The trial of a US soldier charged with the murder of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq in March 2005 has begun in a Rome court.
The soldier, Mario Lozano of the 69th Infantry Regiment, is not attending the trial, but in Italy the defendant can be tried in absentia.
The agent, Nicola Calipari, was shot dead on his way to Baghdad airport.
Mr Lozano is charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder. He denies the charges.
He was escorting Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist who had just been freed by kidnappers. She was wounded in the incident, along with an Italian secret agent - Andrea Carpani - who was driving the car.
Soon after the trial opened the judge adjourned it for technical reasons until 14 May.
'Kill line'
US soldiers opened fire as the Italians' car approached a roadblock.
Calipari, who shielded the journalist during the shooting, was hailed a hero at home, awarded Italy's top bravery award and given a state funeral attended by tens of thousands.
Franco Coppi, representing Calipari's widow, said the fact the American was not in court did not jeopardise the case.
"His absence is his own choice," he told reporters. "It does not represent an obstacle to ascertaining the truth. We are absolutely serene. The evidence gathered is indisputable."
Mr Lozano's lawyer, Alberto Biffani, said his client had no formal knowledge of the trial proceedings.
Lawyer Franco Coppi called that statement "an insult" and accused Mr Lozano of "a form of arrogance".
Mr Lozano's defence team say the incident was caused by the Italians' "lack of caution", adding that they should have had a military escort.
Italy and the US drew very different conclusions over what had happened.
The US military said the vehicle was travelling too fast, alarming soldiers, who feared it was an insurgent attack.
Italian officials claimed the car was travelling at normal speed and accused the US military of failing to signal there was a checkpoint.
Mario Lozano, both countries agree, fired the fatal shots.
He has told newspapers he had little choice but to open fire.
Explaining the rules of an engagement at a roadblock, he said: "You have a warning line, you have a danger line, and you have a kill line."
The soldier said he flashed a spotlight at the vehicle as it approached, then fired warning shots, and then fired at the engine.
NYPost
I have traditionally I think been blunt and frank on this message board. I prefer to continue this tradition although it is likely that some of you will deeply disagree with what I have to say.April 9, 2007 -- Spc. Mario Lozano of Manhattan remembers the moment in Baghdad that changed his life forever - when, with eyes "the size of apples," he saw a vehicle barreling directly toward him and he opened fire.
"You have a warning line, you have a danger line, and you have a kill line," said Lozano, speaking out for the first time about the March 4, 2005, "friendly fire" incident in which he shot from a Humvee machine-gun turret at the vehicle, hitting an Italian war correspondent and killing an Italian intelligence officer.
The nightmare resumes for Lozano, of New York's Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment, next week - when he'll be tried in absentia by Italian officials on charges of murder.
"Anyone inside 100 meters is already in the danger zone . . . and you gotta take them out," Lozano told The Post from his brother's Chelsea apartment.
"If you hesitate, you come home in a box - and I didn't want to come home in a box. I did what any soldier would do in my position."
The resulting machine-gun burst hit Giuliana Sgrena, who had just been released by kidnappers, in the shoulder and killed Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, who had negotiated her release. The vehicle was racing to catch a plane home to Italy at Baghdad Airport, Lozano said.
Calipari, who had thrown himself atop Sgrena in the back seat, was lauded as a national hero. Thousands attended his funeral. And the Italian government decided to take the unusual step of charging Lozano with "political murder."
Lozano - who was cleared by an internal U.S. Army investigation - insisted that he did everything by the book. He flashed his turret's "300 million-watt" light at the car, which makes "every Iraqi slam on the brakes." Then he fired rounds into the ground and, finally, shots into the vehicle's engine.
Lozano said he had no choice: Like all grunts, he knew all too well what a car bomb could do. Two days before, "two good soldiers died on the road in the same way," he said.
Lozano said he realizes that his chances of becoming a cop, like his younger brother, Emiliano, who is with the 41st Precinct, are over. His marriage has broken up. He's on medication that helps him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lozano and his dad, Mario Sr., blame Sgrena, a correspondent for the Communist paper Il Manifesto, for their nightmare. They criticize her for not making sure that her vehicle's whereabouts were known to the Army and then making a buck off the situation.
Sgrena, 57, was recently in New York promoting her book, "Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Rescued by an Italian Secret Service Agent, and Shot at by U.S. Forces."
"I'm sure her life isn't like mine," said a bitter Lozano, who works for his dad's construction business when he's not pulling National Guard duty.
"She's making money. She's famous. Meanwhile, I gotta live with the fact that a guy got killed because he didn't comply with orders and I was that guy who pulled the trigger."
But Sgrena retorted to The Post: "I'm not making money; I'm just telling my story of what happened to me. If they want to express their feelings, the only way is at the trial. I don't want Mario Lozano to be the scapegoat, but he should come and explain his position."
U.S. and Italian versions of the incident might as well be from different galaxies.
The United States says Sgrena's vehicle was moving at least 50 mph, while Italy says that it was closer to 30 - and that it stopped before being fired upon.
The United States says there were warnings, but Sgrena has denied this, saying the flashing lights and bullets - 58, she said, quoting Italian investigators - came simultaneously.
The Army last week said its representative handling the case was not available. The Italian Embassy in Washington refused to comment.
Sgrena, who has been critical of the U.S. invasion, had publicly theorized that the shooting might have been a hit job meant to put nations on notice that America won't tolerate third parties' negotiating with terrorists.
Later, she told The Post: "I can't say [whether I was targeted]. I don't know. With the trial, we will offer up this question. But it was not an accident. I don't know if they wanted to kill or not to kill or to give [a warning]."
Even if Lozano is found guilty, U.S. authorities would not turn him over because he has been cleared by Army investigators, sources said. He is being represented by an Italian lawyer.
Italy is running a showtrail. There is no way that Specialist Lozano will be found innocent. To much has been invested in this by sectors of the Italian government and people for there to be any other verdict then guilty. There is a slim chance that I will be proven wrong, if so I will be happy to apologize to Italy, but I doubt it.
I do also believe that Sgerna, a writer for a communist newspaper and someone I believe to be communist. A person who has been overheard calling the US the enemy of all humanity. Is happier then a pig in shit right now. She is making money (oh no people I'm not making money on an international book tour, that never happens) and she has ruined totally and completely the life of an American servicemember who did nothing less then what I or others in the uniform would have done in the same place. Don't believe me? Consider, one of the two is jet setting around the world, the other has lost his spouse, his hope for the future and is on medication to keep from self destructing.
Ladies and Gentlemen that it is not me, B4 of other veteran members of the board who have served in Iraq instead of him is by dumb luck.
As to the charge that the US planned this as a hit. She recieved US medical care and attention. If this had been planned out, you would have never found the body and we sure has hell wouldn't have used someone like Lozeno. We would have used Spec Ops. Never mind the issue of why would we bandage up someone we planned on killing?
