Italy Doubts U.S. Version of Iraq Shooting
Sun Mar 6, 2005 12:14 PM ET
By Robin Pomeroy and Roberto Landucci
ROME (Reuters) - Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena, shot and wounded after being freed in Iraq, said Sunday U.S. forces may have deliberately targeted her because Washington opposed Italy's policy of dealing with kidnappers.
She offered no evidence for the claim that reflected growing anger in Italy over the conduct of the war, which has claimed more than 20 Italian lives, including secret agent Nicola Calipari who rescued her moments before being killed.
The shooting Friday evening has sparked tension with Italy's U.S. allies and put pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to take a hard line with President Bush.
Speaking from the Rome hospital where she is being treated, Sgrena said the troops may have targeted her because Washington opposes Italy's reported readiness to pay ransoms to kidnappers.
"The United States doesn't approve of this (ransom) policy and so they try to stop it in any way possible," the veteran war reporter, 57, told Sky Italia TV.
In later comments to Reuters, Sgrena was less strident:
"You could characterise as an ambush what happens when you are showered with gunfire. If this happened because of a lack of information or deliberately, I don't know, but even if it was due to a lack of information it is unacceptable."
Bush promised a full probe into why troops shot at the Italian car nearing Baghdad airport Friday evening. Calipari died instantly of a single bullet to the head, doctors said.
The U.S. military says the car was speeding toward a checkpoint and ignored warning shots, an explanation rejected by Italian government ministers and the driver of the car.
A senior U.S. official, White House counselor Dan Bartlett, said the shooting was a "horrific accident."
"As you know, in a situation where there is a live combat zone, particularly this road to the airport ... people are making split-second decisions, and it's critically important that we get the facts before we make judgments," he told CNN. Continued ...
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Sgrena: I was an American target
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