Sunday, May 01, 2005

Italy Report on Killing Goes Public Monday
Italy Says Its Report on Agent's Killing
on Monday Will Shed Light on Coordination Problems



http://www.carta.org/articoli/narrazioni/
narrazioni04/copertine04/27iraq.jpg


Associated Press
May. 1, 2005


Italy is contending that its report on the U.S. soldiers' slaying in Baghdad of an Italian intelligence agent will shed light on problems with coordination among authorities in Iraq and with rules of engagement for checkpoints.

In a statement on its Web site Sunday, the Italian foreign ministry said the Italian report will be made public on Monday evening, providing its own version of the March 4 "friendly fire" shooting of agent Nicola Calipari, who had just won the release of an Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena.

On Saturday, the U.S. military released its report, contending the car Calipari was riding in as he headed to Baghdad airport with the ex-hostage didn't slow down at the checkpoint and that the American soldiers didn't do anything wrong.

The two Italian experts who participated in the joint U.S-Italian probe of the shooting refused to sign off on the American's conclusions, and after several days of negotiations failed to yield a common final report. Both sides essentially agreed to disagree on the findings.

"Despite, in fact, the many points on which the two sides registered similar assessments, the principal aspects on which it wasn't possible to pinpoint shared assessments regard, above all, the rules of engagement and the coordination with the competent authorities in Iraq," the ministry statement said.

"All that will emerge clearly from the Italian report, being worked on, which will be made public on Monday," the ministry said.


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