ROME, March 7 -- Thousands of people crowded a state funeral Monday, paying tribute to an intelligence officer who was shot and killed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
Nicola Calipari, 50, died Friday when U.S. troops opened fire on a car in Baghdad as he accompanied Giuliana Sgrena, 56, a reporter for the Communist daily Il Manifesto, who had been held by insurgents for a month. Sgrena, wounded in the shooting, remained hospitalized.
Members of Italy's armed forces carry the coffin of intelligence officer Nicola Calipari into a church in Rome during his state funeral, which was attended by the prime minister.
(Max Rossi -- Reuters)
|
_____Checkpoint Shootings_____
•
The Washington Post's Ann Scott Tyson discusses the accidental shooting of an Italian security guard by U.S. forces in Iraq.
•
Shootings by U.S. at Iraq Checkpoints Questioned (The Washington Post, Mar 7, 2005)
_____From Rome_____
•
Video: Hundreds of people mourned the death of Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari.
|
| |
|
Calipari, who apparently used his body to protect Sgrena after securing her release, was eulogized by government officials and by his brother, a priest who serves at the Vatican. The church and the surrounding piazza were packed with mourners. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler were among the dignitaries attending.
"I pray that what Nicola and many others have done will make us not forget that following this path, things may get better," said Calipari's brother, the Rev. Maurizio Calipari, an archivist with the Pontifical Academy of Life.
Calipari's death has further provoked anti-American sentiment and opposition to continued Italian participation in the occupation of Iraq. But Berlusconi, a strong supporter of the U.S.-led invasion, has rejected opposition demands for a timetable to withdraw the 2,700-member Italian military contingent. He has demanded that U.S. officials provide a more detailed explanation for Calipari's death.
Italian magistrates in Rome said they have examined the cell phone used by Calipari and one of his aides and have determined that they made two calls in the period between Sgrena's release and the beginning of the shooting near the U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad. One call was made to his superior in Rome and another to an Italian secret service coordinator in Baghdad, officials said. Satellite phones believed to have been in their possession at the time of the shooting were unaccounted for, Italian news reports said.
The car in which Calipari and Sgrena were riding was expected to be transferred to Rome within a week, according to Italian media.
Calipari was killed by one gunshot wound to the temple, forensics experts said following a weekend autopsy.
U.S. officials have denied allegations by Sgrena from her bed in a military hospital in Rome that the shooting may have been deliberate. Wounded in the shoulder during the shooting, Sgrena said she may have been targeted by American forces.
In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "It's absurd to make any such suggestion that our men and women in uniform would target individual citizens."
Investigating magistrates have discounted the allegation that the shooting, which took place on one of the most dangerous roads in the country, near the Baghdad airport, was an ambush.
