After returning to Manifesto's offices, Polo criticized the Americans. "An Italian agent has been killed by an American bullet -- a tragic demonstration that everything that's happening in Iraq is completely senseless and mad," he said. "Nicola Calipari is the person we must thank most for Giuliana's release. Unfortunately, he was killed by American bullets."
The shooting is unlikely to change Berlusconi's attitude toward Iraq. Berlusconi has consistently supported Bush administration policy there and has provided 2,700 paramilitary police to patrol the southern city of Nasiriyah. He has weathered controversy over the deaths of Italian soldiers and resisted repeated calls for a troop pullout.
Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, center, listens to news of the release of Giuliana Sgrena with journalists at the Italian daily Il Manifesto.
(Domenico Stinellis -- AP)
|
|
Berlusconi also was criticized last year after the kidnapping of two Italian aid workers, Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, who were freed amid indications by Italian officials that ransom had been paid. It was not clear Friday if one was paid for Sgrena or if she might have been freed in a rescue operation.
The shooting provided a bizarre climax to an emotional saga that had gripped Italy for a month.
After her kidnapping Feb. 4, Sgrena appeared on a videotape, disheveled, tearful and on her knees pleading for her life. "Help me, help," she cried. "My life depends on you. Make pressure on the Italian government to withdraw its troops." The words "Mujaheddin Without Borders" were superimposed in the corner of the screen. Earlier claims to be holding her had come from the Jihad Organization of Mesopotamia and the Islamic Jihad Organization.
On Feb. 19, supporters of Sgrena and antiwar activists mounted a large demonstration in Rome, demanding the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq. On Friday, the government appeared ready to take full credit for Sgrena's release. Government officials began to express gratitude to Gianni Letta, Berlusconi's top aide. Letta has coordinated past efforts to release Italian hostages.
But later, Letta called relatives of Sgrena in north Italy. He told them there had been an "accident," according to Ivan Sgrena, her brother.
[Elsewhere in Iraq Friday, four U.S. soldiers assigned to 1 Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in western Anbar province, the Reuters news agency reported.]
Correspondent John Ward Anderson in Baghdad and staff writers Glenn Kessler and Ann Scott Tyson in Washington contributed to this report.
