Shooting exposes gulf of loathing

The return to Italy of journalist Giuliana Sgrena from captivity in Iraq was meant to be another triumph for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's chequebook foreign policy - a timely boost for his ruling coalition as it faces regional elections in less than a month.

Instead, the killing of chief negotiator Nicola Calipari by American fire and the wounding of Sgrena have created deep public anger against the US, which will take all Berlusconi's political skills to defuse.

Sorrow and admiration for Calipari are contending with seething indignation at the allies who killed him.

Thousands filed past his coffin in Rome, paying their last respects to the agent who twice saved the life of Sgrena, once by securing her release, a second time by shielding her from US fire at Baghdad airport, sacrificing his own life for hers.

The US military said the car the pair were in was speeding towards a checkpoint and ignored warning shots, an explanation rejected by Italian Government ministers and the driver of the car.

As Donald Rumsfeld, the United States Defence Secretary, telephoned his Italian counterpart, Antonio Martino, to express regret, politicians denounced the shooting.

Edward Luttwak, an American military expert interviewed in La Repubblica newspaper, said Calipari's death was "the sort of thing that happens all the time in a war", and he advised Italy to "take an aspirin and go to bed, you'll feel better in the morning".

For many Italians the secret agent's death exposed a gulf of mistrust and loathing. Italy knows the US and Britain deeply disapprove of its habit of paying large sums to secure the release of its nationals.

Was Sgrena, correspondent of the communist daily Il Manifesto, who has repeatedly demanded an end to the occupation, the true target? She couldn't rule it out, she said.

"Everybody knows the Americans are opposed to hostage negotiations. So I don't see why we must exclude the possibility that I was their target. The Americans don't approve, so they try to frustrate the negotiations every way they can."

- INDEPENDENT, additional reporting Reuters