 Italy has begun winding down its military presence in southern Iraq with the withdrawal of a battalion of more than 120 soldiers, a military spokesman says. "Between 120 and 130 men from San Marco battalion have returned to Italy and will not be replaced," Lieutenant-Colonel Fabio Mattiassi, spokesman for the Italian contingent in Nasiriya, said.
| Goodbye, and thank you... |
The announcement appeared to confirm a report in Saturday's La Stampa newspaper and previous statements by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that Italy would recall 300 soldiers from its 3000-strong contingent operating under British command in southern Iraq. Berlusconi faced massive protests at home when in June 2003 he committed Italian soldiers to Iraq.
| But he had the guts to send them there, and he's had the guts to keep them there. He said when he was going to withdraw them, and now they can go home with honor, unlike the Spanish. |
A bombing on an Italian police base in Nasiriya on 12 November 2003 killed 17 Italian soldiers and two civilians, and wounded 20 others. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack. An Italian soldier was killed and 12 others injured in later clashes with Shia militias in the city. Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni was kidnapped in August 2004 and murdered after the Italian government rejected an ultimatum to withdraw its troops from Iraq. |