http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...st07.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/03/07/ixworld.html
I'm beginning to suspect that an apology is not going to suffice. Currently the official Italian government investigation is treating the shooting as a murder case.
Berlusconi told to face up to US over shooting
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
(Filed: 07/03/2005)
Politicians of all parties denounced prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's dealings with America yesterday after an Italian hostage negotiator was killed and a journalist wounded by US forces in Iraq.
An American patrol opened fire on the car carrying Giuliana Sgrena to the airport near Baghdad, turning what should have been the joyous end of her month-long kidnapping into a tragedy.
Mrs Sgrena, 56, was wounded in the shoulder but survived. Nicola Calipari, 51, the Italian agent who had helped secure her release, died in a hail of bullets, as he threw himself over her to protect her.
At least 10,000 people filed past Mr Calipari's body as it lay in state in Rome yesterday and politicians called on Mr Berlusconi to set aside his pro-American stance and take a hard line with his ally, President George W Bush.
Romano Prodi, the opposition leader, said he hoped the government would know "how to get to the bottom of the truth". He added: "All of us, 57 million Italians, have a right to know what happened."
Oliviero Diliberto, the head of the Communist party, which is in the main Left-wing bloc led by Mr Prodi, said: "I don't believe a word of the American version. The Americans deliberately fired on Italians. This is huge. All of the centre-Left must vote in parliament for the withdrawal of our troops."
From within Mr Berlusconi's centre-Right coalition, Gianni Alemanno, the agriculture minister, spoke out, saying: "Italy must defend its honour.
"We may be trusted allies, but we cannot give the impression of being subordinate."
Bobo Craxi, an ally, and the son of the late premier Bettino Craxi, attacked Mr Berlusconi's "subordinacy" to the US.
He demanded that he stand up to Mr Bush, "even to the point of risking a break in relations", as his father had done to President Reagan in 1985, when he refused to hand over Palestinian terrorists to America.
Other loyalists voiced support for Mr Berlusconi. "The military mission must carry on because it consolidates democracy in Iraq," said Maurizio Gasparri, the communications minister.
Meanwhile the Left-wing Il Manifesto daily, for which Mrs Sgrena works and which is strongly opposed to the occupation of Iraq, quickly sold out of all its editions yesterday.
On its front page, an article dictated from her hospital bed in Rome claimed the Americans may have targeted her because of US opposition to Italy's policy of dealing with kidnappers.
Italian government sources said a large ransom was almost certainly paid.
I'm beginning to suspect that an apology is not going to suffice. Currently the official Italian government investigation is treating the shooting as a murder case.