10:00am (UK)
Berlusconi to Face Second Vote of Confidence
"PA"
The debate over Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s new government – which won approval in Italy’s lower house of parliament – moved to the Senate today, where the conservative leader was also expected to survive a vote of confidence.
proval would put an end to the government crisis a week after Berlusconi was forced to briefly resign and form a new Cabinet following an embarrassing defeat in regional elections.
But even if he wins approval, he still faces economic problems and fallout from the mistaken shooting of an Italian intelligence agent by US forces in Iraq last month – and a general election is only a year away.
The effort to revive his coalition’s momentum comes as calls for bringing home Italy’s roughly 3,000 troops in Iraq are getting louder. The outcry follows reports that the US had absolved its soldiers of blame in the March 4 shooting of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari at a US checkpoint on Baghdad’s airport road.
Calipari, who had just helped free an Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, became a hero in Italy, where people strongly opposed the war in Iraq. Sgrena and another Italian agent driving the car survived.
The premier has put his government’s prestige on the line with assurances to the nation that full light would be shed on the shooting. Any public finding seen to absolve the US soldiers would likely undermine his credibility.
Both sides said this week they were still working on the final report of a US-Italian investigation into the shooting. Italian and US officials attached to the coalition force in Baghdad were trying on Wednesday to negotiate a document that could resolve the impasse, US officials said.
In a combative speech in the lower house of parliament on Wednesday, Berlusconi pledged to boost the economy, accused the left of spreading pessimism and appealed to businesses’ sense of patriotism by urging them to invest more in Italy.
The media magnate-turned-politician reiterated that he intends to lead Italy until elections due in mid-2006 and vowed to carry out an economic platform that includes tax cuts for businesses and a new push to lift Italy’s poorer south.
Berlusconi also faced opposition attacks over Italy’s faltering economic growth and its fiscal deficit. The government has forecast 2.1% growth for this year, but it is expected to lower the figure soon.
When Berlusconi reluctantly resigned as premier last week, he ended Italy’s longest-serving post-war government after four years. He swiftly formed a new Cabinet, hoping the reshuffle will stop bickering that threatened to blow apart his coalition.
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In an escalating controversy that has contributed to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's political problems and created a national uproar in Italy, Italian prosecutors began their own independent probe on Wednesday of the death of Nicola Calipari. The premier has put his government's prestige on the line with assurances to the nation that full light would be shed on the shooting.

Calipari, one of the top intelligence agents in Italy, had negotiated a settlement with hostage takers in Baghdad and was rescuing journalist Giuliana Sgrena from them when American soldiers fired on the car they were in. Calipari became a national hero for Italians after he bravely threw his own body across hers as the firing continued, killing him and seriously injuring Sgrena with a few bullets in her back. She is still recovering.

Meanwhile, Americans released a document, now described as incomplete, which says the U.S. Army, in a joint inquiry with Italian officials, cleared its own soldiers of any responsibility in the tragic events of March 4.
=== Demands for troops to leave Iraq from former president ===
The Prime Minister has put his reputation on the line says Francesco Cossiga, an ex president of Italy. He was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA, saying he thinks Berlusconi would have no choice but to withdraw Italy’s 3000 troops from Iraq if the U.S. soldiers are cleared without further investigation, called by the U.S. a “friendly fire” incident. Cossiga is demanding the U.S. release them to Italian officials for trial or make the commitment to put them before an American court martial.

Berlusconi said that Italy would "never endorse" a report on the shooting by US soldiers of an Italian intelligence agent if it was unconvincing.

"If there are differences, they will emerge. But certainly, we will never endorse things that do not convince us," Mr. Berlusconi told reporters.

An international group of journalists, “Reporters without borders” (Reporters sans frontières), said they were “very surprised” at Tuesday’s report released by the U.S. Army.

“We are not convinced that everything possible has been done to establish what happened in this tragedy or to determine the responsibility of all those involved, and we reiterate our appeal for an independent international enquiry by US and Italian authorities," the press freedom organization said.

They had asked for a United Nations investigation immediately after the shooting. They also commented on the fact that the two Italian investigators disagreed with the findings of the U.S. Army and refused to sign the finished reports.

"We will see then what official reaction comes from the Italian government, which has a right to demand sanctions," it said.

=== Former hostage and attack survivor Giuliana Sgrena very critical of report ===
Ms. Sgrena again today described the Army’s announcement as a "slap in the face for the Italian government." U.S. investigators were satisfied, according to the report, that "the procedures were followed to the letter" by the soldiers involved. Ms. Sgrena repeated her statement that the car in which she, Calipari and another agent, the driver, were travelling had “no warning signal…no warning shot” and "the searchlight was turned on after the shots were fired."

The position of the U.S. high command, that soldiers had followed procedures, has remained unchanged since they first asserted this shortly after the incident occurred.

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld said of the report and its investigators, "My latest information is that they the Americans and Italians have not come to a final agreement on a joint report...It's an investigation, it was done together, intimately, and I think that we'll just have to wait and see what they come out with."

=== Related news ===
* Kidnapped Italian journalist refutes American government claims ''Wikinews'' March 25, 2005