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Italy
asks for answers on death in Iraq
Italy's
foreign minister wants the United States
to identify exactly who is responsible for
the death of Intelligence Agent Nicola Calipari.
Italy wants to point the finger of blame
at the U.S. soldiers who pulled the trigger.
Calipari
was killed while guiding Giuliana Sgrena,
a freed hostage, to the airport in Iraq.
Italy is justified in asking for the truth.
Whatever the situation, there are American
soldiers responsible for his death, and
Italy has a right to find out who those
soldiers are.
The
United States' defense is that the vehicle
was speeding and did not listen to the troops'
demand for it to stop. But according to
Gianfranco Fini, the Italian foreign affairs
minister, the car was not going any faster
than about 25 mph and the car was never
asked to stop. He said that Calipari had
let the American officials know ahead of
time about the hostage's trip to the airport.
The Washington Times reported that this
is not true.
Italy
already disagrees with the force of America's
military in Iraq, and this incident will
make their opposition stronger.
Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi is asking for
answers from the United States. The problem
is that the shooting occurred in Iraq, not
in either of the countries involved, and
was in an area under control of the U.S.
military, members of which insist they attempted
to flag down the vehicle and signaled it
to stop.
It
seems the U.S. soldiers made a mistake when
firing on the hostage-carrying vehicle.
There is no reason that a vehicle going
that slow, which the U.S. military had been
warned about beforehand, should be shot
at.
In
addition, soldiers said the fire was aimed
at the engine, not at those inside the vehicle.
The vehicle was not bullet-proof and was
headed straight for the airport instead
of going to the embassy first. The reason
for that is supposedly that it would have
taken longer to go that route and the Italian
government was trying to keep the trip "low-profile."
Fini claims that there was no slip-up on
the part of the Italians, and so the blame
must be laid exclusively on American soldiers.
Obviously,
the Italian and American accounts of the
incident do not match. It could be a simple
communication problem that led to this violent
event, or a mistake on the part of the Americans.
Perhaps they should not have fired on what
Italy deemed was a slow-moving vehicle.
An
apology is in order, no matter what the
circumstances. Until the truth of the situation
is discovered, both sides need to work together
to find out what really happened. Either
way, there is blood on the hands of those
soldiers. The U.S. government should start
investigations quickly to find out what
happened.
The
United States should keep this incident
from becoming grounds for anti-American
sentiment in Italy by helping them determine
the responsible parties. But until the truth
is discovered, there should be no punishment
for those involved.
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