Italy Doubts US Version on Agent Killing

“The reconstruction of the event (by Italy) does not coincide fully with what the American authorities have told us,” Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told the Italian parliament.

In his account of the shooting to parliament, which has sparked a diplomatic row with Rome’s US allies, Fini said the “reconstruction” by Washington of the events which led to Calipari’s death differed notably from Italy’s.

In an initial report into the killing, the US military said the convoy carrying Calipari and released hostage Giuliana Sgrena was traveling at excessive speed.

However, Fini said the car was traveling at “not more than 40 kilometres an hour (25 mph) and its interior was lit up to facilitate checks and allow people to make phone calls.”

“Calipari phoned (Italy’s intelligence minister Gianni) Letta and (military intelligence chief Nicolo) Pollari to tell them of the journalist’s release and to the American authorities to inform them he would soon be entering the airport,” said Fini.

In the darkness of the afternoon, they were stopped by a strong light shone on their car from the side of the road, Fini said, adding that the shooting began immediately after the vehicle had halted.

This is again at odds with the American military account, that warning shots had been fired.

“The volley of shots, which included tracer bullets, came from several automatic weapons and lasted 10-15 seconds,” Fini added.

Another Italian agent was pulled from the vehicle, “forced to his knees 10 meters from the car and succeeded with difficulty to identify himself and Calipari, who was by that time dead, as belonging to the Italian diplomatic delegation.”

Sgrena, who was wounded in the shooting spree, said US occupation forces in Iraq deliberately tried to kill her because Washington opposed negotiations with her kidnappers.

Details about the checkpoint provided to CNN by a senior US official were disputed by Sgrena in an interview with the television news service.

“It was not a checkpoint. It was not a checkpoint, because a tank was not on the road,” she told a CNN reporter through an interpreter in an interview.

“It was parked on the side of the road. There was no indication that it was a checkpoint.”

Contact Made

Fini dismissed Washington’s view that a lack of communication was responsible for the death of Nicola Calipari, and demanded that the United States “identify and punish” those responsible for the shooting.

An experienced operator in Iraq, Calipari had made “all the necessary contacts” with US authorities in Baghdad, the foreign minister said.

“It seems to me necessary that full light be shed on the areas which have remained in the dark, to determine those responsible, and if anyone is found to be responsible, to ask and obtain that those guilty are punished.”

“We ask for truth and justice,” Fini said.

Anti-US Sentiment

The foreign minister, however, warned against creeping anti-Americanism in the country over the incident.

“We hope that this is not an opportunity to whip up political campaigns and to sow anti-American sentiment in public opinion, which certainly have no reason to exist.”

During Calipari’s state funeral Monday, hundreds of Italians protested against Washington and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq.

US President George W. Bush has promised a full investigation into the incident, which has fanned anti-American sentiment in Italy and rekindled opposition to the US-led war in Iraq and calls for a withdrawal of Italy’s 3,000-strong military contingent from the country.

Agent Calipari has been hailed as a hero in Italy with thousands of Italians taking to the streets in a silent protest at his killing.