How Stress, Inexperience, and Fatigue Lead to the Sgrena Incident

The official Italian report on the incident that left Italian secret serviceman Nicola Calipari dead, and alleged hostage Giuliana Sgrena and the driver wounded, has been released. According to Boston.com News:

ROME (AP) Italian investigators blamed U.S. military authorities for failing to signal there was a checkpoint ahead on the Baghdad road where American soldiers killed an Italian agent, concluding in a report that stress, inexperience and fatigue played a role in the shooting.

Now, this may surprise my regular readers, who know that I have been steadfast in defending the actions of our troops in this incident, but I agree with the Italians on the points of stress, inexperience, and fatigue.

Stress undoubtedly played a factor, no question about it. Just imagine you are manning a checkpoint on what has been described as the most dangerous highway in the world when, without warning, a braindead imbecile (that would be the Italian driver) suddenly appears, speeding toward your position.

How stressful is that? Very, especially since you are completely inexperienced with dealing with the sort of arrogant moron who would try to run a checkpoint, disregarding flashing lights and warning shots. In fact, the only people who do that, in your experience, are crazed suicide bombers, looking to blow themselves, and you, to smithereens.

Now the fatigue sets in. And it doesn't affect only our troops, but everyone who has had to listen to the stupidity and outright lies told by shrieking, hysterical, communist-propagandist Giuliana Sgrena, whose story has mutated more often than frogs in a nuke plant cooling pond. And more fatigue is in store when troops start dealing with the weapons and materiél that terrorists will now purchase with the estimated six to eight million dollars handed to them by the irresponsible boobs in the Italian government to secure the release of shrieking, hysterical, communist-propagandist Giuliana Sgrena.