Checkpoint contentions

CBS has reported that a U.S. spy satellite filmed the car carrying former Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena speeding before GIs at a checkpoint peppered it with bullets.  Some blogger types are up-in-arms  that an  LAT has turned a blind eye to the satellite angle.

I'm a bit skeptical about the CBS report since: Satellites capable of filming such finely detailed events aren't exactly a dime-a-dozen. I'm not even sure they exist. But if they do, what are the chances one just happened to be filming b-roll over that exact right at that exact time?

Still, it's possible, I guess.

Which brings me to my second point:  As it happens, I'm doing a doing a piece centered around checkpoints. So I'm reading the Army's report on the shooting. Here's what it says about the speed of the Italians' car:

The car was traveling at approximately 50 mph as it crossed the Warning Line. (Annex 83C).

[...]

On Friday, 25 March 2005 [weeks after the shooting], a certified radar operator conducted two traffic samples at BP 541 [scene of the shooting]. From 1809 hours to 1824 hours, 27 vehicles were clocked. The average speed at the Alert Line was 44 mph. The average speed at the beginning of the on-ramp’s curve was 24 mph. From 1956 hours to 2015 hours, 30 vehicles were clocked. The average speed at the Alert Line was 46 mph. 

In other words, the Italians were driving all of about six miles-per-hour faster than average. That sound like crazy speeding to you?