Italy Is Pulling Out Of Iraq!

[Don Rizzle]

Italy 'to pull troops from Iraq'
Italy is to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq in September 2005, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said.
He told Rai state television the pullout would take place "in agreement with our allies".

Italy has 3,000 troops in Iraq - the fourth largest foreign contingent.

Domestic opposition to Italy's involvement in Iraq intensified after the killing of an Italian agent by US troops in Baghdad earlier this month.

The surprise announcement came as Italy's lower house of parliament backed a recent Senate vote to extend the country's military presence in Iraq beyond June.

'Progressive reduction'

Mr Berlusconi has been one of US President George W Bush's staunchest allies in the US-led war in Iraq.


 Main international troops in Iraq
US : 150,000
UK : 8,000
South Korea : 3,600
Italy : 3,085
Poland : 1,700
Ukraine : 1,600
Georgia : 898
Romania : 730
Japan : 550
Denmark : 496
Bulgaria : 450
Australia : 400
Source: Global Security 

But, he said, after speaking to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair he concluded that public opinion in both countries favoured a troop withdrawal.
"In September we will begin a progressive reduction of the number of our soldiers in Iraq.

"I spoke to Tony Blair about it, and public opinion in our countries is expecting this decision," he told Rai.

He said the exact numbers would depend on the Iraqi government's ability to deal with security.

Strained relations

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan played down the announcement.

"We certainly appreciate the contributions of the Italians. They have served and sacrificed alongside Iraqis and alongside other coalition forces," he said.


He emphasised that Italy's withdrawal "will be based on the ability and capability of Iraqi forces and the Iraqi government to be able to assume more responsibility".

But he rejected suggestions that Italy's decision was due to strained relations after secret service agent Nicola Calipari was shot dead by US troops in Baghdad on 4 March.

"I haven't heard any comment to that effect from Italian officials," he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

Mr Berlusconi has said the US must accept responsibility for the shooting, which is being investigated by the US military.

The BBC's Tamsin Smith in Rome says it is the first time Mr Berlusconi has suggested a timetable for withdrawal.

Our correspondent says the Italian government is also mindful of local elections looming early next month.

Also on Tuesday, two other members of the US-led coalition in Iraq - the Netherlands and Ukraine - began a phased withdrawal from the country.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/4352259.stm

[nibs]

well, atleast the italians will be around for the iranian attack in june.  they don't want to miss that.

[etiquette]

good. they had no business there in the first place

[Doggystylin]

good. they had no business there in the first place

exactly

[Capo Di Tutti I Capi]

USA is losing its support....

[Matrix Heart]

USA is losing its support....

They never had support, they either had a country that was sucking up to them or a country that was afraid to deny their fake ass coalition.

Afraid
UK : 8,000 --- Australia : 400       
South Korea : 3,600
Japan : 550   

Sucking up
Italy : 3,085     
Poland : 1,700
Ukraine : 1,600   
Georgia : 898
Romania : 730         
Denmark : 496   
Bulgaria : 450

That's nothing^

[acbaylove]

Damn, all those speculations and those stupid comments are embarassing! First of all let me start by saying Italy didnt fight this war in the first place. I've repeated it thousands of times in this board, but y'all seems to forget some basical shit like this. The fact that we are allies and friends with USA doesnt make us "puppets" or doesnt make us an occupying force who fought a war. Matter of fact we didnt. Our Constitution doesnt even allow us to make wars, just to let you understand how dumb is to say we fought one. We didnt bomb Iraqi, we aint there fighting Iraqi, we killed 0 Iraqi in a pair of years. We aint in the list of the Nations who fought this war. USA did, England did, even Spain did. We didnt. We dont have soldiers there, but Carabinieri (italian Police), doctors, volounteers, and a very limited number of soldiers who are protecting them, and who're collaborating with Iraqi police, helping them. Just to let you understand it, we dont have prisions (like Americans) where we send all the terrorists we fight. We dont fight them. We help Iraqi police fight them. They have prisions. They send them to prisions. We dont. We dont fight. We're protecting us and the city of Nassyria, collaborating with Iraqi. When our Carabinieri HQ got bombed, we've had Iraqi leaders from Nassyria coming to our bombed HQ to mourn our soldiers. Iraqi had civils who died in that incident too, so we mourned them too. There's nothing but love and respect between us and the Nassyria people. Their leaders are praying us to stay there. Our soldiers joke with children, help Iraqi building streets, brigdes, we help our Red Cross (the only one still in Iraq, since the international one left it after they got bombed. Fuck them!). So we're there for a "REAL" peace-keeping mission. So much that even the Pope is thanking us four our mission. And the Pope was and is AGAINST the war. Plus there's an ONU resolution who allow us to be there, and who asks us to stay there. Once i've said it, let me say that Berlusconi is a good friend of Bush. But that doesnt mean we're USA puppets. In fact we refused to fight this war in the first place (we just supported Bush allowing American soldiers to flight over Italy, but that's because we're part of the NATO, not because we're friends). Plus we did the strongest diplomatic act possible (we convocated American ambassador in Rome 3 times in a week) to ask Americans to find who's responsable for the death of our secret agent and the shooting of our kidnapped journalist Giuliana Sgrena. We're diplomatically fighting them. About the title topic, it's just speculation. Yesterday Berlusconi was on TV, and he said he talked with Blair, and that the common intent is to be out of Iraq as soon as Iraqi can protect themselves and as soon as the next elections are done. Which is nothing new, really. We're going nowere untill the full job is done. Matter of fact, our desire is to plan when to go out from Iraq WITH Blair. So NO, USA is not loosing allies. We aint even allies. And we're going nowhere! We will not move till the end of 2005. And that was planned since day 1, not yesterday. But you know, it's easy to speculate. Too easy. Get your facts straight.

[Bomb-AŽ]

too bad that an italian secret service agent had to be shot by an american soldier for this to happen......good news tho



peace

['EclipZe]

let them kill eachother in that stupid country... only take all the good iraqies with you and get the fuck outta there,