Freed Italian hostage says US shooting was not justified

by Gunther Kern
ROME - Freed Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena said on her return from Iraq Saturday that the shooting by US soldiers that left her wounded and an Italian intelligence officer dead was not justified, as Rome awaited an explanation of the incident from Washington.
The firing on the road to Baghdad airport late Friday threatened to cast a pall over relations between Rome and Washington, which are close allies in the Iraq conflict.
US Ambassador to Rome Mel Sembler told Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi he had asked Washington for an urgent explanation of what happened.
"Everything will be done to shed full light on the incident", which ended Sgrena`s month-long ordeal, a statement issued by Berlusconi`s office cited the envoy as saying.
Sembler "has already requested an urgent clarification," the statement added.
Sgrena, the 56-year-old correspondent of the communist daily Il Manifesto, told Italian investigators the US troops` intense fire had been in no way justified by the speed of her car, ANSA news agency said.
"Our vehicle was running at normal speed which could not be misunderstood," she said, rejecting US fears of a possible suicide attack.
"It wasn`t a checkpoint but a patrol which immediately opened fire after they trained their light on us," Sgrena said.
The US military said Friday Sgrena`s convoy had ignored signals to stop, and that US soldiers had waved their hands and arms, flashed white lights and fired warning shots in a failed attempt to get the vehicle to stop.
But Sgrena told RaiNews24 television Saturday that a "hail of bullets" rained down on the car taking her to safety at Baghdad airport, along with three Italian intelligence officers, killing one of them.
"I was speaking to (officer) Nicola Calipari (...) when he leant on me, probably to protect me, and then collapsed and I realized he was dead," said Sgrena, who was being questioned on Saturday by two Italian magistrates.
"They continued shooting and the driver couldn`t even explain that we were Italians. It was really horrible," she added.
One of two intelligence officers wounded in Friday`s incident was also on Sgrena`s plane.
Amid anger in Italy at the violent end to Sgrena`s month-long ordeal, US President George W. Bush promised a full investigation into the incident.
Berlusconi, a staunch Bush ally, told a press conference in Rome late Friday there were troubling questions that needed to be answered.
"We are petrified and dumbfounded by this fatality", said the prime minister.
Meanwhile, about 100 anti-globalization protesters gathered outside the US embassy here and called for a withdrawal of the 3,000 Italian troops from Iraq, Berlusconi`s resignation and support for Calipari`s family.
They carried a banner reading: "Bush has changed: now he even kills Italians".
Sgrena, her left shoulder in a bandage, flew into Rome on a government plane Saturday morning and was immediately rushed to Celio military hospital where she will undergo surgery within the next few days. She had been given emergency treatment in a US military hospital in Baghdad.
Her companion, who traveled with her from Baghdad, leveled serious accusations at the US troops involved in the incident, saying the shooting had been deliberate.
"The Americans and Italians knew about (her) car coming," Pier Scolari said on leaving Celio hospital.
"They were 700 meters (yards) from the airport, which means that they had passed all checkpoints."
Friday`s shooting was heard by Berlusconi`s aides who were on the phone with one of the intelligence officers, said Scolari. "Then the US military silenced the cellphones," he charged.
"Giuliana had information, and the US military did not want her to survive," he added.
When Sgrena was kidnapped on February 4 she was writing an article on refugees from Fallujah seeking shelter at a Baghdad mosque after US forces bombed the former Sunni rebel bastion.
Il Manifesto chief editor Gabriele Polo meanwhile branded the intelligence officer`s death a "murder". Calipari, 51, is to be given a state funeral Monday.
A military plane repatriating his body was expected at Rome`s Ciampino airport around 11:00 pm (2200 GMT).
Berlusconi and Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini were to face tough questions by Italian deputies Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Paris, journalists` rights panel Reporters sans frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) called on the United Nations to conduct an urgent probe into the shooting incident.

03/05/2005 17:47 GMT