Posted on 04/25/2005 3:45:40 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper
Investigators have found that US soldiers who shot dead an Italian agent at a Baghdad checkpoint on March 4 did nothing wrong and will not be disciplined.
However, Italy disagrees with key findings in the report by US military investigators and has balked at endorsing it, said a US Army official.
US troops fatally shot the Italian intelligence officer, Nicola Calipari, when they opened fire on a car in which he was escorting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, a hostage who had just been released by her kidnappers.
The US Army official said Italy was disputing two factual issues in the report: the speed of the car as it approached the checkpoint, and the nature of communications between the Italians and US forces in Iraq before the incident.
"The soldiers were only complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints, so therefore are not culpable to dereliction of duty (charges)," the Army official said.
"Everybody feels terrible about it. But given the climate and the security atmosphere, the security procedures at the checkpoint operations have to be run by the letter."
I'd still like to know what the Italians were trying to hide.
That commie b**ch lives and will continue her work to undermine the US in Iraq.
Criminy, at first I thought this said, Nicholai Carpathia! I'm spending too much time in Revelations and reading Left Behind.
Excellent series of books. I've seen the first movie of the series.
Hollywood will never be able to do any justice to the books. Look at the mini series Revelations. They have Jesus returning to the Earth as a BABY in need of protection! See if they told it right, there'd be no drama. Jesus comes back. HE WINS. Period.
Yep. Pretty much. On the whole though, it's a pretty interesting mini-series, all things considered.
I have to agree....anyway, I'm watching it. Anything that gets the American populace to even consider the End of Days is a good thing, IMHO. I have to wonder why NBC is even raising the issue? I guess to divert attention from the Lords power by casting him as an infant who must grow to fight and be protected for the next thirty years....
We can thank our lucky stars NBC didn't cast Jesus as a long-haired, dope smoking, maggot infested, Burkinstock wearing, ohney baloney, good time rock'n'roll, plastic banana, tongue pierced, transvestite, homosexual with a raging case of AIDS.
An Italian journalist rescued from hostage-takers in Iraq last month has reacted angrily to a US military investigation absolving American soldiers of responsibility for killing the man who rescued her.
Nicola Calipari, a senior Italian intelligence agent, was shot dead on March 4 when US soldiers fired at his car as he took the reporter, Guiliana Sgrena, to Baghdad airport.
A report leaked by an American army official in Washington last night was said to have cleared US troops of any culpability for his death. The official said the soldiers had followed their rules of engagement and should not therefore face charges of dereliction of duty.
The probe was conducted in co-operation with the Italians, but the official conceded that Italy, a close US ally in Iraq, disagreed with its findings.
In a front page editorial in her left-wing daily Il Manifesto, Sgrena called on Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, to respond what she called a "slap in the face for the Italian Government".
Sgrena, a veteran war correspondent who was held hostage for a month in Iraq, wrote: "After the apologies comes the slap in the face."
She said that the Americans had not listened to either her testimony or that of another Italian agent, even though, she said, both had given the same evidence without discussing what had happened.
"Obviously, our two testimonies given to the American commission were useless. Or will I be charged with perjury?" questioned the journalist.
"The greatest disappointment would be if our authorities were to accept this insult without reacting."
The US army official said 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".
He added: "There is deep remorse over what happened. Everybody feels terrible about it. But given the climate and the security atmosphere, the security procedures in checkpoint operations have to be run by the letter."
Immediately after the March 4 incident, the US military said that the vehicle was approaching at a high rate of speed and failed to respond to hand signals, flashing white lights and warning shots. That version of events was disputed by Sgrena, who said the vehicle was travelling at a normal speed.
- - -
The shooting has already strained US ties with Italy, one of Washington’s closest allies in Iraq, and triggered calls for Italy to pull out its troops.
Its 3,300-strong contingent in Iraq is the fourth largest after the United States, Britain and South Korea. Signor Berlusconi has promised to bring the troops home by the end of the year.
Richard Owen, Rome Correspondent of The Times, said that the Italian Government could refuse to counter-sign the report or could decide to issue their own report, since the official Italian version completely contradicts the Pentagon version of events.
"It comes a very bad time for Signor Berlusconi, just when he's reforming his Government after disastrous losses in regional election," Owen said.
"It will also increase pressure on him to withdraw Italian troops as soon as possible."
SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!! Don't give them any ideas.
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