US satellite recorded checkpoint shooting, shows speed of Italian car: CBS

[gilliam]

A US satellite reportedly recorded a checkpoint shooting in Iraq last month, enabling investigators to reconstruct how fast a car carrying a top Italian intelligence official and a freed hostage was traveling when US troops opened fire.

The report, which aired Thursday on CBS News, said US investigators concluded from the recording that the car was traveling at a speed of more than 60 miles (96 km) per hour.

Giuliana Sgrena has said the car was traveling at a normal speed of about 30 miles an hour when the soldiers opened fired, wounding her and killing Nicola Calipari, the Italian agent who had just secured her release from a month’s captivity.

US soldiers said at the time of the March 4 incident that the car approached at a high rate of speed and that they fired only after it failed to respond to hand signals, flashing bright lights and warning shots.

The conflicting accounts were among a number of differences that have prevented US and Italian authorities from reaching agreement on what happened.

CBS, citing Pentagon officials, said the satellite recording enabled investigators to reconstruct the event without having to rely on the eyewitness accounts.

It said the soldiers manning the checkpoint first spotted the Italian car when it was 137 yards (meters) away. By the time they opened fire and brought the car to a halt, it was 46 yards (meters) away. CBS said that happened in less than three seconds, which meant the car had to be going over 60 miles an hour. CBS said Italian investigators refused to accept that the Americans were justified in shooting so quickly, arguing among other things that the checkpoint was not properly marked.

news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050429/pl_afp/italyusiraqsatellite_050429162837

 

[Matt25]

How terribly convenient. Is this film in the public domain?

BTW if satellites can spot a speeding car how did they lose a huge WMD arsenal? Either the technology works or it doesn’t.

 

[gilliam]

Matt25:

How terribly convenient. Is this film in the public domain?

BTW if satellites can spot a speeding car how did they lose a huge WMD arsenal? Either the technology works or it doesn’t.

Just speculating here, but wouldn’t it be easier to spot a speeding car than do a chemical analysis of the contents of a drum inside a lorry? I would think it would take an entirely different type of technology.

Not an expert in this field though.

 

[Tietjen]

gilliam:

Just speculating here, but wouldn’t it be easier to spot a speeding car than do a chemical analysis of the contents of a drum inside a lorry? I would think it would take an entirely different type of technology.

Not an expert in this field though.

Good point

 

[Lance]

gilliam:

Just speculating here, but wouldn’t it be easier to spot a speeding car than do a chemical analysis of the contents of a drum inside a lorry? I would think it would take an entirely different type of technology.

Not an expert in this field though.

An I would bet that neither is Matt25. In his opinion if it puts a good light on the US or George Bush it must be a part of the great right wing conspiracy. My bet is that if Al-Jazera had reported the car was going 25 mph he would accept it at face value and be reporting it in a post here.

 

[Matt25]

gilliam:

Just speculating here, but wouldn’t it be easier to spot a speeding car than do a chemical analysis of the contents of a drum inside a lorry? I would think it would take an entirely different type of technology.

Not an expert in this field though.

So how did they not see the lorry?

What about the missiles that couldlaunch in 45minutes? Were they micro missiles?

 

[Matt25]

Lance:

An I would bet that neither is Matt25. In his opinion if it puts a good light on the US or George Bush it must be a part of the great right wing conspiracy. My bet is that if Al-Jazera had reported the car was going 25 mph he would accept it at face value and be reporting it in a post here.

Do you have anything apart from insults to contribute to this discussion?

 

[wabrams]

Just to note some irony, isn’t CBS usually bashed to no ends here, but yet people on this board are now believing what they are reporting on this one incident?

 

[Peter_Atlanta]

So we have evidence of the US military assassinating the Italian. I doubt we’ll be privy to that little bit of film anytime soon.

 

[gilliam]

Matt25:

So how did they not see the lorry?

What about the missiles that couldlaunch in 45minutes? Were they micro missiles?

We did see lorries. Lots of them cross into Syria and move into Lebanon right before the Liberation. That is what Gen Franks was referring to in the thread I posted today.

The CIA’s chief weapons inspector said he cannot rule out the possibility that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were secretly shipped to Syria before the March 2003 invasion, citing “sufficiently credible” evidence that WMDs may have been moved there. Inspector Charles Duelfer, who heads the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), made the findings in an addendum to his final report filed last year. He said the search for WMD in Iraq – the main reason President Bush went to war to oust Saddam Hussein – has been exhausted without finding such weapons. Iraq had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in the early 1990s.(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com …

Not sure about missles.

