1.

[Translated from Le Figaro (Paris)]

SGRENA AND AMERICAN SHOOTING ON THE FRONT PAGE OF ITALIAN NEWSPAPERS

Le Figaro (Paris)
March 6, 2005

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20050306.FIG0173.html

Every Italian newspaper made its front-page story on Sunday the liberation of reporter Giuliana Sgrena, who is accusing American soldiers of having "shot for no reason" on the car she was in, wondering why it happened.

For the daily La Repubblica [published in Rome, circulation approx. 646,000 --M.K.J.], close to the center-left opposition, the beginning of an explanation lies in the fact that "the three American units responsible for security on the five kilometers (three miles) of road separating the airport from the city are not used to conditions on the ground, having arrived less than a week before, on Feb. 27."

"And the ranks of one of them, the 256th Infantry, are full of National Guard reservists," adds the newspaper.

Mrs. Sgrena, kidnapped Feb. 4. in Baghdad, was freed Friday, but her evacuation to the Baghdad airport in the company of Italian intelligence agents veered toward tragedy when an American patrol opened fire, killing the Italian mission leader thanks to whom she had been liberated. The reporter and another intelligence agent were also wounded.

The Italian judicial system has opened a manslaughter investigation, and the highest Italian officials, President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and head of government Silvio Berlusconi, have demanded an explanation from the United States.

Inclining toward the hypothesis of a tragic mistake, La Repubblica cites the example of an American sergeant who "killed about thirty civilians in 48 hours" at a checkpoint in Iraq.

This soldier's orders were to fire at anyone who didn't halt at a raised-hand signal to stop; only later did he discover that in Iraq this gesture signified a greeting.

"It may be that something failed in the chain of command between central intelligence and the guard patrols in the zone," writes the largest Italian paper, Corriere della Sera [published in Milan, circulation approx. 704,000 --M.K.J.].

The other wounded Italian officer said that "the Americans knew about our mission," according to the newspaper.

La Stampa [published in Turin, circulation approximately 395,000 --M.K.J.], the daily owned by the Fiat group, said that the fusillade has led to "worsening relations" between Washington and Rome, despite the fact that Mr. Berlusconi is one of the most faithful allies of George W. Bush, the American president.

"Hour by hour, the version provided by the State Department is beginning to fall apart. The hypothesis of an absence of coordination . . . has fallen apart. The presence of an American colonel at Baghdad airport, in the company of Italian officials who were waiting for Mrs. Sgrena and her liberators, shows that the job was carried out with flawless coordination," writes the newspaper.

The American army in Baghdad and leaders in Washington have promised to investigate the shooting thoroughly.

--With AFP

2.

[Translated from Le Soir (Brussels)]

World

HOMAGE TO NICOLA CALIPARI

Le Soir (Brussels)
March 6, 2005

http://www.lesoir.be/rubriques/mond/page_5179_308684.shtml

Thousands of Italians paid homage in Rome to Nicola Calipari, the intelligence official who died while on special assignment and considered a hero for having saved the life of reporter Giuliana Sgrena.

The catafalque [a draped wooden framework on which Calipari's encoffined body is lying in state during the elaborate funeral --M.K.J.] has been placed in a chapel of rest built at the heart of the Altar of the Fatherland, the monument in Rome's historic center that shelters the tomb of the unknown soldier. The site will remain open throughout the night of Sunday to Monday.

Italians are filing pas in a continuous stream past the coffin. Some are carrying flowers, others wear around their necks tricolor Italian flags or peace rainbows.

To one side of the coffin, draped with an Italian flag, her face ravaged by pain and in tears, is the wife of the intelligence official, Rosa Calipari, only able to remain standing thanks to her daughter's help. On the other side of the catafalque, the state secretary for the Council presidency, Gianni Letta, is representing the authorities. Mr. Letta, who is in charge of civilian and military secret services, was the Italian government official responsible for accomplishing the liberation of the reporter for the left daily Il Manifesto. A floral wreath has been laid in the name of the president of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who will preside at a national funeral Monday morning in Rome.

Nicola Calipari was killed by American shots Friday evening when his vehicle, with Giuliana Sgrena and two other colleagues aboard, was less than a kilometer from the Baghdad airport. The three other passengers in the car were wounded.

