Rome

Giuliana Sgrena, an intrepid journalist for the left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto who had become an icon of national unity during her twenty-eight days as a hostage in Iraq, was returning home: Italians in a high mood zapped their TVs to observe the latest from Baghdad while keeping up with the country's spring obsession, the San Remo music festival. But suddenly word arrived that American soldiers had fired on the car in which Sgrena was traveling from Baghdad to the airport. She was wounded. The Italian intelligence officer with her, the number two of our intelligence service, died in the fusillade. The country fell from euphoria to depression.

For a few days Italy gave vent to rage against the United States. From the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to sandwich vendors on the street, everyone was asking: Why? Berlusconi, among the staunchest of allies of the Bush Administration, summoned the American ambassador to his offices at Palazzo Chigi. The usually mild-mannered Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the ceremonial president, demanded "clarity." The leftist opposition toyed with the notion that the Americans had punished the Italians for paying a ransom for Sgrena. Through the window blown open by the clash, it became clear how far Italy had come from being the grateful ward of the United States, a people happy to accept chocolates from the liberating Americans.

On the surface, Berlusconi's anger was understandable. Having a top intelligence operative killed by allied troops is upsetting. And it is election season in Italy. On April 3 regional governments face the electorate, and it will be a test of Berlusconi's strength going into next year's legislative vote. His popularity has been eroding. Italy's economy is stagnant, and the country's participation in the occupation of Iraq--Berlusconi provided 3,000 troops to patrol a piece of southern Iraq--has been widely opposed in Italy.

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