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US soldiers not at fault in shooting of Italian, report says

A US military investigation declaring "not culpable" the US soldiers who killed an Italian intelligence agent is "a slap in the face," the journalist injured in the shooting said yesterday as she urged Italy's new government to react.

Italian media reported yesterday intense contacts between Italian and US officials to try to avoid a clash between the two allies over the report, details of which were released in Washington Monday by a US Army official.

"After the apologies comes the slap in the face," wrote Giuliana Sgrena in a frontpage editorial in her daily Il Manifesto.

Sgrena, who was held hostage for a month in Iraq, was injured in the shooting on March 4 when US soldiers opened fire on the car that was bringing her to safety.

Intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was killed in the shooting, in which another intelligence officer was also injured.

US authorities had taken no note of her testimony and that of the other agent, Sgrena said, underlining that their two accounts coincided although they had never met or discussed the shoot-out.

"Obviously, our two testimonies given to the American commission were useless. Or will I be charged with perjury?" the journalist asked.

Il Manifesto also carried a cartoon on its frontpage showing bullets tearing Nicola Calipari's grave apart, over the title "friendly fire."

A US Army official said Monday that the US investigation concluded that "the soldiers were all complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints and therefore were not culpable of dereliction of duty in following their procedures."

"The United States is ready to release the report but Italy has more questions," the official said.
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