Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Long Island Newsday
May 10, 2007
Pg. 26
By Associated Press
ROME - A U.S. soldier on trial in the death of an Italian intelligence officer in Iraq has told news media here he gave Rome prosecutors photos and a video that prove he had no choice but to fire at the car carrying the agent.
In his first interviews with Italian media, Spc. Mario Lozano, of the Bronx, reportedly said he took the images soon after the March 4, 2005, shooting of Nicola Calipari at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport. Footage shows "the car was very close to the checkpoint when I fired," Lozano said in a story yesterday in Corriere della Sera, adding he was forced to shoot "not to kill but to defend myself."
Calipari, 37, was traveling at night toward the airport after securing the release of kidnapped Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena. She and another agent who was driving the car were wounded.
Lozano, 37, was put on trial in absentia last month on charges of murder and attempted murder. A second hearing is scheduled for Monday. The soldier previously defended himself in interviews with U.S. media saying that, confronted with a car that did not stop after he flashed lights and fired warning shots, he had no choice but to fire.
On Tuesday, a Rome TV news channel aired a Lozano interview along with video of Calipari's car immobile next to a concrete barrier - its headlights on and passenger door open.
A newspaper photo showed the back of the car, its rear windshield shattered, and next to the vehicle what the paper identified as Calipari's body, covered by a yellow tarpaulin.
"I have already given [the images] to the Rome prosecutors," Lozano told the newspaper. "They leave no doubt on how the incident happened." Prosecutors declined to comment. In the TV interview, Lozano said he regretted the incident and that he admired Calipari. "He was the kind of a guy that I would follow to war," he said.
The death of Calipari, hailed as a hero in Italy, angered Italians, largely opposed to the war, and soured U.S.-Italy relations. The two countries issued separate reports on the incident with different conclusions.
May 10, 2007
Pg. 26
By Associated Press
ROME - A U.S. soldier on trial in the death of an Italian intelligence officer in Iraq has told news media here he gave Rome prosecutors photos and a video that prove he had no choice but to fire at the car carrying the agent.
In his first interviews with Italian media, Spc. Mario Lozano, of the Bronx, reportedly said he took the images soon after the March 4, 2005, shooting of Nicola Calipari at a checkpoint near Baghdad airport. Footage shows "the car was very close to the checkpoint when I fired," Lozano said in a story yesterday in Corriere della Sera, adding he was forced to shoot "not to kill but to defend myself."
Calipari, 37, was traveling at night toward the airport after securing the release of kidnapped Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena. She and another agent who was driving the car were wounded.
Lozano, 37, was put on trial in absentia last month on charges of murder and attempted murder. A second hearing is scheduled for Monday. The soldier previously defended himself in interviews with U.S. media saying that, confronted with a car that did not stop after he flashed lights and fired warning shots, he had no choice but to fire.
On Tuesday, a Rome TV news channel aired a Lozano interview along with video of Calipari's car immobile next to a concrete barrier - its headlights on and passenger door open.
A newspaper photo showed the back of the car, its rear windshield shattered, and next to the vehicle what the paper identified as Calipari's body, covered by a yellow tarpaulin.
"I have already given [the images] to the Rome prosecutors," Lozano told the newspaper. "They leave no doubt on how the incident happened." Prosecutors declined to comment. In the TV interview, Lozano said he regretted the incident and that he admired Calipari. "He was the kind of a guy that I would follow to war," he said.
The death of Calipari, hailed as a hero in Italy, angered Italians, largely opposed to the war, and soured U.S.-Italy relations. The two countries issued separate reports on the incident with different conclusions.