The Senescent Man

According to a CBS News report on Thursday, a US satellite reportedly recorded the Sgrena incident--and was used by investigators to reconstruct how fast her car was traveling when U.S. troops opened fire. CBS News reported that US investigators concluded from the recording that the car was traveling at a speed of more than 60 miles (96 km) per hour.

As noted by LGF, Captain Ed and others, the military satellite evidence torpedoes Sgrena's claim that her car was going no faster than 30 miles an hour. (The Jawa Report, it should be noted, expresses some skepticism about CBS News' reportage.)

Strangely, as Patterico notes, the information about the satellite data was edited out of a Reuters story published by the LA Times--which had repeatedly emphasized Sgrena's claim that the car was traveling at low speed. LGF notes a similar omission in the latest CBS coverage of the incident--even though it was CBS that broke news of the satellite evidence.

No surprise. We've seen this selective editing and MSM whitewashing of key details in the Sgrena case before.

Meanwhile, the Italians are having a hissy fit over the U.S. report and Sgrena's newspaper, Il Manifesto, is clamoring for a pullout of 3,000 Italian troops stationed in Iraq. Beleaguered PM Silvio Berlusconi has signaled withdrawal by September. Al Jazeera is playing up the bad blood. Rome prosecutors are continuing their own investigation and 18 police scientists will begin forensic examination of the Toyota Corolla car in which Sgrena and slain Italian agent Nicola Calipari were traveling.

We'll see what the Italians come up with, but Sgrena's tale seems to be melting faster than butter on a hot plate of linguini.

// posted by The Senescent Man @ 8:49 AM