Italian fury as probe clears US troops who shot hero dead
A FIERCE row erupted in Italy yesterday after a US military
investigation cleared American soldiers of any wrongdoing in the
killing of a top Italian intelligence agent as he escorted a hostage to
safety.
The US Ambassador to Rome was summoned for urgent talks with Silvio
Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, while opponents of the war in
Iraq condemned the draft US report as a "slap in the face" for Italy.
In a sign of how deep Italian anger was running over the exoneration by
Washington of its troops, Italy was reported to be drawing up a
"counter report" pinning the blame on the US.
The shooting dead in Iraq of Nicola Calipari, a veteran intelligence
agent, has caused the worst deterioration in US-Italian relations for
almost a decade.
It comes at a sensitive time for Mr Berlusconi, who faces a
parliamentary vote of confidence today in his new coalition government.
Mr Calipari was feted as a national hero after he died in a hail of
bullets on March 4 at a US checkpoint on the road to Baghdad airport,
where an aircraft was waiting to carry the hostage to freedom.
He shielded her from the bullets with his body.
A US Army official told journalists yesterday that preliminary results
of a joint US-Italian investigation indicated that the soldiers had
followed their rules of engagement and should face no censure.
However, Italy - one of America's closest allies in Iraq - refused to
endorse the findings.
Italian investigators were believed to dispute US findings on the speed
of the car and whether Italian intelligence had kept US command
informed of its rescue mission.
Giuliana Sgrena, the freed hostage, said that the report was a "slap in
the face for the Italian Government".
"It is worse than you can imagine. At first the Americans were talking
about an accident, they even said sorry. Now they are denying any
responsibility," Ms Sgrena told 'La Repubblica'.
"They are saying they were only following the rules of engagement."
Anti-war sentiment is strong in Italy, and Mr Berlusconi's deployment
of 3,000 Italian troops is one reason for his unpopularity. Earlier
this month he sought to appease public opinion by announcing that
Italian troops would be withdrawn in September. He later retracted
this, saying that they would stay until the end of the year.
Last night, Mr Berlusconi said that the inquiry was "not concluded". He
faces a dilemma over whether to take issue publicly with Washington or
try to finesse or even bury the issue.
Meanwhile, the United States's chief weapons inspector in Iraq declared
yesterday that his hunt for illicit weapons was over and that none had
been found.
In his final report, Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group
formed in May 2003, added that he had found no evidence that illegal
weapons were smuggled from Iraq to Syria before the US-led invasion.
The US and Britain used allegations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass
destruction as a key justification for invading the country in 2003.
Mr Duelfer yesterday issued several warnings. He said that Saddam had
wanted to restart WMD programmes and had created a pool of weapons
experts, many of whom would be seeking work.
Yesterday Iraqi militants threatening to kill three Romanian
journalists and a US hostage issued a new video, extending the deadline
until today for Romania to withdraw its troops, Al-Jazeera television
said.
The militants said in the video they would begin killing the hostages
today unless their demands were met, the network reported.
Two of the hostages, Romanian Sorin Miscoci and Iraqi American Mohammed
Monaf, were seen in the video wearing orange jumpsuits - which
kidnappers in the past have put on their hostages when they kill them.
(=A9 The Times, London, and agencies)=20
Richard Owen
in Rome
.
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