Say Anything Blog

Good news.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators have found that American troops who shot dead an Italian agent at a Baghdad checkpoint on March 4 committed no wrongdoing and will not be disciplined, an Army official said on Monday.

But Italy disagrees with key findings in the preliminary report by the U.S. military investigators and has balked at endorsing it, added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. troops fatally shot the Italian intelligence officer, Nicola Calipari, when they opened fire on a car heading for Baghdad airport in which he was escorting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, a hostage who had just been released.

The friendly fire incident has caused tension between the United States and Italy, one of America's staunchest allies in Iraq. Calipari was fatally wounded as he threw his body over Sgrena to protect her from a hail of bullets. She was wounded but survived.

The 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 U.S. forces in Iraq before the incident.

The fact that Italy would be disputing these two facts is hardly surprising since admitting to them would be essentially accepting responsibility for the whole tragedy.

Regardless, these facts not being disputed: The fact that the car refused to stop as it approached the road block, that if failed to heed the soldiers directions and that the soldier's followed proper procedure in reacting to the situation.