Sgrena starting to unrevel

Ex-hostage told to mind her language

By Phil Stewart in Rome
March 12, 2005
From: Reuters
News.com.au

ITALY'S justice minister has urged former hostage Giuliana Sgrena to stop making "careless" accusations after being shot by US forces in Baghdad, saying she had already caused enough grief.
Ms Sgrena has repeatedly suggested US soldiers shot her on purpose and said today she had little faith in a joint investigation by Italy and the United States into the "friendly fire" incident.
"She has created enormous problems for the Government and also caused grief that perhaps was better avoided," Justice Minister Roberto Castelli told reporters in Bologna.
Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was shot dead by US forces as he shielded the newly freed hostage while taking her to the airport.
Ms Sgrena herself said in interviews this week that had she been more cautious in Baghdad, she perhaps would not have been kidnapped in the first place.
The award-winning war reporter, who works for Communist newspaper Il Manifesto, was abducted as she conducted interviews outside Baghdad University and held for a month.
Many Italians have been irked by her descriptions of her kidnappers. She said they were not killers and that she might have over-dramatised her videotaped appeal from captivity for Italy to withdraw its 3000 troops from Iraq.
She sobbed in the video and begged her family and the Government to do something to save her life.
"Sgrena, I think, should perhaps be more careful. She has said a load of nonsense, speaks somewhat carelessly and makes careless comments," Mr Castelli said.
The US army says Ms Sgrena's vehicle sped toward the checkpoint outside the airport and ignored warning shots, an explanation rejected by Rome and the car's driver.
Italy's centre-right government, while rejecting any hint that the shooting was intentional, has until now largely refrained from directly criticising Ms Sgrena.
She told the ANSA news agency she did not expect official inquiries into the incident to produce results "because we know how they end up".
She also complained of being treated unfairly.
"I feel like I'm being accused for being kidnapped and then saved," Ms Sgrena said, speaking from a Rome hospital, where she is undergoing treatment for her injuries.
News.com.au

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