Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday demanded "maximum collaboration" from the US in a joint probe into the friendly fire killing of an Italian agent in Iraq, but played down any notion of a rift between the allies.
"We have a duty to demand the maximum collaboration to obtain the truth and determine who is responsible," Berlusconi said in an address to the Senate on the killing.
Disputing Washington's version of events, Berlusconi said that an Italian intelligence agent who was shot to death by US troops in Baghdad had informed the proper authorities that he was heading to the airport with a freed hostage.
Berlusconi also told lawmakers that the car carrying agent Nicola Calipari and a just-liberated hostage was traveling slowly and stopped immediately when a light was flashed at a checkpoint, before US troops fired on the car.
Though the US and Italian versions of what happened Friday do not match up, ``I'm sure that in a very short time every aspect of this will be clarified,'' Berlusconi said.
CONCILIATORY TENOR
The overall tenor of his address was conciliatory toward the US, following Washington's decision to draw some of the sting from a burgeoning diplomatic spat by inviting Rome to participate in a joint inquiry.
Berlusconi, one of US President George W. Bush's staunchest European allies, said that in allowing an Italian military officer and a diplomat to sit on the joint commission, Washington had shown it had no intention of hiding the truth.
"I have already expressed my satisfaction over this decision, which demonstrates that our allies have no intention of keeping us from the truth," he said.
He characterized Washington's decision as being "of the greatest importance," adding that Italy's "attitude of firmness" in the aftermath of the shooting, had been vindicated.
"I believe that this attitude of firmness was the only one that the Italian government should and could adopt," he said.
Italy and the US have been embroiled in a diplomatic spat since the killing of Calipari as he escorted released hostage Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad airport. Sgrena was wounded in the shoulder.
DISCREPANCIES
Berlusconi, like his foreign minister Gianfranco Fini in a speech to parliament the day before, directly contradicted the US account of the shooting, which said the Italians' car had ignored warning shots and signals by the US patrol.
He told senators the vehicle had braked immediately and come to a stop within a few yards after a light was flashed.
"In that moment there was a burst of firing which lasted 10-15 seconds," he said.
But Berlusconi also hinted that Rome may be prepared to recognize some responsibility for the incident.
"Only a frank and reciprocal admission of eventual responsibilities can enable us to close an incident from which we are all suffering," he said.
Also on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told state television that Calipari had not told the Americans why he was in Iraq.
"Calipari duly advised [the US authorities] that he was in Baghdad, and he didn't advise what he had gone to Iraq to do, because we are a sovereign country," Fini said.
In his speech, Berlusconi also signalled a change in Italy's policy in Iraq, where it has come under fire from its allies for negotiating with kidnap gangs amid unconfirmed rumors that it has paid millions of euros in ransom payments.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image