Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi likes to present himself as America's best friend, thereby challenging his British counterpart Tony Blair.

He strongly supported the war in Iraq and sent 3,000 soldiers to take part in the military occupation of that country, despite the Pope's and the Italian people's opposition.

In pursuing this policy, his intention was to develop a special relationship with Washington.

It can be said that Berlusconi is, in fact, even more supportive of US President George W. Bush's policies than Blair. Now and then Blair feels obliged to disagree with Washington on some points.

For instance, the British Government publicly spoke of the importance of the Israeli-Palestinian issue and the need for showing goodwill towards the Palestinians through actions, despite the fact that the Bush administration was reluctant to do so.

Berlusconi has a different approach and exploits the Anglo-American disagreement to strengthen his relationship with Washington in competition with Downing Street.

Blair has been criticised in his country and been called Bush's "poodle", but Berlusconi deserves this title more. As a result of his attitude towards US foreign policy, Berlusconi is highly appreciated in Washington.

Bush has shown his gratitude to the Italian tycoon by sending him warm wishes and welcoming him to his ranch. This special invitation is one only a few international leaders have received.

If from Berlusconi's point of view, Italy is America's "best friend", the United States has obviously not done much lately to keep up the friendship.

Moreover, the Italians do not consider some American actions as acts of a friend. The killing of an Italian intelligence agent, who was on a mission in Iraq to free an Italian female journalist held hostage, has infuriated the entire country.

Nicola Capilari, who has become a national hero, was shot dead on the way to the airport with the journalist.

Despite the fact the authorities were informed of this journey, it did not prevent American soldiers from opening fire on a car moving at a low speed and to which no warning was given.

When the car was approaching the checkpoint, a searchlight was turned on, triggering the shooting. As a result, the intelligence agent was killed and the journalist wounded.

The US authorities classified the incident under the "friendly-fire" section. The White House apologised for the mistake, describing it as a horrific accident. Giuliana Sgrena, the journalist who works for the left-leaning newspaper Il Manifesto, was more blunt.

According to her, the car was shot at on purpose in order to prevent her from reporting about the situation in Iraq to the Italian public. The truth must be somewhere in the middle.

Random shootings seem to happen frequently with US soldiers. The daily pressure, the lack of professionalism among some recruits, fear and a feeling of impunity make these events occur more often than they should.

Usually the victims are ordinary Iraqi civilians, and Western newspapers do not pay much attention to such blunders.

This time the situation was very different. The journalist had been held hostage for a month and her fate was being closely followed on a daily basis in Italy.

If not for the shooting incident, her release would have been a triumph for Berlusconi, accused of jeopardising Italian citizens' life in the Middle East because of his links with Bush.

Instead of a triumph, Berlusconi was left with a headache. He is stuck in a position where he must express his anger at the Americans in order to avoid losing political credibility in Italy, but at the same time, he cannot sound too aggressive.

If he does, that could question the rationality of his overall strategy in Iraq and his stance towards American foreign policy.

On the one hand, changing his approach would be the same as admitting that he was wrong all along. On the other, continuing in the same direction would stir the Italians' anger.

America's popularity in Italy has reached its lowest levels since 1945. The Italian parliament will shortly vote on new funding for Italian troops in Iraq. It will not be an easy task for Berlusconi, but the worst is to come next year when the Italians go to the polls.

Berlusconi could experience the same fate that befell Jose Maria Aznar, the former Spanish premier, who was ousted last year for being too close to Bush's policies to the detriment of the nation. If the experience is repeated, Berlusconi will have plenty of time to pay frequent visits to Bush's ranch.