Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (Italy: Right-Wing Media Baron), the Bush administration's barboncino favorito, says he's not so sure his "friends" in the White House, State Department, and Pentagon are telling him the truth about the murder of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari.

Maria Sanminiatelli of the Associated Press reports (by way of today's Philadelphia Inquirer, "Berlusconi Disputes U.S. on Death"):

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday disputed the U.S. version of events leading to the killing of an Italian intelligence agent by American troops in Baghdad, saying the man had notified the proper authorities that he was on his way to the airport after winning the release of a hostage. [...]

Berlusconi told Italian lawmakers yesterday that the car carrying intelligence agent Nicola Calipari and the freed hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, had been traveling at a slow speed and stopped immediately when a light was flashed.

Berlusconi said Calipari had notified an Italian liaison officer, waiting at the Baghdad airport along with a U.S. officer, that they were on their way.

Berlusconi's wariness sounds promising, but ever the Bush bambino dei bambini, the Rupert Murdoch of the Italian-speaking world, added, "I'm sure that in a very short time every aspect of this will be clarified."

Given public opinion in Italy, that's either a misguided hope or a feeble prayer, or both.

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