WASHINGTON - The Pentagon expressed chagrin Monday over the inadvertent disclosure of classified portions of a US report on the shooting of an Italian intelligence officer at a US checkpoint in Baghdad, calling the release of the information "unfortunate."
The report was publicly posted on a US military website using a type of electronic file that could be altered to reveal portions of the report that had been blacked out for security or privacy reasons, a Pentagon spokesman said.
"It was unintentional, and it was an unfortunate procedural error that the portions that were redacted were able to be converted into a file that you could unhighlight the redactions," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
"But it doesn't change the premise of the report, the report is what it is," he said.
An investigation has been launched into the disclosure.
The unexpurgated version of the report identified by name the soldiers involved in the March 4 incident, as well as rules of engagement and other sensitive information, but military officials would not say how much damage the revelations caused.
"It's more tactical level than strategic things you might find in there," Whitman said. "And privacy is privacy. There are names that should not have been part of the report."
Soldiers manning a temporary checkpoint opened fire on a vehicle in which two Italian intelligence agents were taking a just released Italian hostage to the Baghdad International Airport.
Nicola Calipari, a top Italian intelligence officer, was killed and Guiliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist who had be kidnapped for more than a month, was wounded.
05/02/2005 16:47 GMT