Nicola Calipari is now a ?hero? to at least three different sets of people. An Italian intelligence agent posted in Iraq, he was shot dead by American troops near Baghdad airport on March 4. This happened while Calipari was on an official mission, delivering to safety an Italian journalist, Ms Giuliana Sgrena, after she had been freed by her Iraqi abductors. Ms Sgrena, who had come to Iraq to report on Falluja, had been kept hostage since February 4. When the car carrying her and Calipari was approaching Baghdad airport, it was shot at for about 15 seconds by Americans soldiers posted there. Calipari died instantly while shielding Ms Sgrena physically from the bullets. To the Italian prime minister and his cabinet, Calipari is a hero who died for a cause which Italy, one of America?s staunchest allies in the Iraq war, still considers to be just. Hence, Mr George W. Bush has also called Calipari ?a hero in the true sense of the word?. For the thousands of ordinary Italians who gathered in Rome at his funeral, he has become a symbol of the fact that ?the Italian people were, and still are, against the war?, as Ms Sgrena had tried to explain in vain to her abductors.

Two subsequent allegations have complicated the situation. First, the Italian version of the episode contradicts the American one. The latter claims that the Italian car was speeding past the checkpost, while the former is certain that it was being driven slowly, and that American officials had been properly notified in advance of Ms Sgrena?s approach. Second, Ms Sgrena herself has alleged that she had been warned by her abductors of the ?Americans who don?t want you to go back?. This was both because of the ransom that has allegedly been paid for her (Americans do not approve of giving in to ?political blackmail?), and the information she had gathered as a left-wing, anti-war journalist in Falluja and Baghdad. Mr Bush has promised a proper inquiry, but Mr Sylvio Berlusconi?s firm stand on the matter might lead to a clash between Italy?s loyalty as an ally and its determination to get to the truth of the matter. The former prime minister of Spain lost the faith of his people for not taking the right stand regarding America and the war after the Madrid bombing. If Calipari?s murder is yet another of the unnumbered ?tragic accidents? that befall civilians in Iraq at the hands of its liberators, then the latter will have to work harder this time to keep the insistent questions at bay.