Serious Diplomatic Incident between Rome and Washington & Italy Media Reveals Iraq Details |

    Serious Diplomatic Incident between Rome and Washington
    By Richard Heuzé from Rome
    Le Figaro

Manipulation of evidence, concealment of witnesses, flagrant lies: from Rome, the official American report on Nicola Calipari's death seems so far from the truth that Silvio Berlusconi's government, although one of Washington's most enthusiastic allies, refused to co-sign it this weekend. "We cannot, out of respect for Nicola Calipari and our national honor," explained Gianfranco Fini, Vice-President of the Council and Foreign Affairs Minister. Secret agent Nicola Calipari had been sent to Baghdad March 4 to recover journalist Giuliana Sgrena, hostage to Iraqi terrorists. On the road to the airport, an American patrol opened fire on the rented Toyota Corolla, killing Calipari, wounding the journalist and the driver.

An Italian Ambassador and an Italian General participated in the American Army's investigation commission. Their conclusions diverge totally.

For the Pentagon, the 10-man patrol lying in wait at mobile checkpoint 541 under a captain's orders "fully respected the rules of engagement." The patrol, on its first mission in Iraq, located the Toyota driving quickly when it was 125 meters away, and opened fire when it was 42 meters away, after firing three warning shots. As far as the Americans are concerned, the Italians were at fault for failing to warn them at any time of the presence in the car of secret agents and the hostage. A shameless lie, if one believes the official version Italy will publish today. It appears that the American command was aware of Nicola Calipari's mission and that the CIA's airport liaison officer had been informed of the Toyota's return 25 minutes before, by his Italian counterpart. He did not warn the patrol, which opened fire as soon as the vehicle appeared, firing several rounds without giving the customary notice.

This affair is torturing Silvio Berlusconi, who has to inform Parliament this week. He does not want to reconsider the "absolute friendship" with the United States. It will, however, be difficult for him not to come to some conclusions with regard to the presence of 3,300 Italian soldiers in southern Iraq. The Northern League is already calling for "an in-depth consideration of the time to bring our contingent home." The National Alliance is demanding evidence from Washington and enjoins it to communicate the identity of the patrol's members, whose names have been deleted from the investigation report. For its part, and quite out of character, the Communist daily newspaper Il Manifesto, for which Giuliana Sgrena works, praises the government's "courageous gesture" of not co-signing the investigation report.

The Italian justice system pursues its own investigations. The Toyota, brought back to Italy last week, will be the object of in-depth ballistic tests to better understand the dynamics of the shooting. If American soldiers seem to be guilty, the Italian court will indict them for voluntary homicide.

Translation: t r u t h o u t French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher.

Italian media have published classified sections of an official US military inquiry into the accidental killing of an Italian agent in Baghdad.


Entire pages of the US report had been blackened out. (Photo: The AP)

The 40-page report was censored by the Pentagon before being officially published on Saturday.

Italy has refused to accept the US report's findings and is to publish its own version of events later this week.

Details of the official report were published in newspapers on Sunday with censored material restored in full.

He passed the details to Italian newspapers which immediately put out the full text on their own websites.

The missing text contains the names and ranks of all of the American military personnel involved in the killing of Nicola Calipari, the Italian agent who was given a state funeral and awarded Italy's highest medal of valour.

It also reveals the rules of engagement in operation at the military checkpoint near Baghdad airport which have been contested by the Italian authorities.

The censored sections include recommendations that the American military modify their checkpoint procedures to give better and clearer warning signs to approaching vehicles.

The official Italian report on the incident expected to be published this week will accuse the American military of tampering with evidence at the scene of the shooting.

The Americans invited two Italians to join in their inquiry, but the Italian representatives protested at what they claimed was lack of objectivity in presenting the evidence and returned to Rome.