Italian Opera: Shooting Nicola
Nicola Calipari was an Italian secret service agent supposedly killed by US bullets after Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter for a communist newspaper in Italy who was supposedly kidnapped in Baghdad on Feb 4 (story).
Ms Sgrena believes that she was intentionally targeted by American troops. “The fact that they do everything to prevent the adoption of this practice to save the lives of people held hostage, everybody knows that,” she added, speaking to Sky TG24 television by telephone. “So I don’t see why I should rule out that I could have been the target.”
This is an extraordinary statement, one that she admits lacks proof of any kind.
Since she was willing to offer an extraordinary statement without any extraordinary proof to back it up, I thought I would issue my own:
Sgrena was not kidnapped at all, but instead was part of a plot to embarrass the pro-American Italian government by faking her kidnapping. When the Italian government actually “rescued” her, the plotters were forced to shoot the rescuer to keep him from talking. They therefore shot him at point blank range and then approached an American checkpoint in a wreckless manner to cover up the agent’s murder.
Like any good conspiracy theory, my theory weaves extraneous facts into a tight pattern.
1. Sgrena was anti-war to begin with. Being kidnapped served her agenda.
2. Being rescued did not.
3. Calipari died from a single gunshot wound to the temple. If you want someone dead, that’s the way to do it. And we are expected to believe that somehow, an American soldier fired that bullet into a moving car?
If so, why didn’t his head explode? If the bullet had come from a sniper, the power behind it would have showered everyone in the car with Capriari’s brains. Ditto 50 cal machine guns or any other type of ordinance the US would have used against a possible homicide bomber.
No mention of that – and you can bet that Sgrena would have made something of it had it occurred. Imagine it from the perspective of some boys manning the checkpoint.
There’s an out of control (according to Sgrena) car driving at you in hostile territory known for suicide car bombers. You are going to shoot at it with anything that stops the car. What stops cars tends to shatter skulls.
So my question remains: Why did Sgrena talk about Capriari breathing his last breath on her neck instead of being showered by his blood and brains?
4. Sgrena’s story is too neat. Facts are usually messy especially this close to their occurence, and the fact that she is reporting that when she was released her captors warned her that the Americans wanted her dead seems too convenient. It also seems too much of a product of her own preconceived notions. As one writer has said, if the Americans wanted her dead, she would be dead.
Also, the supposed celebrations of her release, followed by the drama of Calipari’s breathing his last breath on Sgrena’s face sounds too much like an Italian opera to me. It sounds contrived.
In summary, there’s more going on here than we know at this time. Something in this story smells.
Evidently I am not the only one thinking this (link).
