Italy, U.S. Disagree Over Agent Shooting

Reluctance by Italian investigators to accept the U.S. version of the killing of an Italian security agent by American troops in Iraq last month is holding up the conclusion of a joint inquiry into the shooting, Italian newspapers said Thursday. Also Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the investigation was ongoing and denied an NBC report that the U.S.-Italian commission had completed a preliminary report clearing the Americans of any wrongdoing in the killing. The security agent, Nicola Calipari, was killed March 4 at a temporary U.S. military checkpoint on the road to Baghdad airport when soldiers fired on the car in which he was bringing an Italian hostage to freedom. Another intelligence agent and the hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, were wounded. "Anyone asserting that conclusions have been reached, or anyone claiming that conclusions have been reached, and they know what they are, must be misinformed,'' State Department press officer Thomas Casey said. Casey noted that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said on Wednesday after a meeting Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini that the most important thing was to do the investigation right, not to do it fast. An Italian Foreign Ministry official said the commission was continuing its work. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to comment on the reports of a clash among the investigators. The commission, ordered by Washington, includes two Italian members and is led by a U.S. brigadier general. It was expected to release its findings by mid-April. [more]

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