AMY GOODMAN:  Giuliana, the US military says your car was going very fast.
GIULIANA SGRENA: That?s not true, because we were slow, and we were slowing down, because we have to turn. And before there was some water, so it?s not true that the car was going fast.
AMY GOODMAN: They say the soldiers used hand and arm signals, flashed white lights and fired warning shots to get the driver to stop.
GIULIANA SGRENA: No, they didn?t. No, no. No light, no air fire, nothing at all. They were beside the road. They were not on the street. They were away ten meters, and they didn?t give us any sign that they were there, so we didn?t saw them before they started to shoot.
AMY GOODMAN: Did they shoot from the front or from the back?
GIULIANA SGRENA: No, on the back, not on the front. They shot on the back, because Calipari was on the back on the right and he was shot dead immediately, and I was injured on my shoulder, but I was shot by the back. So I am a proof that they were shooting on the back and not in front of the car. We can see by my injured where I was shot.
AMY GOODMAN: Did the Italians do this report with the US military?
GIULIANA SGRENA: There were two Italians in the commission, but they don?t accept the conclusion of the commission, so now there is some discussion between the Italian authorities and the American ambassador here in Rome. But the two members of the commission, they don?t accept the conclusion of the commission, so there is a problem.
AMY GOODMAN: Did the Italians -- were they able to inspect the car?
GIULIANA SGRENA: No, we are expecting for the car tonight in Rome. We are supposed, the car will be in Rome tonight, and so the judges that they are doing the normal inquiry they can, they could see the car. I hope to see the car also, but we don?t know in which condition we will receive the car. And the Italian judges, they don?t know also the names of the soldiers that were involved in the shooting.
AMY GOODMAN: The other person in the car.
GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Did the two of you testify?
GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes, he did the same testifying as mine, but the American, the commission didn?t take in account our testifying. It seems to be like that, because they didn?t mention about our testifying.
AMY GOODMAN: After they shot you and killed Calipari, what happened to the other man?
GIULIANA SGRENA: The other man left the car and was shouting that we were Italian and of the embassy, and he was speaking on the telephone with the Italian government. And we have, my husband, for example, he was there listening the call. And at a certain moment the soldiers, they imposed to these agents because these are agents of the Italian intelligence, and they imposed him to cut the call with the weapons.
AMY GOODMAN: Say that again. What did they do?
GIULIANA SGRENA: They stopped him to -- he was talking by telephone with the Italian member of the government. It was Berlusconi there and the -- it was his advisor Letta, there was the chief of the intelligence and also my husband and the director of my newspaper, because they were there waiting for our news of the liberation. And they was talking about the shooting and at a certain moment the soldier, the American soldier stopped him and with the weapon they imposed him to cut the communication.
AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened?
GIULIANA SGRENA: And then what happened I don?t know, because I was injured, so they brought me to the hospital, and I don?t know what happened to the other man, to the other agent.
AMY GOODMAN: Did you get permission, did Calipari get permission to drive on the road to the airport?
GIULIANA SGRENA: Of course, I was there when they called. They called the Italian, because there is an official that is linked to the Americans. And this Italian general spoke to the Captain Green, that is the American one, telling him that we were on this road and that they were aware that we were on that road. And this happened at least 20-25 minutes before the shooting.
AMY GOODMAN: This road?
GIULIANA SGRENA: They knew that we were on this road.
AMY GOODMAN: How do you know that they knew?
GIULIANA SGRENA: I know because I was there when the agent called the Italian one, the general that is in charge for the communication with the Americans, and this general did a testifying, telling that he was there with the Captain Green, and Captain Green was immediately informed about our traveling to the airport. And the Captain Green didn?t say no, so I think that he?s right. And he?s a general. I don?t think that this general made a wrong, false testifying.
AMY GOODMAN: So you?re saying Calipari spoke to -- this was an Italian or US general?
GIULIANA SGRENA: The Italians, they can?t speak to the Americans directly. There is a man, a special man, a general that is in charge for the communication with the American commanders. It?s impossible for an agent, an Italian agent, to speak with the Americans directly. I knew the rules because I was there many times. And I know that every time always in Iraq there is an Italian that is in charge for the communication with the Americans. And in this time, in this moment, was a general that was there speaking with the Commander Green that was the correspondent, American one. So I knew about that. And in all the newspaper, Italian newspaper, was published that. So there is no problem of communication. Commander Green knew about our presence on that road. If he didn?t inform the mobile patrol, we don?t know. But he knew, the commander, the American commander knew about it.
AMY GOODMAN: And where did the conversation take place? Was it in the Green Zone?
GIULIANA SGRENA: Which one?
AMY GOODMAN: The one where Calipari talked to the Italian general.
GIULIANA SGRENA: I don?t know. I don?t know. I don?t follow the general, because they are the places in the Green Zone I don?t know where, I can?t know where are the general. You know is a secret place. Because it is very dangerous in Baghdad, they don?t say where they meet.
AMY GOODMAN: Giuliana Sgrena, can you explain the road? This wasn?t the regular Baghdad -- the road to the airport that you traveled on? This was a special road?
GIULIANA SGRENA: Yes. It was a special road for people that are working in embassies, or they are Americans, or they are contractors. Special people that go to the airport.