a second ago, the windshield of that car will pull forward into that aimpoint by the time you pulled the trigger. It looks like the troops misjudged their lead when aiming at the speeding car. You can't blame them.
What I also see in these pictures is good fire control by the troops. If you feel your life is in danger, the natural reaction is to keep firing until you run out of ammo. Often, police in a gunfight will keep shooting until they are dry-snapping their pistols. Undisciplined troops would have filled this car full of holes, stopping only when their magazines were empty. I see evidence of at most two shots in the car. That is remarkable restraint for troops fearing a car bomb is about to snuff out their lives. >>>
michellemalkin.com |