ROME - US troops bear some responsibility for the death of an Italian agent in Iraq but the incident should not affect the Italian troop presence there or relations between Rome and Washington, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday.
Addressing parliament, he stressed ties between the United States and Italy had not been hurt by the row over the fatal shooting of Nicola Calipari last March, which sparked outrage and rekindled calls for Italy to pull out of Iraq.
But he reiterated Italy's view that US soldiers must shoulder some blame, highlighting "irregularities" committed by the US patrol "whose mobile checkpoint was not announced" and "who did not have precise instructions."
"The absence of intention does not rule out responsibility," he said.
However, he insisted "the friendly ties between Italy and the United States cannot be called into question."
"And I want to dispel any possible confusion: there is no link between the killing of Calipari and our country's mission in Iraq," he added.
Any withdrawal of Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq will be done "uniquely in consultation" with the allies, he said.
"The withdrawal of troops will be gradual and will take place when the situation in Iraq has normalised," he added.
Relations between Rome and Washington soured over the release of sharply differing accounts of Calipari's shooting at a US checkpoint on March 4 as he was escorting a freed hostage to Baghdad airport.
The US account exonerated US troops for any blame over the incident, in which Calipari was killed and the freed hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, was injured.
But the Italian version released late Monday blamed the killing on the "inexperience" of US troops acting under stress and without proper rules of engagement.
Outrage over Calipari's killing, fuelled by a feeling that the US military has dismissed legitimate Italian concerns and acted arrogantly to protect its own men, has led to renewed calls for Rome to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
On the eve of his appearance in parliament, Berlusconi received a soothing phone call from US President George W. Bush who reiterated his regret over the incident.
Berlusconi's office said the two leaders had a "long and cordial conversation" during which Bush called Calipari "a heroic servant of Italy" and a "valued friend" of the United States.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, similarly, held a "long and cordial" phone conversation with her Italian counterpart Gianfranco Fini a day earlier, both of them stressing bilateral relations would not be harmed by the dispute.
According to an Italian government statement, Bush, in his call, restated his "personal condolences and those of the administration and people of the United States."
However White House spokesman Scott McClellan revealed that Bush and Berlusconi had not directly discussed the difference between the two accounts of the shooting.
Berlusconi faced down massive street protests to send Italian troops to southern Iraq in June 2003 in a gesture to his ally Bush, two months after the formal overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Parliament voted in March to prolong the mission in Iraq for another six months, and Berlusconi has already said Italy could begin withdrawing its troops in September, if Italy's allies agreed.
Even within Berlusconi's ruling right-wing coalition, calls have mounted for a timetable for withdrawing Italian troops from Iraq.
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