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| Iraq |
| U.S. Soldier Tells Paper How He Killed Italian Agent |
| 2007-05-09 |
| Rome, 9 May (AKI) - Mario Lozano, the US marine who admitted to killing an Italian intelligence official in Iraq, told Italy's main paper Corriere della Sera in an interview published Wednesday he was sorry "I killed one of your heroes" but stressed that the car Nicola Calipari was travelling in failed to stop at a blocking point, forcing him to fire at it." "Two days before the tragedy two of my friends were blown up at a checkpoint by a car bomb," Lozano told Corriere. "But ours, on that terrible 4 March 2005, was a blocking point, not a checkpoint. We had received the order not to make any vehicle pass because ambassador John Negroponte was in the area." Lozano, 37, is standing trial in Rome over the death of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq in March 2005. After a brief hearing in April, the trial is scheduled to resume on 14 May. The agent, 51-year-old Calipari, was shot dead as he was travelling in a car to Baghdad airport to escort journalist Giuliana Sgrena back home. Sgrena, an anti-war journalist, had just been freed by kidnappers after a month in captivity. Lozano, who will likely be tried in absentia as he has been cleared of all charges in the US, is accused of Calipari's murder and the attempted murder of Sgrena and another agent, Andrea Carpani, who were travelling together in the car. Lozano told Corriere he has pictures taken at the scene of the incident that prove his version of facts: "I have already handed them over to Roman magistrates. They leave no doubt on the dynamics of the accident." The incident placed under serious strain US-Italian relations with separate investigations from the two sides giving very different results on the shooting at a checkpoint on the road to the Baghdad airport, in which Calipari was shot and killed as he shielded Sgrena's body, who was wounded in the shoulder. The US military said the car the two were in rapidly approached a checkpoint and ignored repeated warnings to stop. Sgrena and Carpani instead said the vehicle was traveling at a low speed and braked very swiftly when a light shone on it. "The car was travelling at 80 km/h. As my pictures show, I fired when it was about one hundred metres away and, contrary to the other cars visible on the horizon, did not stop when I fired warning shots into air," claimed Lozano in the interview. "At the end the driver waved a cell phone. I should have fired again, as the protocol says, given that cell phones in Iraq are often carbomb detonators but instead I preferred to risk my life." Lozano, who is still serving in the US army, told Corriere della Sera he is scheduled to leave for Afghanistan in November. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 steve beat me too it and the US authroitied would have too extradite him too italy which i very doubt that is gonna happen since he is already being redeployed |
| Posted by: sinse 2007-05-09 18:06 |
| #7 I think it is awesome these Italian spies were shot up by an Italian-American. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-05-09 16:00 |
| #6 What do they mean, "on trial?" He's being tried "in absentia" (without him being there) by an Italian court. He isn't going anywhere near Italy, we already told the Italians to f***off. The Italian left is pushing it. |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-05-09 15:20 |
| #5 The only thing that doesn't sound right is that the Italians are pursuing this in spite of all the evidence. The Italians did not tell us this operation was going on, the guy tried to run through a blocking point, and he approached the troops at a high rate of speed without identifying himself. If Mario Lozano should be charged with anything, it is not puting enough bullets into those assholes. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-05-09 13:59 |
| #4 What do they mean, "on trial?" Is this a criminal proceeding, civil. How the hell do they have jurisdiction to try him? Who delivered him to the Italians for trial? Why? This doesn't make sense to me either. |
| Posted by: Sgt. D.T. 2007-05-09 13:55 |
| #3 ...Am I the only one here who feels that this just doesn't sound right, or am I not allowing for translation? Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-05-09 13:40 |
| #2 #1 "...so I hit him, and he just folded up like a sleeve!" ..and if I had to do it again I'd have shot that America Hating Commie Rat Bitch Giuliana Sgrena too. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-05-09 12:24 |
| #1 "...so I hit him, and he just folded up like a sleeve!" |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-05-09 10:00 |