Italy, U.S. Disagree Over Agent Shooting
/Reluctance by Italian investigators to
accept the U.S. version of the killing of an Italian security agent by
American troops in Iraq last month is holding up the conclusion of a
joint inquiry into the shooting, Italian newspapers said Thursday. Also
Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the investigation was ongoing
and denied an NBC report that the U.S.-Italian commission had completed
a preliminary report clearing the Americans of any wrongdoing in the
killing. The security agent, Nicola Calipari, was killed March 4 at a
temporary U.S. military checkpoint on the road to Baghdad airport when
soldiers fired on the car in which he was bringing an Italian hostage
to freedom. Another intelligence agent and the hostage, journalist
Giuliana Sgrena, were wounded. "Anyone asserting that conclusions have
been reached, or anyone claiming that conclusions have been reached,
and they know what they are, must be misinformed,'' State Department
press officer Thomas Casey said. Casey noted that Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice had said on Wednesday after a meeting Italian Foreign
Minister Gianfranco Fini that the most important thing was to do the
investigation right, not to do it fast. An Italian Foreign Ministry
official said the commission was continuing its work. The official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to comment on the reports
of a clash among the investigators. The commission, ordered by
Washington, includes two Italian members and is led by a U.S. brigadier
general. It was expected to release its findings by mid-April. [more]
