Posted on 03/08/2005 10:24:48 PM PST by ajolympian2004
Photos of Giuliana Sgrena's car are available at http://www.repubblica.it. Click on "IMMAGINI l'auto colpita dai soldati Usa" beneath top story to view more pics.
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.
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.
Update II: Higher quality photos here.
Thanks for sharing, I really thought the damage was 100% worse than what is shown here. That exhostage and the media really played the victim card well.
I don't understand why the MSM (blind as it usually is) has not already debunked this story and moved on. By her own admission, the hostage/journalist and her companion were "racing" to catch a plane. "Racing" means "driving fast." The people at the checkpoint said that the car came in too fast (sound familiar?) and did not stop when ordered to do so, so they fired. Where do these two stories not match up?
I'm finding less and less reason to use the word hostage in connection with this woman. That they rescued her by giving millions to terrorists should be regarded as an Italian national shame. They should know better... most of the time they can be depended on to know better.
WOW, now that is a very bullet-riddled car aint it!!!
Communists are unrepentant liars.
I thought our soldiers shot 10 gazillion rounds at the car?
Damn, our boys need practice! ;-)
If i was the Italian, the only negotiating is like what we do... NONE, but i guess that's why we're not the italians.
Also, I would give the terrorists free cyanide pills and tell them it was from Allah, he says surrender already! :)
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