Pentagon: Soldiers not at fault in Italian's death
From Jamie McIntyre and Alessio Vinci
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. military investigation has cleared American troops of any wrongdoing in the shooting death last month of an Italian security agent in Baghdad, according to a senior Pentagon official.
The agent's death strained relations between the United States and Italy, two stalwart allies in the Iraq war.
The U.S. soldiers involved will face no disciplinary actions, the Pentagon official said Monday.
There was no Italian government reaction to the reported findings early Tuesday. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in the process of reforming his government, which will not be official until it passes a confidence vote scheduled for Thursday.
Nicola Calipari, 50, was killed March 4 shortly after securing the release of hostage Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena. The newly freed journalist was wounded in the incident.
The Italians were in a car that came under fire at a U.S. checkpoint on the way to the Baghdad airport.
The investigators' report also said there appears to have been no attempted coordination on the part of the Italians to clear the U.S. checkpoint, the official said.
The U.S. military has contended the Italians' car rapidly approached the checkpoint and ignored repeated warnings to stop. But Sgrena, an anti-war reporter for the communist newspaper Il Manifesto, charged that American forces deliberately fired on the vehicle. (Freed reporter's account)
Berlusconi and Italy's foreign minister have publicly disputed the U.S. version of events since the days immediately following the shootings, saying there was advance coordination with U.S. forces and no warning shots were fired before the vehicle was hit.
Sgrena reacted strongly to the reported findings of the U.S. military investigation.
"It is worse that I thought," she said. "Now they're saying it is not their fault."
Earlier this month, U.S. President George W. Bush again expressed his regrets to Berlusconi over the death of Calipari.
Berlusconi, who denounced the shooting, has said that according to information from the person driving the car, the vehicle was traveling at a low speed and braked very swiftly when a light shone on it.
Italian media reported that while Italian officials participated in the U.S. investigation, it is unclear whether they would endorse the report. News reports in Italy also said officials there do not agree with the findings.
If the Italians don't endorse the report, its credibility would likely be hurt in Italy.
Italian magistrates are conducting their own unilateral investigation into the shootings and are being given access to the car that carried Calipari and Sgrena in hopes of determining how the soldiers fired on it.
Berlusconi faces parliamentary elections in 2006, and his decision to commit Italian forces to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was never popular at home.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