 

[gilliam]

wabrams:

Just to note some irony, isn’t CBS usually bashed to no ends here, but yet people on this board are now believing what they are reporting on this one incident?

I am skeptical as I always am with CBS. I’ll report it, but would like to see alternate sources as well.

good point!

 

[Lorarose]

So we have evidence of the US military assassinating the Italian. I doubt we’ll be privy to that little bit of film anytime soon

That’s not the point I’m getting out of it.
If the satellite film is true, then the reporters story has been debunked, and she would be revealed to be a liar.

 

[Lance]

Matt25:

Do you have anything apart from insults to contribute to this discussion?

I am glad to see I hit a sensative point with you, you have no problem slaming the US and our President but don’t seem to be able to take it. I am just pointing out from your past posts that you believe every bad thing the liberal press says about us but question anything that is reported that is good. If you are going to dish it out be prepaired to take it.

 

[dumspirospero]

What news report did you read??? Did you read Gilliam’s post? Then how did you conclude we “assassinated” the Italian??? The story proves that the soldiers were correct in their firing on the vehicle and it exhonerates them from any wrong doing.

Peter_Atlanta:

So we have evidence of the US military assassinating the Italian. I doubt we’ll be privy to that little bit of film anytime soon.

 

[JackmanUSC]

Just to clear some things up. Our enemies know we have satellites. They know when they pass overhead and have gotten really good at covering up or moving weapons etc. when our birds pass overhead. Iraq did it. Iran does it. North Korea does it. The inherent problem of the intelligence, from the mouth of a former senior member of the PFIAB in the White House, was that old expertise was walking out due to retirement and the new guys were not performing their job correctly. Also the old way of conducting intelligence through embassies is not working anymore. MASINT was seriously lacking during the war and is now recieving a budget increase to deal with the discovered shortfalls. We experienced the same problems with the beginnings of the cold war and are doing so again. To those who argue Bush lied, grow up and face reality, everyone in the world thought Iraq was stashing stuff. The only reason France, Germany, Russia, and China didn’t want to invade was because they had multi billion dollar contracts with the Iraqi government.

 

[JackmanUSC]

Go Read The Freakin Report Before You Start Making False Accusations About The Prez!!!

 

[Matt25]

gilliam:

We did see lorries. Lots of them cross into Syria and move into Lebanon right before the Liberation. That is what Gen Franks was referring to in the thread I posted today.
Not sure about missles.

So when our countries invaded Iraq to deal with the WMD problem they already knew that the WMD’s were no longer there? That makes perfect sense.

 

[Matt25]

Lance:

I am glad to see I hit a sensative point with you, you have no problem slaming the US and our President but don’t seem to be able to take it. I am just pointing out from your past posts that you believe every bad thing the liberal press says about us but question anything that is reported that is good. If you are going to dish it out be prepaired to take it.

I’m glad your pleased, schadenfreude is such a Christian virtue. You still have not addressed any of the actual points of fact on this thread. Where is all this satellite evidence that exonerates the US? If satellites are that accurate how did they locate then lose track of huge WMD programmes? Do you remember Colin Powells slide show at the UN? Did US intelligence lose interest in WMD’s and start filming ball games instead?

BTWYou are possibly the only person in the world that thinks al-jazeera part of the liberal press

The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace

“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”(Psalms 133:1).

 

[dumspirospero]

No he isn’t…so do I…they report the same garbage and seem to be on the same side…they spin their coverage the same exact way and they both want the insurgents to be successful…so yes, they are one in the same.

Matt25:

BTWYou are possibly the only person in the world that thinks al-jazeera part of the liberal press

The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace

“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”(Psalms 133:1).

 

[gilliam]

Matt25:

So when our countries invaded Iraq to deal with the WMD problem they already knew that the WMD’s were no longer there? That makes perfect sense.

Don’t be ridiculous. What I said is what Gen Franks said. We have a lot of intelligence to indicate that a lot of material went into Syria. There is good intelligence (not conclusive intelligence) that some WMD was included in those shipments right before the war.

Also note that contrary to what a lot of people think, WMD were found in Iraq. 155mm artillery projectiles with Sarin and mustard agent, and battlefield rockets with CW were found. These finds are ignored because they were old munitions from Gulf War I. But the real issue is that they were still not accounted for in contravention of UN resolutions. Also it is public knowlege that tons of “pesticides” were hidden in underground bunkers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that dual use chemicals hidden in ammo bunkers may be there for military use.