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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (73048)	3/7/2005 2:52:57 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 89467

I don't know about Paul Wellstone (he was not much of a threat to the powers that be) but I have long been convinced that President Kennedy fell victim to a right wing political assassination back in 1963. So this kind of thing has a LONG history IMHO.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (73048)	3/7/2005 4:07:51 PM
From: Kip518	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Italian hostage accuses US of trying to kill her as thousands mourn her rescuer By John Hooper in Rome, The Guardian The former Italian hostage who saw her rescuer shot dead at a US checkpoint in Baghdad said yesterday they might have been targeted because of US objections to Italy's policy of negotiating with kidnappers. Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter for the far-left daily Il Manifesto, was wounded as bullets ripped into the car taking her to Baghdad airport to be flown out of Iraq. In a vivid account, written for her newspaper, she described how Nicola Calipari, the international operations chief of Italy's military intelligence service, was shot in the head as he tried to shield her. "I heard his last breath as he died on top of me," she wrote. Amid a growing sense of anger, disbelief and sorrow in Italy, about 10,000 people filed through Rome's Victor Emmanuel monument yesterday to pay respects to Mr Calipari, whose body lay in state. He will receive a state funeral today. Sgrena flew home late on Saturday in the plane carrying Mr Calipari's coffin. Italy's president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, was at the airport and, in an effort to express the mixed sorrow and admiration Italians feel for the dead intelligence chief, he stood for a full two minutes with his hands on the coffin before allowing it to proceed. In her account, Sgrena said she recalled her captors' last words: "Be careful because the Americans don't want you to return." The Italian government has virtually admitted a ransom was paid, with the agriculture minister in Silvio Berlusconi's rightwing government, Giovanni Alemanno, saying it was "very likely". He added it was "generally preferable to pay a financial price than the price of a human life or a political price consisting of [submitting to] blackmail by pulling out troops". An Iraqi MP told Belgian state television on Saturday that a $1m (£520,000) ransom was paid. But Italian media reports spoke of a payment of up to $8m. In an interview broadcast by Sky Italia, Sgrena said: "The United States does not approve of this policy and so they try to stop it in any way possible." But the communications minister, Maurizio Gasparri, urged her to to show restraint: "I understand the emotion of these hours, but those who have been under stress in the past few weeks should pull themselves together and avoid talking nonsense." The incident has strained relations between the Bush administration and one of its strongest allies in Europe, with Italian ministers openly expressing disbelief at Washington's account. The US military said the car approached the checkpoint on Friday night at speed and soldiers used hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and warning shots to try to get it to stop. However, according to the daily Corriere della Sera, the Italian intelligence officer who drove the car and who survived the attack insisted they were travelling at just 40 to 50 kilometres an hour (25 to 30 mph). He was quoted as saying: "All of a sudden, a searchlight went on. Immediately afterwards, the shots began. The fire lasted for at least 10 seconds." The team that fetched Sgrena had been in direct contact by telephone with the prime minister's office in Rome, where Mr Berlusconi, senior intelligence officers and the editor of Sgrena's newspaper were all celebrating her release with champagne. Corriere della Sera said that, after screaming at the Americans to stop, the intelligence officer called up again. "The Americans have shot at us," he shouted. "Nicola is dead. I have a machine gun pointing at me." Mr Gasparri said the incident would make no difference to Italy's support for efforts to secure postwar Iraq. "The military mission must carry on because it consolidates democracy and liberty in Iraq," he said. Italian prosecutors are working on the assumption they are investigating a murder. White House counsellor Dan Bartlett, talking on CNN yesterday, called the shooting "a horrific accident" and pledged a full investigation. "In a situation where there is a live combat zone ... people are making split-second decisions, and it's critically important that we get the facts before we make judgments," he said. © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 Reprinted from The Guardian: guardian.co.uk

To: stockman_scott who wrote (73048)	3/7/2005 4:11:07 PM
From: Kip518	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Mike Whitney: 'Silencing Sgrena, gangland-style' Sgrena had the goods on them, the whole bloody litany of crimes perpetrated by the swaggering Texas psychopath and his Pentagon goons. Her interviews with Falluja's refugees put her in a position to spill the beans on Bush's murderous farce and splatter the headlines across Europe with the real picture of what is going on inside Iraq. "I wanted to tell about the bloodbath in Falluja through the refugees tales....I had in front of me the EVIDENCE of what Iraqi society had become with the war," she announced in her confession My Truth ("La mia verita") Of course she did...so she had to die. Others have died for much less. According to Eason Jordan, veteran news chief who was axed for telling the truth of what most suspected anyway; that Rumsfeld was intentionally targeting journalists in a maniacal effort to control the flow of information coming out of Iraq. Eason predictably recanted and threw himself on his sword, but the evidence is clear; the bombings of Al Jazeera (twice) and Al Arabiyya TV, as well as the unprovoked attack on the press facility in Baghdad (the Palestine Hotel) that killed a Spanish journalist, were all premeditated. No junior officer ordered an Abrams tank to lob shells into the media's hotel. That order came from the very top rungs of the War Dept. The choice to fire 300 rounds into the vehicle carrying an Italian journalist to safety was not ordered by a junior-grade officer either. When Sgrena was transported to the Baghdad airport everyone along the way was notified. In case you're wondering, no one simply travels the road to the airport without all points being alerted to their movements. It's the most hazardous stretch of ground on earth and no one passes without proper clearance. This means that the Pentagon's storyline is pure fiction, as time will certainly tell. They weren't overtaken by a speeding vehicle; it was a trap. The car was a mere 700 meters from the airport when Marines started pumping it full of lead in a gangland-style hit. Miraculously, Sgrena survived with only minor injuries. "Nicola Calipari dove on top of me to protect me," Sgrena said, "and immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me...I had a sudden thought: I recalled my abductors words. They said they were committed to releasing me, but that I had to be careful because' the Americans don't want you to return'." How strange that "insurgents" would have to warn an Italian correspondent that the real danger she faced was the American army. She hadn't realized to what extent she had put herself at risk by uncovering the truth. And what was this "truth" that Sgrena would be publishing on her return to Europe? Would it be further confirmation that the United States had used mustard gas, nerve gas and other incendiary chemicals during their assault on Falluja as Iraq's Health Ministry has already claimed? Would she verify the reports of cluster-bombs and "melted bodies found in the city, where dogs, birds, plants and all forms of life were destroyed?" Would she prove that large areas in Falluja have been excavated; (and dumped in the dessert) removing the remnants of toxic weapons that saturated the soil? How far would Bush's polling numbers plummet if the American people discovered that the sadistic Rumsfeld was using banned weapons on civilians? How much easier just to kill the "Leftist" reporter and let the media-apologists patch together the excuses. After all, the legions of Gannon prototypes are already pecking-away at their keyboards whipping up tomorrow's explanations. Obfuscating the truth is the only craft at which they truly excel. More Whitewash The cover-up is already in full swing with the media providing the standard smokescreen to conceal the inconvenient details. Bush has promised a thorough investigation, which means that he may convene another "hand-picked" panel of administration loyalists to bury the facts under reams of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo. But, it doesn't look like this story is going away any time soon. The furor in Italy could have broad implications and, perhaps, bring down Berlusconi. It's no longer safe to be friends with George Bush. The public rage increases with each new act of treachery and we can only wonder when the laws of critical mass will come into play and when the cumulative weight of five years crime and cruelty will tip the scales and bring the whole wretched edifice down in a heap. smirkingchimp.com