Dueling views of the Sgrena shooting

On March 4, shortly before 9 p.m., Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was killed as the car he was riding in approached a US military checkpoint in Baghdad. He had just negotiated the release of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had been held hostage by Iraqi militants. US soldiers fired on the car, killing Mr. Calipari and wounding Ms. Sgrena. The uproar in Italy prompted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to announce the withdrawal of some 3,000 Italian troops from Iraq. He has since hedged on the timing. This week, the US and Italy released separate reports - coming to different conclusions. The Monitor's Sophie Arie looks at the key disagreements over an incident that has strained ties between the US and one of its staunchest allies in Iraq.

The car's speed is a key point of disagreement. Both countries agree that the Toyota Corolla carrying Ms. Sgrena, Mr. Calipari, and an Italian driver was traveling south on a road the US military calls "Route Vernon." It reached a US checkpoint stopping traffic feeding onto "Route Irish," the notoriously dangerous highway to Baghdad International Airport.

But the two reports disagree over whether the Italian car approached at a reasonable speed and whether it accelerated or slowed down once warnings were given.

According to the US report, the two soldiers manning guns said they thought the Italian car was traveling "in excess of 50 m.p.h." when they first saw it - about 140 meters from the checkpoint.

Despite light signals, the car continued to approach "at a high rate of speed" coming closer to the soldiers, and at a higher rate of speed than any other vehicle that evening, the US report says. The report says the soldiers had "successfully turned around 15 to 30 vehicles" before the Italian car arrived, "with none getting more than a few meters beyond the Alert Line," which is where soldiers flashed light signals.

Even after warning shots had been fired, the Italians' car continued to travel at about 50 miles per hour, according to a US soldier (a New York City police officer trained in estimating vehicle speed) at the roadblock.

The Italian report says estimates from the soldiers vary from 50 m.p.h. to 80 m.p.h. and "seem to be influenced by emotive factors." "The [soldier] who fired, felt threatened and said he was thinking about his young daughters as he frantically counted the seconds and watched the space the car covered, carrying out the necessary mathematical operations to calculate the speed."

According to the Italian report, both the driver and Sgrena say their car began to slow down from a "normal speed" of about 70 kilometers per hour (about 43 m.p.h.) when it was still about 1,200 meters away. It was raining and the driver, who knew the area well, slowed down first to cross a large puddle and then further as he approached the intersection with the airport road.

But the US says a soldier who spoke to the Italian driver after the incident in Spanish, their only common language, told investigators the driver "heard shots from somewhere," and "panicked and started speeding, trying to get to the airport as fast as possible." The Italians insist the driver "was not in any hurry" and suggest that the US soldier misunderstood the driver's Spanish.

Both countries agree that the car was hit 11 times in the windshield and along the right side of the car from one single firing point. Neither report suggests, nor, does Sgrena in an e-mail to the Monitor, that the car was fired upon from behind or that she was traveling on a "secret" secure road - as some media have reported.

The Italians' major complaint is that the roadblock was set up hastily without due consideration of security for civilian drivers. The US report acknowledges that no road signs or lights were in place leading up to the checkpoint. The soldiers decided the three "Jersey" barriers, half blocking the road, were enough. Warning signs were not used because they were in storage at the time.

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