DEATH AT THE CHECKPOINT

Jeremy Scahill writes: On March 4, US soldiers fired on the car taking newly released Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to the Baghdad airport, wounding her and killing Nicola Calipari, the international operations chief of Italy's military intelligence service, who was escorting her. He had arrived in Baghdad that day after making contact with the kidnappers. He checked in with US forces at the airport. After picking up Sgrena, they drove back to the airport, keeping the lights on in the car to help identify themselves at US checkpoints. But as they neared the airport, their car was riddled with bullets. US forces claim they fired only after repeated attempts to warn the vehicle. The Italian government and Sgrena say that is false. "We were on our way to the airport, and we thought we were finally safe, because the area where we were was under the control of the United States," Sgrena told Italian television. "But then suddenly we found ourselves under an immense amount of bullets, something terrible, without any warning." The Italian foreign minister said, "The government has a duty to point out that the reconstruction of the tragic event that I have set out...does not coincide, totally, with what has been said so far by the US authorities." That this could have happened in such a high-profile case when every precaution should have been in place indicates the degree to which Iraqis are subject to violence by US forces in everyday life. Their deaths and injuries go uncounted at numerous checkpoints where they did or did not slow down, when commanded in a language not their own, by soldiers of the occupying army. The occupation has been rife with these questionable checkpoint shootings, explained away by the military with the mantra "failed to slow down" or "failed to stop." The Pentagon has not admitted US culpability in any such deaths. Congress should conduct a full investigation into the military's treatment of journalists and other noncombatants in Iraq with a particular focus on the killing of Iraqi civilians and unembedded journalists. Every one of the checkpoint killings in Iraq should be heavily scrutinized. The climate of impunity must be confronted, not just by Congress but by the US media as well.

BUSH'S GIFT TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.