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| Europe |
| Now the Italian Media Has Ticked Me Off!! Reveals Iraq Details |
| 2005-05-02 |
| Italian media have published classified sections of an official US military inquiry into the accidental killing of an Italian agent in Baghdad. The 40-page report was censored by the Pentagon before being officially published on Saturday. Italy has refused to accept the US report's findings and is to publish its own version of events later this week. Details of the official report were published in newspapers on Sunday with censored material restored in full. Missing text A Greek medical student at Bologna University who was surfing the web early on Sunday found that with two simple clicks of his computer mouse he could restore censored portions of the report. He passed the details to Italian newspapers which immediately put out the full text on their own websites. The missing text contains the names and ranks of all of the American military personnel involved (what aszholes!) in the killing of Nicola Calipari, the Italian agent who was given a state funeral and awarded Italy's highest medal of valour. It also reveals the rules of engagement in operation at the military checkpoint near Baghdad airport which have been contested by the Italian authorities. The censored sections include recommendations that the American military modify their checkpoint procedures to give better and clearer warning signs to approaching vehicles. The official Italian report on the incident expected to be published this week will accuse the American military of tampering with evidence at the scene of the shooting. The Americans invited two Italians to join in their inquiry, but the Italian representatives protested at what they claimed was lack of objectivity in presenting the evidence and returned to Rome. Relations between Rome and Washington remain tense. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #5 Isn't this at least the second time the same .PDF screwup has happened? Our side has to do a better job of keeping secrets - very few media outlets will do it for you after you hand them the information. |
| Posted by: VAMark 2005-05-02 22:56 |
| #4 James - to answer your question - The LALA Times, NY Times, and Seattle PI would without a question. Other papers might hesitate - some for a milisecond - some for a miniute or so, and some (too few) just wouldn't. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-05-02 4:17:01 PM |
| #3 Fercrineoutloud, people... is there a problem with making their spies do some work? Do you hafta hand over intelligence on a silver tray with some parsley garnish? Sheesh... |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2005-05-02 1:57:20 PM |
| #2 Allegedly, the censor didn't know how to properly censor text in .pdf format, so all you had to do was use its equivalent of "edit undo". That won't look good on his resume. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-02 1:47:41 PM |
| #1 How many US newspapers would have done exactly the same thing? |
| Posted by: James 2005-05-02 1:28:59 PM |