US says case closed in shooting of Italian agent

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22367257.htm

US says case closed in shooting of Italian agent

ROME, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Italian magistrates have placed a U.S. marine under official investigation for murder over the killing of an Italian agent in Iraq earlier this year, judicial sources said on Thursday.

But the United States immediately said it considered the issue closed after a joint Italian-U.S. investigation, even though the two governments disagreed on the conclusion of that probe.

Intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was shot dead at an improvised U.S. checkpoint on a road near Baghdad in March as he was accompanying an Italian hostage to safety.

Italy and the United States held a joint inquiry into the incident, but they failed to agree joint conclusions and instead issued conflicting reports.

[orwell]

1. Fiat Justice...

...the Regal "Presiduncy" rides again.

[cliss]

2. Silvio.....(taps him on the shoulder)

Silvio, are you reading this? After all your country has done for the Americans.....the sacrifices. The deaths. And now, the closed cases.

You risked the wrath of your country by going for the BIG CARROT. You were promised "billions" in oil revenue. But that has failed to materialize.

Instead, you have a disgusted nation. Shocked that the U.S. would do something like this to their "ally". Get used to it, Silvio. You're not the first one that was left swinging in the wind by these guys.

[gratuitous]

3. We investigated ourselves thoroughly

And lo and behold, found that we had done nothing wrong. Get with the program, Italy!

[brentspeak]

9. So this Marine should automatically be declared 'guilty'?

The only possible conclusion is that he's guilty? He should just be crucified, no matter what?

Watch the movie "Breaker Morant", about Australian officers who were scapegoated for war crimes during the Boer War - just to show the Boers that England was "tough on war crimes".

[gratuitous]

11. Where did you draw that conclusion?

I just said that the military had conducted its own investigation of a very serious matter, and totally exonerated its own. And it's happened over and over again in Iraq. Testimony in conflict with the soldiers involved is discounted, if the final report deals with it all. But like the photos from Abu Ghraib showed, sometimes the sworn testimony of the accused and others involved aren't the best indicators of the truth of what happened.

All I said was that I would really like to see a truly independent investigation. As politicized as the military has become under the corrupt Bush regime, it has squandered just about all its trust. I don't know what an independent investigation might reveal, but for some reason, you seem persuaded that "the only possible conclusion" is guilt.

[neoblues]

4. Considering Our Goverment Shoots Our Own Citizens

Considering our government shoots our own citizens and then claims they were running up and down the airplane aisle claiming to have a bomb (of a number of passengers interviewed, none reported him to be anything other than silent). Well, it seems to work well for a made up excuse. It's no wonder the government's self-investigation finds itself innocent, and besides, a 'foreigner' probably counts no more than a U.S. citizen suffering from a mental problem. Yes, our government has it's priorties all screwed up.

[WhiteTara]

8. welcome to the monkey house

neoblues :hi:

[0007]

10. .....but...but....but aren't we the government of the people by the

people for the people? Is that another fairy tale, like Santa?

I feel so sorry for that women that lost her husband for no reason what so ever.

[quaoar]

5. Here's an Italian news agency version

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-12-22_2188243.html

US marine may face murder charges
Soldier implicated in death of Italian agent in Iraq

(ANSA) - Rome, December 22 - A United States marine has formally been placed under investigation here for the murder of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq last March .

The Rome prosecutor's office identified the marine as Mario Lozano .

Intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed on March 4 when US troops manning a temporary roadblock opened fire on a car carrying him, another agent and a released hostage to Baghdad airport .

A joint investigation by Italian and US military experts failed to reach a shared conclusion, with the American members clearing the soldiers of all responsibility and the Italians blaming the US's organisation of the roadblock .

Italian investigators were able to identify Lozano thanks to a youth in Bologna who was able to uncover the name which had been blacked out in the joint report .

[President Kerry]

6. somewhat similar to the murders of

Spanish and Ukrainian reporters in Baghdad. Pure Pentagon CYA. Disgusting.

[Straight Shooter]

7. Political assassination.

Just wait until this vulture truly comes home to roost.

I cast the evil eye on the killer of Nicola Calipari. *spit*

[anitar1]

12. Nothing will ever "come hone to roost" about this.

It will quietly die away. As usual.A job is done and over with.

[jbnow]

13. From Italy's view

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,354504,00.html

According to the Italian report though, it is the Americans who are to blame. snip The Italian report also attacks the US for its clumsy handling of the investigation and notes a series of blunders at the crime scene. The first is the mysterious disappearance of the unit's log on the fateful night. Also, instead of keeping the crime scene secure (so that the speed of the car could be determined) US forces quickly removed the bullet-scarred car and allowed two armored Humvees that had been stationed at the checkpoint to take Sgrena to a hospital.

"That made it impossible to technically reconstruct the event to determine the exact position of the vehicles and measure the distances, and to obtain precise data defining the precise trajectory of the bullets, the speed of the car and the stopping distance," the report concluded. The Americans even failed to count the number of bullets fired and refused to let Italian General Mario Marioli visit the site of the shooting, the report says.

The uncensored American report is just as astonishing, as it makes public salient details of the struggle the US is having in maintaining order in Iraq. For instance, it names several checkpoints that are particularly susceptible to attack. It also includes an assessment of insurgent bombing techniques and the US strategies -- and failures -- to counter them. For instance, it says that suicide car bombers still represent one of the greatest threats because they are often unidentifiable before it is too late.

Finally, it highlights the near-constant tension on the road where the roadblock stands, pointing out that there were 135 insurgent attacks in the four months before the shooting. Also, on the night of the shooting, soldiers had been told that two suicide car bombers might be coming through, one in a black car, the other in a white car. Calipari's Toyota was white.

It wasn't hard for them to get the blacked out name...this was the report with that formatting error so even confidential security issues were released to all, including locations and methods

The simple cut and copy maneuver was made possible by a boneheaded formatting error and gave reporters -- and the hungry Italian media -- access to the name of the US soldier who fired the shots that killed Calipari. The report also provided inside information on security problems faced by US troops in Iraq and even points of contention between Italy and America