IRAQ: Italian Withdrawal
After the attack in London,
a certain fear of terrorism has now arrived in Italy.
Berlusconi and his politicians begin to talk about a
possible withdrawal from Iraq.
It was in the air already, since the death of Calipari and maybe even before that. Words like "withdrawal" or "complete pull-back" are now pronounced by Roberto Calderoli, Reforms Minister from "Lega Nord" (Union for the North) who spoke yesterday about the issue:
"
[We forsee] 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 added.
But Mr. Berlusconi sounded even more sure about the situation in Iraq, changing his mind and deciding that, after all, Iraq is quite capable of defending itself.
"
[Iraq] must come to a point where it must guarantee its own security," he said at the G8 conference in Edinburgh, adding that the remaining troops will not suffer a dangerous situation.
Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino, referring to a probable reduction of the troops in Iraq, said,
"[It will happen] on the basis of a
precise schedule that will always be agreed upon with our allies and the Iraqi government."
The number of Italian soldiers in Iraq is about 3,000 and one of the largest in place. They are all "trapped" in their headquarters in Nassiriya. Italian officials usually do not fully coordinate plans and strategies with the other countries. The Italian Nassiriya base was attacked by rebel fighters on November 2003, and 18 italian soldiers and civillians were killed.
Diplomatic relations between Rome and Washington have recently not been so good. The unfortunate killing of Mr. Calipari, the Imam of Milan kidnapped by the US secret agents and now this pull-back, seem not very much appreciated by the rest of the contingent in Iraq.
Tom Casey, a US State Department spokesman said,
"We very much appreciate the firm and steadfast support that the Italians and Italian government has provided to the operation in Iraq," and "I am sure that whatever the Italians do in terms of future movements or changes in terms of their fullest force posture will be done fully in coordination with the multinational force," which, dubbed from political language means: "We all know that a risk of an attack is high but Italy MUST coordinate every single movement with us".
In the meantime, Berlusconi tried to demonstrate that he perfectly understood the problem with the terrorists:
"I think that to the terrorists, the enemy is our way of life, our philosophy of life, our civilization," he realized, finally uncovering the secret.
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Il Romanaccio at 11:00 AM
