According to Peter Popham of the Independent (via NewsHog), recently freed then wounded journalist Giuliana Sgrena said on Italian television,

I never said that they wanted to kill me, but the mechanics of what happened were those of an attack.

Her boyfriend Pier Scolari is also denying any such attributions—

None of us is so stupid as to think the Americans did it on purpose. But the dynamic was that of an ambush and we want a convincing explanation of what happened, because the first American explanation was totally false.

Of course, either Scolari was previously misquoted or he is indeed that stupid.

My own reaction is that the Italian government has asked the two to cool the rhetoric. While the government may not have the means to enforce such a request, it does have a certain moral suasion in that it clearly went to great lengths, including (possibly) the payment of a ransom, to effect Sgrena's release. It can now say, "Giuliana, dear. We have demanded an investigation at the highest levels of government, and your off-the-cuff remarks are not helping. Could you please be a little more circumspect?" She has also been interviewed several times by Italian investigators, which may have cleared her mind a bit.

The right (and many on the left) will be jumping all over this. What they will be ignoring is the indisputable fact that lies were stated by the Americans in the immediate aftermath of the event. When the guy sitting next to you has just been killed and you yourself have survived by a hairbreadth, and then the first thing out of the authorities' mouths are lies, what would you think? That it was perhaps by intent?

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