Originally published May 21 2005
Italian report says blame for shooting of its agent rests mostly on United States
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A report released on May 2 by Italian officials offers an exhaustive rebuttal of the US version of events surrounding the shooting death of an Italian Intelligence agent in Iraq. The US report stated that a Toyota approached a US roadblock at a high rate of speed and ignored repeated verbal warnings and warning shots before the lethal shots were fired. The US troops involved were exonerated of blame by the US report. The Italian version of the report states Italian Intelligence Agent Nicola Calipari had just secured the release of kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena before they traveled to the US-controlled roadblock on their way to the airport. The report suggests the inexperience and stress of US soldiers was the primary cause of the incident. Reporters managed to translate parts of the report, blackened out by US command, which suggested the Italian government kept the US in the dark about its efforts to free Sgrena.
ROME Italy has issued a strongly worded rebuttal to a U.S. report clearing U.S. soldiers of responsibility for the shooting death of an Italian intelligence agent at a roadblock in Iraq.
The incident has become a major point of friction in the close relationship between the nations and has accelerated calls here for Italy to remove its 3,000 troops from Iraq.
It has also contributed to political problems for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who agreed to station troops in Iraq despite broad opposition.
Specifically, the Italian report said that a U.S. roadblock on the road to the Baghdad airport had not been clearly visible; that the driver of the car carrying the agent had not been speeding; and that the removal of the cars involved had made it impossible to reconstruct exactly what had happened.
Calipari had traveled to Iraq to secure the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena.
The car ran into the American roadblock at 8:50 p.m.
At the time of the shooting, U.S. accounts offered few details, beyond saying the Italians' car, a Toyota sedan, approached the roadblock at high speed, failed to heed several warnings by the Americans and continued toward the roadblock even after warning shots were fired.
A much fuller account emerged after reporters succeeded with a few computer keystrokes in restoring large sections of the American report that had been blacked out in the version that was released by the U.S. command on Saturday.
These officers have said there has been no hard evidence to support their suspicions, which match similar accounts that have appeared, without corroboration, in some Italian newspapers.
Prime Minister Berlusconi intervened to ensure that the report on the killing of the Italian intelligence agent by U.S. troops would not damage relations with Washington, Italian newspapers said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported from Rome.
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