Now she says she was targeted. Of course, according to the terrorists that abducted her, some of us don't want her to go back.
Hostage fears troops targeted her
Giuliana Sgrena
Sgrena is an avowed opponent of the Iraq war
Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has suggested US troops deliberately tried to kill her moments after she was released by her kidnappers in Baghdad.
Ms Sgrena, writing in her left-wing newspaper Il Manifesto, described how her car came "under a rain of fire".
At that moment, she said she recalled her captors' words that some Americans "don't want you to go back".
The US military, who said troops fired on the speeding car after it failed to stop, has opened a full investigation.
A top Italian secret service agent, Nicola Calipari, died in the incident as he shielded Ms Sgrena from the gunshots.
He had led the efforts to negotiate the release of the correspondent, held captive in Iraq for more than a month.
The body of Mr Calipari, who is being treated as a national hero, is lying in state in an imposing monument in the centre of Rome before a state funeral on Monday.
The incident in Baghdad threatens to have continuing political fallout in Rome, says our correspondent there David Willey.
Pressure will grow on Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch ally of US President George W Bush, to reconsider the wisdom of keeping on Italian peacekeepers in Iraq, our correspondent says.
Already, the Italian foreign ministry has warned all Italian nationals to avoid travel to Iraq.
Sgrena's account
Details remain unclear about exactly what happened as the car carrying the Italian journalist, Calipari and two other agents made its journey towards Baghdad's airport late on Friday.
The US military says that the car was speeding as it approached a checkpoint and that soldiers used hand signals, flashed lights, and fired warning shots in an attempt to stop it, before opening fire.
A rain of fire and bullets pummelled us, silencing for ever the happy voices of a few minutes before
In her account for Il Manifesto, Ms Sgrena said the kidnappers had released her willingly.
When she got in the car, Calipari took off her blindfold and was "an avalanche of friendly phrases, jokes".
"Nicola Calipari was seated at my side. The driver had spoken twice to the embassy and to Italy that we were on our way to the airport that I knew was saturated with American troops. We were less than a kilometre they told me... when... I remember there was shooting.
"The driver began screaming that we were Italian, 'We're Italian! We're Italian!'"
Ms Sgrena has said the car was not going particularly fast.
Upon her release, she said, "They [the kidnappers] said they were committed to releasing me, but that I had to be careful 'because there are Americans who don't want you to go back'."
In another interview with Sky Italia TV, she said it was possible the soldiers had targeted her because Washington opposed the policy of negotiating with kidnappers.
"Everyone knows that the Americans do not like negotiations to free hostages, and because of this I don't see why I should exclude the possibility of me having been the target," she said.
She said she did not know if a ransom was paid for her release - a policy the US does not approve either.
Ms Sgrena was abducted on 4 February, and later appeared in a video begging for help and urging foreign troops to leave Iraq.
Much of the country was opposed to the US-led war in Iraq and the government's decision to send 3,000 Italian troops to Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4323361.stm
