Posts Tagged ‘Amanda Knox’

A young American woman, Amanda Knox, is on trial in Italy. She is accused of the gruesome murder of her college friend and room-mate, Meredith Kercher. This case has made the local news for sometime, since the accused is a student at the local University of Washington.

I have no opinion of whether Ms. Knox and her boyfriend are guilty. But I fear for her all the same; I fear she may go to a life sentence in Italy not for what she has or has not done, but for what Americans have done elsewhere.

Italy is home to some American military bases, including those located at Aviano and Vicenza. Some years ago, America took a probably well-deserved drubbing in the Italian press when a fighter pilot took down a skycar full of people when he clipped the cable with his jet. It was contended that this illegal maneuver was a common sport amongst American pilots. It is easy to see where Italians might think we are a nation of careless cowboys.

And then, the wars began. Italy has lost a fair number of people, including an Italian intelligence agent, Nicola Calipari who died protecting a rescued female journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, as they made a dash to freedom thru an American checkpoint. This incident caused enough bad feelings that the soldier involved in the shooting, Specialist Mario Lozano, was tried in absentia for homicide in Italy.

The wars have long been unpopular in Italy and although the average Italians like Americans, they think our government policies are questionable at best. At least 55 Italians have died in Iraq and Afghanistan; and some contend that more died at home from illness caused by depleted uranium present in ammunition.

So, I wonder, as the Italian jury goes to deliberate the guilt of this young woman—what plays in their minds? What or whom is really on trial in the darkness of war-haunted hearts? Is Amanda Knox going to bear the price of American warmaking? Have jury members lost friends or family in the wars we started? Do they see Amanda Knox, when they look at her? Or do they see a more monolithic entity in her place.

If she is innocent, I rather wish there were guardian angels to protect her. She is a face that could evoke more than drunken college revels in a place haunted by those dead for our purposes.