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
IRAN SIGNED MILITARY DEAL WITH IRAQIn recent history they have been
enemies for two decades, since the Iran -Iraq war began in 1980. The US government was also sure about the fact that the Muslim-fanatic Iran was causing problems to Iraq right after Saddam Hussein's regime was ruled out.
But
Iran and Iraq are now signing a military agreement which involves Iranian help in training Iraqi soldiers.
Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Iranian Defence Minister, said the deal will start a new era of relations between the two Middle Eastern countries:
"
It's a new chapter in our relations with Iraq. We will start wide defence cooperation," he said to his Iraqi collegue, Sadoun al-Dulaimi.
"We're going to form some committees which will be involved in mine clearance, identifying those missing from the war and also... to help train, rebuild and modernise the Iraqi army," he also added.
Even if Iran was recently accused by both the US and Iraqi governments of compromising the situation in Iraq and helping terrorists to enter the country,
the defence ministers were sure about the fact that no one could prevent them from talking and reaching agreements.
"
No one can prevent us from reaching an agreement," and "Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries," were in fact the comments of Shamkhani and al-Dulaimi, respectively.
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Il Romanaccio at 11:37 AM
London Blast: Is al-Quaeda Responsible?London was hit this morning by three bombs placed in the subway stations and another one in a double-decker bus which
killed at least 33 people and wounded 160. The death toll reported by the British government is higher.
The entire attack was higly coordinated and professional, Scotland Yard was in fact unable to previosly discover the plot. Al-Quaeda immediately claimed responsibility for this attack in a website of the "
Secret Organization group of al Qaeda Organization in Europe". This, of course, still has to be verified.
Angelo Power, who was trapped inside the subway, said:
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We were all trapped like sardines waiting to die," and "I honestly thought I was going to die, as did everyone else."
English Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said it was a "barbaric" terrorism act, as he was flying back from the G8 Summit held in Scotland.
"It is quite clear that a major terrorist attack has been carried out on London," said Paul Wilkinson of St. Andrews University, adding that:
"That is to say, the attacks are clearly aimed to cause casualties among the public and aimed at the transport network, which they have done before at Madrid."
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The attack has all the trademarks of the al-Qaida network," he also added.
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Il Romanaccio at 6:08 PM
