Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Both governments are investigating the event, which killed an Italian man.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
ROME -- Italy and the United States clashed Tuesday over the shooting by American forces of an Italian intelligence officer in Iraq, with each government offering sharply contradictory accounts.
Italy has demanded a full investigation into the encounter, and the U.S. military said Tuesday it was broadening its inquiry to examine numerous shootings at checkpoints in Iraq.
Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, appearing before parliament, said the car that U.S. forces opened fire Friday night was neither speeding nor was it warned to stop, as the U.S. military has claimed. The car was carrying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had just been freed from Iraqi kidnappers, and Nicola Calipari, the intelligence agent who secured her release, on their way to the Baghdad airport. He was killed, and Sgrena was injured, with a shrapnel wound to the shoulder.
Fini said he was basing his account on interviews with the driver, another Italian intelligence agent who survived the shooting. It supports the version given by Sgrena.
However, Fini said he did not believe the troops deliberately targeted the Italians, as Sgrena has suggested. "It was certainly an accident," he said.
Preparation
Fini said Calipari, a veteran officer involved in the release of several Italian hostages in Iraq, had alerted U.S. authorities that the car would be making its way to the Baghdad airport, where the group was to take an Italian presidential jet back to Rome. Calipari "made all the necessary contacts with the U.S. authorities" in charge of airport security, Fini said.
In Washington, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East said Tuesday he had no reason to believe that U.S. officials had been forewarned that the Italian journalist and security officer would be driving to Baghdad International Airport.
"I personally do not have any indication of that, even on a preliminary basis," Army Gen. George W. Casey, head of U.S. forces in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon. Asked if he would expect to be informed if that were the case, Casey said, "I would hope so."
Investigation
Because the shooting marked the second so-called friendly fire episode at an American checkpoint in a week, Casey said he has ordered a probe of all encounters at military checkpoints over the past six months, including a review of the "rules of engagement" that determine how troops are allowed to respond to various situations.
A Bulgarian soldier killed last week in Iraq also might have been struck by U.S. gunfire.
The probe, to be overseen by Brig. Gen. Dave Vangjel, artillery commander for the multinational coalition, is expected to take three to four weeks.