Italy: Iraq invasion/occupation "grave error"

[Mel Brennan]

(ANSA) - Rome, May 18 -

New Italian Premier Romano Prodi said on Thursday that the US-led war on Iraq was a "grave error" and that Italian troops would be withdrawn from the country as soon as possible .

"The war in Iraq, together with the occupation of the country, was a grave error... and has complicated the security situation," the centre-left leader said in his first speech to the Senate .

"We did not agree with the war... Terrorism in Iraq has found a new base and new pretexts for terrorist actions, both internal and external to the Iraqi conflict," said the former European Commission chief, whose government was sworn into office on Wednesday .

"The war lifted the lid on Pandora's box and risks spreading to the entire region," said Prodi, whose comments were met with loud jeers from the opposition ranks. Prodi said the some 2,600 Italian troops currently serving in Iraq would be pulled out but stressed this would take place within the "technical timeframe necessary" and after consultations with the Iraqi authorities and other sides involved...

Coalition of the Wise-up, more like it.

[sardus_pater]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4993786.stm

He said his government condemned international terrorism, but he also warned against "fundamentalism" in Western reactions.

His government was convinced that "the fight against terrorism must be conducted with political and intelligence tools and opposition to terrorist organisations - without ever restricting either our freedoms or our rights".

(..)

He added that most importantly, the international community should not be "indulgent to suggestions of fundamentalism of the opposing strain, which preach crusades and indiscriminately advocate clashes of civilisations."

Go Prodi.

[Mel Brennan]

Damn straight; think about what life might be like today if Bush had offered that from atop the rubble and bodies, as opposed to megaphone soundbites and PNAC invasions...???

[BenReilly]

Bulgarians can take up the slack for the now wimpy Italians.

http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/bulgarias-new-mission-in-iraq-begins/id_15125/catid_68

Long live Bulgaria!

[Rostam]

Are you ready, are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust, eh
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

[Sheri]

Good to know O'Reilly is stil around to give his lame (but predictable) responses to fill in the balanced and fair approach on behalf of the right. :)

It's interesting to see the tide turning - I guess the living in fear thing *does* get stale after a while.

[BenReilly]

Good to know O'Reilly is stil around to give his lame (but predictable) responses to fill in the balanced and fair approach on behalf of the right. :)


You've missed a lot of crucial, highly unpredictable and astonishingly creative continuity-laden material.

As the Bulgarians say, "It's better a full bottle than a drunk wife. "

[sardus_pater]

You've missed a lot of crucial, highly unpredictable and astonishingly creative continuity-laden material.

As the Bulgarians say, "It's better a full bottle than a drunk wife. "

Evil bulgarians cannot even get an old saying straight, they have to ruin it. See why i want them bombed till they become civilized like us?

It's "drop by drop the wife drunken becomes". it goes on with "you can't fill a bottle with a whole lake".