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| Europe |
| Italy to Start Iraq Troop Pullout in Fall |
| 2005-07-08 |
| Italy plans to begin withdrawing some of its troops from Iraq in September, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday. Berlusconi, who was a strong supporter of President Bush on Iraq, sent 3,000 troops to the country after the ouster of Saddam Hussein to help rebuild the country. He had previously indicated he hoped a pullout could begin in September. "We will begin withdrawing 300 men in the month of September," Berlusconi said at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. But he added the decision would depend on security conditions on the ground and could change. In recent months, Italian officials have gone back and forth on when a withdrawal might begin. Berlusconi said September was a possibility, but Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini then talked of early 2006. Relations between Washington and Rome have been strained in recent months _ first by the killing of an Italian agent by American soldiers in Iraq and then arrest warrants issued by an Italian court accusing 13 purported CIA operatives of kidnapping a militant Egyptian cleric from Italy and sending him to Egypt, where he was reportedly tortured. yeah well, we weren't too happy about their agent failing to clue us in and speeding through the checkpoint, either. but in reality, this is more about the tanking Italian economy, paralleled by tanking support for Berlusconi's government Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli of the right-wing Northern League party said Friday the time had come for the United Nations to begin discussing "the progressive withdrawal of troops, beginning with our contingent, perhaps by September." "It's evident that after New York, Madrid and London, Italy represents the most probable next objective of the terrorists," he said. "The time has come to begin to think also about our house, and to use the same resources currently committed in Iraq to prevent and combat possible attacks on our territory." A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" _ which claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombings in London _ said the attacks were a punishment for British involvement in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:too true |
| #5 "It's evident that after New York, Madrid... the time has come to begin to think also about our house, and to use the same resources currently committed in Iraq to prevent and combat possible attacks on our territory." Thanks to Italy for their support to this point in Iraq. It's sad, though, to see yet another European country that can't defend itself and project power at the same time (unlike Canada that can't project power and WON'T defend itself at the same time). |
| Posted by: Hyper 2005-07-08 17:15 |
| #4 I don't think he said it "out-of-the-blue", Dar. A different source words it as follows: "Speaking at a press conference at the end of the G8 summit, Berlusconi denied that the planned return of the soldiers, announced some weeks ago, signalled a weakening of its resolve on Iraq." http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-07-08_698998.html |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-07-08 16:02 |
| #3 But was Berlusconi stating this out-of-the-blue, or saying it in response to a reporter's question? I could see him being prodded by some reporter's question, and then the press turning about and reporting this as if it were "news" instead of a reiteration. |
| Posted by: Dar 2005-07-08 15:15 |
| #2 They had already set a deadline by Sept. 2005 last year But if it was reiterated now, it sent a subtle but clear message of submission, didn't it? You don't say stuff like this after what just happened. |
| Posted by: R 2005-07-08 15:12 |
| #1 They had already set a deadline by Sept. 2005 last year. Old news, hashed as anti-US, anti-war propaganda. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-07-08 14:45 |