Iraq Shooting Tied to Envoy's Visit
Negroponte Security Detail Fired at Italian Reporter's Car
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 11, 2005; Page A16
The U.S. Army personnel who fired at the car carrying an Italian journalist to the Baghdad airport last Friday night were part of extra security provided for U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte, who was expected to travel that same road, according to a U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad.
"The mobile patrol was there to enhance security because Ambassador Negroponte was expected through," Robert Callahan, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Baghdad, told the Associated Press yesterday. Callahan was confirming a report in Wednesday's edition of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which first disclosed that the U.S. Army unit had established the checkpoint to provide security for Negroponte, AP said.
Last night, senior officials at the State Department and Pentagon said the matter was under investigation and referred questions about the Army security unit to the Baghdad embassy.
The shots killed Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari and wounded Giuliana Sgrena, the journalist who had just been released after being held for a month by Iraqi kidnappers. Also wounded was a second Italian intelligence officer who was driving the car, which was taking Sgrena to a plane that was to bring her back to Italy.
The day after the shooting, a spokesman for the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad said the checkpoint was a temporary one and may have been difficult to see at night. The shooting took place about 8:55 p.m., two hours before Baghdad's curfew and less than an hour after Calipari had been led to where Sgrena had been hidden by her kidnappers.
According to the Italian government's version of events, given earlier this week by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, the Italians drove to the airport at a moderate speed of less than 40 mph because it was raining. During the drive Calipari had the light on in the car so he could make calls informing his superiors and U.S. military authorities of their travel to the airport, Italian officials said.
As the car emerged from a half-flooded underpass, it slowed down to make a sharp right around blocks of concrete, they said. Halfway through the turn, a sharp beam of light hit the car from some 30 yards away from the right side of the road. "As the driver consequently put on the brakes, bringing the vehicle almost immediately to a halt, fire from probably two automatic weapons opened up and lasted approximately 10 to 15 seconds," Fini told the Italian Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday.
That differs from an initial U.S. account of the incident, which Defense officials have since said will be fully investigated.
A statement by the 3rd Division after the shooting said the vehicle was speeding and did not stop after the military patrol cautioned the driver with hand and arm signals, flashes of white lights and warning shots. The soldiers involved were trained to aim at the engine block, the statement said.
Photos aired by Italy's state television showed the car had bullet holes on its right side near the front wheel and door, with another hole in the back seat, where Calipari and Sgrena were sitting.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23128-2005Mar10.html
