Italy blames the U.S.

last updated 8 January 2015

Rome

Italy this week blamed the death of Italian secret-service agent Nicola Calipari on “inexperience and stress” among U.S. soldiers. Calipari was killed when U.S. troops fired on his car while he escorted a freed Italian hostage to the Baghdad airport. The U.S. military’s report on the incident exonerated the soldiers, saying Calipari’s car was speeding through a checkpoint. But a new Italian report says the checkpoint was poorly marked, and that the car was traveling at a moderate speed. To the embarrassment of the Pentagon, an Italian student surfing the Web managed to gain access to the uncensored version of the U.S. report, which he released to Italian papers. That version contained the names of the U.S. soldiers involved, as well as classified information on U.S. checkpoint procedures.