Hostage shooting: US admits flaws
Natasha Bita, Florence
May 02, 2005
A US military inquiry has admitted flaws in the way American troops man checkpoints in Baghdad and recommended a "comprehensive overview" of procedures in its report on the friendly-fire killing of an Italian secret agent.
The heavily censored US report, whose findings are disputed by Italy, clears American soldiers for shooting at a car carrying a freed Italian hostage to safety on March 4.
The Italian Government yesterday dismissed the US report, which accuses Italian agents of speeding towards a roadblock, ignoring warnings to stop and deliberately keeping the US military in the dark about their rescue mission.
"Not co-ordinating with US personnel was a conscious decision on the part of the Italians, as they considered the hostage recovery an intelligence mission and a national issue," the report concludes.
"Due to it being their first full day on shift, soldiers lacked experience ... (it is recommended) that no disciplinary action be taken against any soldier involved in the incident."
Declaring the matter one of national pride, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Italy would hand down its own version of events today. "I believe that in homage to the memory of Nicola Calipari, but also for the indispensable national dignity, the Italian Government cannot be asked to sign off on a reconstruction of the events that does not correspond to what happened that night," he said.
The shooting of Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari has been the most controversial in a spate of "friendly fire" killings of civilians and allied troops at US-manned checkpoints in Iraq.
Calipari died shielding a hostage he had just rescued, Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, when US troops opened fire on their car at an improvised roadblock on the highway to Baghdad airport.
Sgrena and the Italian agent driving the car were also shot.
The US report recommends a "comprehensive review" of checkpoint and roadblock procedures.
It suggests replacing spotlights and warning shots with flashing lights and sirens to stop civilian cars at roadblocks, and the installation of road signs to warn motorists that they are approaching a checkpoint.
theaustralian.news.com.au |