The death of Nicola Calipari has shaken Italian public opinion, which for once is not showing itself cynical and skeptical but sensitive to serious matters, said Valentino Parlato, one of the founders of Il Manifesto, as he left the chapel of rest.

Today Mr. Parlato, president of the newspaper founded 35 years ago by Communist intellectuals who had broken away from the party, was able to pay tribute to the humane qualities of the intelligence official with whom he had been in contact throughout the entire captivity of Giuliana Sgrena.

Among the crowd paying its respects to Nicola Calipari were some who also came after the November 2003 attack against the Italian base at Nassiriyah in Iraq, in which nineteen soldiers lost their lives.

Others, like Carla, came out of respect for the deceased because it does one good to see that there are still people who sacrifice themselves to save the life of another person.

Many of Nicola Calipari's colleagues, police officers and members of special services, paid homage to him in the course of the morning at Rome's Forensic Medicine Institute, where an autopsy was performed before the coffin proceeded to the chapel of rest, escorted by four motorcycles.

3.

[Translated from the web site of L'Express]

Front Page

GIULIANI SGRENA ENCOURAGES SUSPICIONS OF A DELIBERATE ATTACK AGAINST HER

L'Express.com
March 6, 2005

http://www.lexpress.fr/info/infojour/infos.asp?id=2583&1536

On Sunday, Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena, wounded by American fire after having been liberated from a month of captivity in Iraq, fed suspicions that the fusillade was aimed personally at her, which may provoke an anti-American surge in that country.

Giuliana Sgrena said that she may have been the target of American soldiers who fired on her car and killed an Italian intelligence agent, because the United States was opposed to negotiations with her captors.

"Everyone knows that the Americans don't want negotiations for the liberation of hostages: so I don't see why I should rule out having been personally the target of their shots," the leftist reporter who has always been opposed to the American war in Iraq said to the Italian television station Sky TG24.

The Iraqi minister for human rights, Bakhtiar Amin, on a visit to Brussels, said he ruled out that hypothesis, and asked, "Why would the Americans have wanted to prevent the liberation of a reporter?"

"People make mistakes in difficult security situations, in zones where people are targeted by terrorists. You shouldn't forget that criminals created this situation, it's the kidnappers who are responsible," added Mr. Amin.

The Italian press, for its part, accused the Americans of having fired "for no reason" on the car, but it leaned more toward the hypothesis of a mistake.

"The Americans would never have willingly killed an Italian intelligence agent," wrote Il Messaggero, [published in Rome, circulation approx. 293,000 --M.K.J.] evoking the death of an Italian intelligence official in Iraq, Nicola Calipari, who died from a bullet in the head as he sought to protect Giuliana Sgrena.

The mortal remains of the agent were placed in a chapel of rest on Sunday in the altar of the fatherland, as thousands of Italians paid him a last homage.

A national funeral will take place in Rome at the Holy Mary of Angels church in the presence of Italy's highest officials.

The United States, which expressed its regrets, promised an investigation and said its soldiers fired because the car was traveling too fast and had not responded to signals, a hypothesis contradicted by Giuliana Sgrena.

The death of Nicola Calipari and the wounding of Giuliana have provoked tensions between Rome and Washington and risk, on the domestic front, putting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a difficult position by reviving opposition to the presence of some 3,000 Italian soldiers in Iraq.

The legislature must vote on Mar. 14 on refinancing the Italian mission in Iraq, to which the opposition is hostile.

But even one of the majority's representatives, deputy Raffaele Costa, of Forza Italia, Mr. Berlusconi's party, suggested that an end date should now be fixed for the Italian contingent's mission.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American secretary of defense, called his Italian counterpart, Antonio Martino, on Sunday, to express to him "his regrets," which President Bush had already done.

But Italy wants the complete truth about the Baghdad drama. To require an explanation, as the government and the president of the Republic have already done, and then receive an apology and possible sanctions "is the least that a sovereign government that is also a loyal ally can do," writes Corriere della Sera's editorialist.

Vice Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini warned against a rise in anti-Americanism in a country where gigantic demonstrations against the war in Iraq have taken place and where the opposition has, on the whole, refrained from throwing oil on the fire.

Thus Massimo d'Alema, president of the Left Democrats, the leading opposition party, said that while the left criticized U.S. policies, "it is not for that reason anti-American."

--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Home page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu