Iraq war: Italy wants US soldier for murdering Nicola Calipari and nearly murdering Giuliana Sgrena

Associated Press reports:

By ARIEL DAVID

ROME Jun 19, 2006 — Prosecutors have requested the indictment of a U.S. soldier over the shooting of an Italian intelligence agent at a checkpoint in Iraq last year, a prosecutor said Monday.

Authorities were seeking the indictment on charges of murder and attempted murder, the official said on condition of anonymity because of a new law allowing only the chief prosecutor to speak to the media.

Prosecutor Erminio Amelio previously has identified the U.S. soldier as Mario Lozano.

Local newspapers have reported that Lozano is from New York. …

The death of Nicola Calipari by U.S. gunfire strained relations between Italy and the United States, and there was widespread political support in Italy for an investigation.

The agent was heading by car to Baghdad airport on March 4, 2005, shortly after securing the release of an Italian journalist who had been kidnapped in the Iraqi capital when he was shot at the checkpoint.

Another agent, who was driving the car, and the journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, were wounded.

Italy and the United States issued separate reports on the incident, after failing to agree on a shared version of events.

Talking about Iraq today (from ABC news in the USA; not available at the ABC site anymore):

The U.S. Army has charged three soldiers in connection with the deaths of three Iraqis who were in military custody in northern Iraq last month, the military said Monday.

The Multinational Corps-Iraq said three members of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division have been charged in connection with the deaths of three male detainees during an operation near Thar Thar Canal in northern Salahuddin province on May 9.

“A noncommissioned officer and two soldiers each have been charged with violating several articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, communicating a threat, and obstructing justice,” an announcement said.

See also here.

Britain: army helicopters hurt wildlife

From British daily The Guardian:

Army helicopter training tests wildlife authorities

Martin Wainwright

Monday June 19, 2006

The army has been accused of brushing aside wildlife protection rules in a rush to get Apache helicopter crews trained for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Low-flying sorties have disrupted nesting birds on heather upland in the North Yorkshire moors in operations which the local National Park authority has called “disturbing and arrogant”.

A report on the row from the park’s chief executive, Andrew Wilson, claimed that the army Air Corps 9th regiment, based at Dishforth near the moors, flouted agreements to liaise over flight plans and timings.

Sub-Antarctic: first teal ducklings on Campbell Island

From BirdLife:

First teal ducklings on Campbell Island

19-06-2006

The reintroduction of the flightless Campbell Island Teal Anas nesiotis to its sub-Antarctic home in 2004, after more than a century of exile, was carried out successfully.

But could they survive the harsh climate that was new to these captive and New Zealand-raised ducks, and equally importantly, would they breed?

In February 2005 a monitoring team from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) found 78% of the transferred teal alive, but no ducklings.

This was disappointing as they had bred in their first year when transferred from captivity to Whenou Hou (Codfish Island), a rat-free island off Stewart Island (a large island off the southern tip of NZ‘s South Island).

To build up numbers, a further 55 ducks were released on Campbell Island in September 2005.

The release team tracked 48 of the total 105 ducks released.

“The teal may not be able to fly, but are extremely fleet of foot, and the barest glimpse is all that may be seen,” explained Pete Morrin, who was part of the 2004 release team, documenting the release on video, assisting with duck husbandry and radio tracking, and acting as sea lion distractor in the dense scrub.

The team estimates that the numbers of sightings and recaptures represented the barest minimum of the birds surviving.

The 2004-released teal no longer had transmitters, as they had been designed with a weak link so they would fall off after 12 months, when the batteries became flat.

In the end, it wasn’t a teal-monitoring team that saw the first teal ducklings ever seen on Campbell Island, but an albatross research team.

A brood of small ducklings and their parents were sighted swimming by the wharf at Beeman Base in January 2006.

This sighting was followed up in February by a teal monitoring team who, with the assistance of Percy the dog, found one small duckling with a female teal, three juveniles and two nests containing eggs.

Rockhopper and yellow eyed penguins of Campbell and Auckland islands: here.

Kakapo on Ulva island, near Stewart island, New Zealand: here.

Kakapo on Anchor island: here.

More kakapo: here. And here. And here.

Kaka parrot chicks in New Zealand: here.

Rats on Ulva island: here.

May 2012. New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) staff ran a final check of the trap network on Ulva Island in the hope of declaring the island rat free again. Unfortunately, a rat was found in one of the traps during this check: here.

Bird Watching On Ulva island In Southern New Zealand: here.

Great Barrier island near New Zealand: here.

Related articles

• Campbell Island DXpedition – All going to plan! (southgatearc.org)
• ZL9HR DXpedition to Campbell Island (southgatearc.org)
• Introduced predators – by the numbers (stuff.co.nz)
• Australia leaps far ahead in Marine Protected Areas (pacific.scoop.co.nz)
• Kakapo dung linked to rare plant (stuff.co.nz)
• Visit Great Barrier Island – an untouched wonderland (gorentals.co.nz)
• Dung from Critically Endangered Kakapo Parrots Could Save Endangered Plant (blogs.scientificamerican.com)

USA: ex vice president Gore on causes of Iraq war

On CNN TV’s Larry King Live, Al Gore, former Vice President of the USA, and, according to many observers, winner of the 2000 presidential election against George W Bush, was interviewed on his book, and film, An Inconvenient Truth.

The subject of this book and film is global warming.

Al Gore said the Bush administration is in denial on the inconvenient truth of global warming; including silencing scientists on this subject.

He drew a parallel with their attitude on the start of the Iraq war, with their denial of the truth that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; the official cause for war.

Gore said at least three factors really influenced the decision to invade Iraq: Dick Cheney‘s wish to control Middle East oil for big corporations; the idea of Karl Rove [see also here], Bush’s adviser, that it would electorally be good for Bush to be a ‘war president’; and ideologists really believing in their ideologies, like Iraqi masses supposedly welcoming US soldiers with flowers, as their invasion was a ‘cakewalk.’

Satire on ‘WMD’ in Iraq: here.

Gore, UK vice prime minister Prescott, and Bush: here.

Gore’s The Assault on Reason: here.

Rupert Murdoch on oil as cause for Iraq war: here.