American soldiers killed Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari. That much is fact. While transporting released Italian hostage, Giuliana Sgrena, to the airport outside Baghdad, the car in which he was travelling came under US fire. He died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

According to American Military officials, the car was travelling at high speed and failed to stop, despite flashlight and hand signals. According to Giuliana Sgrena, and an Italian carabiniere (Army policeman) also travelling in the car, there was a strong flashlight followed immediately by gunfire (around 300 shots). Who do you believe?

Giuliana Sgrena, interviewed in today’s Repubblica again questioned whether the attack had been deliberate. Her kidnappers had told her to be careful, on her release, as the Americans didn’t want her to return home – “Their words that had seemed like propaganda to me, acquired a sudden hint of truth”[1].

White House spokesman Scott McClellan responded by saying,”It’s absurd to make any such suggestion, that our men and women in uniform would deliberately target innocent civilians”[2]. This was echoed by Berlusconi, who, reportedly, in a telephone conversation with Government partner Umberto Bossi, said “How can one say that the Americans wanted to kill her? A bit of silence and common sense wouldn’t be bad”[3].

One can say, without fear of contradiction even from the likes of McClellan or Berlusconi, that being on the receiving end of (a reported) 300 rounds of ‘friendly’ fire would give anyone a healthy dose of paranoia. Rather than dismissing these fears as absurd, both Berlusconi and the White House must provide an accurate and impartial investigation, which will satisfy public opinion – which in Italy is enraged.

Speculation that the ‘tragic incident’ could lead to a rupture in Italian military support for the occupation (sorry,let’s not let polemics creep in here: more correct to say the international co-operative project for the support of Iraqi Democracy) seems to have as little basis in fact as the American version of Friday’s attack.

Already we have luminaries from Forza Italia such as Sandro Biondi, informing us that “to connect today the request for the recall of our troops, as has been done by a thankfully small proportion of the left wing, to the death of our Calipari, would be conceptually incorrect, morally questionable and politically irresponsible”. While Pier Ferdinando Casini, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, a post equivalent to the Ceann Comhairle in Ireland, or the Speaker in the UK’s house of Commons, declared “We have to distinguish between three problems: the kidnapping of Giuliana Sgrena, the killing of Nicola Calipari, and the presence of our troops in Iraq […]. I think it’s inappropriate to superimpose a judgement on the presence of our troops in Italy on to the other two issues”[5].

The suggestion that mentioning the recall of Italian troops from Iraq at the moment would be somehow dishonourable to the memory of Nicola Calipari (as well as “conceptually incorrect”, whatever that’s supposed to signify), seems to hold sway. The only left wing party calling for an immediate recall of Italian troops are the Pdci (Italian Communists).

The one thing tying Biondi, Berlusconi, Casini and McClellan together is that the basis of their arguments are a) The Americans are the “good guys”, and b) this incident should be looked at in isolation.

So far, the only strong evidence that the American Military in Iraq are the “good guys” comes from the simple fact that they’re not the easy to recognise, throat cutting, kidnapping bad guys (the absence of inverted commas is deliberate – we know they’re bad guys). To suggest that the US Military are the good guys seems hard to support in light of torture scandals, false imprisonment, repeated instances of ‘friendly fire’, and, most importantly of all, massive civilian casualties (16,214 minimum to date – civilians reported killed by the military intervention in Iraq). The fact that we have no reliable figures on how many people have been killed by coalition troops in Iraq is a disgrace.

We’re not forgetting that the ‘Iraqi Resistance’ has killed numerous civilians, which is deplorable, and – at the risk of using a bushism – evil, but the Italian government and troops aren’t in Iraq supporting these people. They are in Iraq supporting the operations of the US Military. A military that has to date shown callous disregard for civilians, medics, journalists, and basically anyone who isn’t dressed in the US military uniform. When we’re bombarded with terms like ‘bringing democracy’ and ‘peace mission’, as we are in Italy, the connection has to be made with soldiers who, for one reason or another, have shot and killed countless civilians with impunity.

To suggest that the killing of Nicola Calipari needs to be looked at in isolation is in fact political opportunism of the most deplorable kind on the part of the ruling Italian government. It suggests that what happened on Friday was an unfortunate but singular incident. It suggests that Italy does not need to examine its support for the US military in Iraq. In fact it is merely another example of military power gone haywire. Whether the troops who shot Calipari were nervous kids from middle America, scared out of their wits (as is probable), or were part of some conspiracy to prevent Sgrena’s return, is largely immaterial. What they illustrate is the simple fact that to travel on the road in Iraq is suicidal (see the following article for an American journalists guide to road blocks in Iraq).

Internal politics in Italy will soon bury this story, sadly. All are united in calling for a thorough report on events from the Americans. That will be duly provided, if for nothing else to provide Bush’s ally Berlusconi something to wave at the opposition. Will it provide punishable culprits? Perhaps, depending upon the political necessity. Will it provide the truth? Unlikely*. More to the point, will it create a situation where US soldiers think before firing?

* Reporters without borders on Saturday called for a UN led independent investigation. Citing problems in the conduct of the 2003 report where the US military investigated its own actions in the killing of two journalists at the Palestine Hotel, Baghdad.
Robert M