Watch part two

On March 4, 2005, on the road leading to Baghdad's airport, a car carrying an Italian journalist who had just been released from captivity, was riddled with bullets by a trigger-happy US checkpoint.

On board the vehicle were also two agents of the SISMI, the Italian military intelligence. One of them, Nicola Calipari, department head and number two in the agency, was fatally wounded as he attempted to protect journalist, Giuliana Sgrena.

The rounds were fired by the weapon of Mario Lozano, a member of the New York Army National Guard, although there are doubts over whether his was the only weapon that opened fire. Two versions of the shooting were made public, one by the US and one by Italy - but they fail to coincide.

After the shooting, US authorities denied Italian investigators the possibility of examining the vehicle for days and took the car to their own lab where it underwent exams. The explanation of such conduct was a mere "military reasons".

Italian prosecutors are still trying to try Mario Lozano in absentia. He is charged with damaging the political interests of the Italian state, murder and attempted murder.

The US government has refused to collaborate and has even turned down the Italian magistrates' requests to hear witnesses in the US. An Italian court of appeal has recently acquitted Lozano for lack of jurisdiction, a groudbreaking decision in Italian law.

Analysts have hypothesised that the reason for American hostility against the SISMI agents could have been triggered by the belief that Italian authorities were too soft with kidnappers and that the SISMI agents were paying money for the release of hostages, thus fuelling banditries in the region.

This episode of People & Power aired from Sunday, June 29, 2008.