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ROME, MARCH 6. The Italian journalist who was wounded by American troops in Baghdad shortly after being released by her Iraqi captors denied U.S. allegations that the car she was in was speeding, and described how the agent who had rescued her died protecting her. ``I remember only fire,'' Giuliana Sgrena wrote in her newspaper, the communist daily Il Manifesto. ``At that point a rain of fire and bullets came at us, forever silencing the happy voices from a few minutes earlier.'' Ms. Sgrena was wounded and Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari was killed as she was celebrating her freedom on the way to the airport. The shooting on Friday has fuelled anti-American sentiment in a country where people are deeply opposed to the war in Iraq, despite the Italian Premier, Silvio Berlusconi's decision to send 3,000 troops after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Officials with Italy's centre right-government indicated that the shooting would not affect support for efforts to secure post-war Iraq. ``The military mission must carry on because it consolidates democracy and liberty in Iraq,'' the Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri, quoted by the ANSA news agency. ``On the other hand, we must control — but not block — the presence of civilians and journalists, who must observe rules and behaviour to reduce the risks.''
Fierce opponent
Ms. Sgrena's newspaper, Il Manifesto, has been a fierce opponent of the war. Describing the shooting, Sgrena said the driver began shouting that they were Italian, then ``Nicola Calipari dove on top of me to protect me and immediately, and I mean immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me.'' Suddenly, she said, she remembered her captors' words, when they warned her ``to be careful because the Americans don't want you to return.'' The U.S. military said the Americans used hand and arm signals, flashing white lights and fired warning shots to get the car to stop at the roadblock. But in an interview with Italian La 7 TV, Ms. Sgrena said ``there was no bright light, no signal.'' AP
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