Here’s a (seemingly rare) victory for truth over leftist propaganda; the American troops who fired on the car carrying Italian communist Giuliana Sgrena, killing Italian intelligence officer Nicola Calipari, will not be disciplined because they were following standard operating procedures. (Hat tip: Jheka.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators have found that American troops who shot dead an Italian agent at a Baghdad checkpoint on March 4 committed no wrongdoing and will not be disciplined, an Army official said on Monday.

But Italy disagrees with key findings in the preliminary report by the U.S. military investigators and has balked at endorsing it, added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

U.S. troops fatally shot the Italian intelligence officer, Nicola Calipari, when they opened fire on a car heading for Baghdad airport in which he was escorting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, a hostage who had just been released.

The friendly fire incident has caused tension between the United States and Italy, one of America’s staunchest allies in Iraq. Calipari was fatally wounded as he threw his body over Sgrena to protect her from a hail of bullets. She was wounded but survived.

The Army official said Italy was disputing two factual issues in the report: the speed of the car as it approached the checkpoint; and the nature of communications between the Italians and U.S. forces in Iraq before the incident.

“The soldiers were only complying with the standard operating procedures for those checkpoints, so therefore are not culpable to dereliction of duty (charges),” the Army official said. “Everybody feels terrible about it. But given the climate and the security atmosphere, the security procedures at the checkpoint operations have to be run by the letter.”