Several national Italian papers today (June 4th) have reported that analysis of bullet fragments recovered from the Toyota Corolla indicate that three soldiers opened fire in the incident that killed Nicola Calipari and wounded Giuliana Sgrena and Andrea Carpani. This contrasts with the soldiers’ sworn testimony that only Mario Lozano fired on the approaching vehicle, as documented in the US investigative report.
This follows revelations last May 26th in il Manifesto that a bullet fragment did not correspond to the calibre that killed Calipari. This particular was subsequently confirmed by State forensic investigators.
Preliminary studies of the trajectory of the bullet that hit the right front wheel indicate that the Toyota was turning right when the soldiers opened fire. Two tentative conclusions may be drawn from this evidence. One, it is highly unlikely that the vehicle was speeding 70 mph around a curve. Two, the most likely point on the road where the vehicle would turn right was at the last Jersey barrier which was where the unmarked Alert Line had been established.
The Vangjel report states that the fatal firing took place after the speeding vehicle crossed the Warning Line.
According to both the Italian dissenting report and the US version the sight of the incident was not conserved for an immediate forensic examination. The American forces did not allow Italian personnel to visit the sight in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Italian articles with the story presently on line, il Manifesto and la Repubblica.
[Update [2005-6-5 13:45:26 by rom wyo]:
As pointed out in my comment, the second conclusion drawn by the reporters of both la Repubblica and il Manifesto does not stand up to scrutiny. This matter may be of no concern to the English reader (or to the Italian for that matter), but does give an opportunity to discuss a more coherent explanation of the vehicle’s position now that it has been disclosed that it was hit while turning right.
The Jersey blocks were not in a zigzag pattern. There were two blocks on the right in the curve to the Irish Road and a final Jersey barrier on the left. The vehicle would have turned right after the second Jersey block in order to avoid the last barrier.
This might place the firing incident between the second and last barrier rather than before the first Jersey block as reported by the American forces.
The dissenting Italian report avails itself of the testimonies of the surviving victims, something not taken into consideration in the Vangjel report, except de relato by Sergeant FC Feliciano who spoke Spanish. The driver, Carpani, declared that a strong light was flashed on his right, slightly raised, followed almost simultaneously by gunfire.
Both the front of the vehicle and the right side were strafed by gunfire. According to both reports the HMMWV with Lozano in the turret was aligned with the second barrier. This would imply that Lozano flashed the spotlight and opened fire along with other soldiers when the vehicle was aligned with his and engaging the right turn. At this point one could conclude that neither Lozano nor anyone else at the blocking point had noticed the approaching vehicle until it had arrived at or passed the Warning Line.
Images of the intersection of Vernon Road and Irish Road cropped from this 16 MB airscape of Baghdad.
In the upper right hand corner is the overpass described in both reports where the southbound Toyota hit a flooded section of Vernon Road and greatly reduced its speed (Italian Report). The Toyota further slowed as it engaged the side lane on the right.
A translated, full description from the Italian Report is at Daily Kos. Excellent diaries on the dynamics of the incident are at Daily Kos and at Booman Trib. I apologize to the authors of the numerous and excellent diaries and commentaries for not being able to credit them all for their invaluable work. Their work has made both DailyKos and Booman the best English language sources on the Sgrena-Calipari incident.
The site description is on page 23 of the classified US Report.
“The road leading to the on-ramp begins where the westernmost lane of Route Vernon separates from the highway. The on-ramp itself begins near a side street that borders the edge of a housing area on the west side of the road. This point is approximately 640 meters south of the nearby underpass on Route Vernon, and approximately 380 meters from where the road to the on-ramp splits from Route Vernon. (Annexes 141K, 144K).
(U) At the interchange of the on-ramp and Route Vernon, the highway becomes an overpass extending over Route Irish. Three separate concrete Jersey barriers are located in the on-ramp to Route Irish. The barriers are arranged with the first two barriers on the right hand side of the on-ramp and the third one on the left hand side of the on-ramp, but not in a serpentine configuration, as one approaches from the north. The first barrier is approximately 75 meters from the concrete abutment of the Route Vernon overpass near the beginning of the on-ramp. The second barrier is approximately 37 meters beyond the first barrier (112 meters from the concrete abutment). The third barrier is approximately 31 meters beyond the second barrier (143 meters from the abutment). This third, or southernmost, barrier is approximately 80 meters from where the on-ramp merges with westbound Route Irish. The total length of the on-ramp is approximately 223 meters.”
The following two images appeared in the May 26th edition of il Manifesto. The first photo is of the three Jersey barriers in the curve to the Irish Road ramp.
According to the US report and accepted with reservations by the Italian investigators, the blocking vehicle was “on the road, near the outer curb, positioned in conjunction with the second barrier of three Jersey barriers already on-site on the on-ramp” at a safe distance from the Vernon overpass.
Carpani testifies that the light came from the right side. The bursts of fire hit the front and the right side of the vehicle. This would place the blocking vehicle on the right side of the Toyota in the curve, fairly out of sight for any approaching vehicle on a rainy night.
The second photo is of the Vernon overpass and the side road leading to the Irish Road ramp. None of the Jersey blocks are visible in the photo. The Alert Line corresponds roughly to the second Vernon Overpass lamppost in the center of the photo.
