US Army orders inquiry into killing of Italian agent

The US military decided to speed up its inquiry into why American troops opened fire on a car carrying an Italian journalist rescued from insurgents in Iraq, killing the Italian intelligence agent who had helped save her.

Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told parliament yesterday that US troops killed Calipari by accident, but disputed Washington’s version of events.

Fini said the car carrying Calipari and Sgrena was not speeding and US troops did not order it to stop, contrary to what US officials say. But Fini dismissed allegations made by Sgrena that the shooting was an ambush.

“It was an accident,” Fini said. “This does not prevent, in fact it makes it a duty for the government to demand that light be shed on the murky issues, that responsibilities be pinpointed, and, where found, that the culprits be punished.”

The US-led coalition said a follow-up investigation would be led by US Brig. Gen. Peter Vangjel and it would to take three to four weeks. Italian officials were invited to participate.

The US 3rd Infantry Division, which controls Baghdad, said the vehicle was “travelling at high speeds” and ”refused to stop at a checkpoint”.

An American patrol “attempted to warn the driver to stop by hand and arm signals, flashing white lights, and firing warning shots in front of the car”, it said. “When the driver didn’t stop, the soldiers shot into the engine block which stopped the vehicle, killing one and wounding two others.”

However, Fini said the car was “travelling at a speed that couldn’t have been more than 25 miles per hour”. A light, he said, was flashed at the car after a curve and gunfire started immediately afterward. It lasted 15 to 20 seconds, he said.

The decision to fast-track the investigation into the attack, which has strained relations with Italy, a key American ally, came as the military also opened an inquiry into the shooting dead of a Bulgarian soldier. That death appeared to be another friendly fire incident that also happened on Friday.

Both probes were an indication of the pressure being brought on the Bush administration by the few American allies in Europe that have steadfastly supported his policies in Iraq.

Italy and its prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has 3,000 troops in Iraq, while Bulgaria has 460. Both countries have said they will not withdraw their troops, but domestic pressure to bring them home has been growing – especially in Bulgaria where it has become an election issue.

Also yesterday, American troops fought insurgents in Ramadi, a city 70 miles west of Baghdad. At least two Iraqis were killed in the clashes, and at least six other Iraqis died in other violence around the country.

Meanwhile, interim National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said ousted dictator Saddam Hussein could stand trial by year’s end. “I will be surprised if I do not see Saddam in the box before the end of the year,” he said. “I am very much hopeful that Saddam will be in the box around September and October, before the general referendum” on a constitution.

The March 1 killing of a judge and his lawyer son, both appointed to the tribunal to try the former Iraqi leader and his top henchmen, should not affect that trial or any other, experts have said.

The constitution is to be drafted by the National Assembly, which convenes March 16. Negotiations to form Iraq’s first democratically elected government focused Tuesday on the make-up of the Cabinet, after Kurds said they were close to a deal with the Shiite clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance.