The Italian Foreign Ministry says Rome's version of the events that led to the killing of an Italian secret agent by U.S. forces March 4 in Baghdad will be released on Monday.
| Silvio Berlusconi |
The Italian government says its alliance with the United States is not in question, following Saturday's release in Baghdad by the U.S. military of the report outlining its version of what occurred March 4.
That night in Baghdad, U.S. soldiers opened fire at a checkpoint on a white Toyota Corolla that was en route to the airport. The three passengers included two Italian secret agents and a journalist, who had just been freed after one month in captivity.
One of the intelligence officers, Nicola Calipari, was killed. The United States and Italy opened a joint investigation.
The U.S. military's report found that the Italians failed to inform U.S troops of their plans to drive to Baghdad airport. It also says the car was driving too fast, and ignored warning signals for it to stop.
But Italy says it could not sign the same report as the U.S. military, because there was no common ground on the dynamics of the incident, the rules of engagement, and on coordination with the competent authorities in Iraq that night.
The Italian Foreign Ministry has said its own report, to be released Monday, will shed light on these issues, and explain why it believes the killing of the intelligence officer was the result of a tragic mistake, and that the shooting by American soldiers was not justified.
Italy's center-left opposition says the U.S. conclusions were expected. One opposition member said it appeared clear that no one would pay for the death of the agent, whom he called a heroic servant of the state, who lost his life while doing his duty.
