Italy Pulling Out Of Iraq

[bradford1]

FINALLY!!! W00T!!!!!ROME: Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called US President George W Bush on Wednesday and told him that Italy wants to begin a gradual pullout of Italian troops in Iraq as soon as possible, possibly in September, the premier's office said. ...

[Z17]

Well yeah, seeing as the war's over and things are fizzling down, the U.S. troops will be pulling out soon too....

[Ted-Easton]

Italy is beginning to slowly withdraw the 3,000 troops they have in Iraq starting in September. Of course, they first need some exit strategy besides "Out".

This will certainly encourage the training and preparation of Iraqi security forces, but only time will tell if international troops are still a necessity. The fact that most attacks seem to be targeted against Americans could indicate things may be easier for Iraqi security (though they have also come under attack).

[totoum]

At 3/16/05 05:51 PM, Z17 wrote: Well yeah, seeing as the war's over and things are fizzling down, the U.S. troops will be pulling out soon too....

how much time do you mean by soon?

[Narusegawa]

there was italian troops in iraq?

[MJOLNIRchief90]

At 3/16/05 05:51 PM, Z17 wrote: Well yeah, seeing as the war's over and things are fizzling down, the U.S. troops will be pulling out soon too....

Last time I checked.
1 Iraq's government is not qutie set up yet.
2 There are still insurgents
3 Our boys are still being blown up
4 Planes are still coming back with flag draped metal coffins

In what dimention is the war over. I would like to go there.

[ReiperX]

At 3/16/05 05:51 PM, Z17 wrote: Well yeah, seeing as the war's over and things are fizzling down, the U.S. troops will be pulling out soon too....

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/16/bush.ap/index.html
Sure they are, plans aren't even being put into place to start taking them home.

"Our troops will come home when Iraqis are capable of defending themselves," Bush told a news conference

Iraq is far from being able to defend itself, one article I read recently said that there are as many as 20,000 insurgents in Iraq <might have been 200,000 but going with the lower number> with about a single digit percentage being non Iraqi in origin. The US isn't leaving any time soon unfortunately, and the US causalties are still happening.

[metalhead676]

At 3/16/05 06:00 PM, totoum wrote:

and things are fizzling down, the U.S. troops will be pulling out soon too....

how much time do you mean by soon?

he means whenever bush says, x100.

[bcdemon]

And with all Reipers info in mind, the coalition is down to 21 members (out of 30) with troops in Iraq and dropping fast. This can only mean one thing, more US casualites.
Personally I think Italy just wanted a good reason to pull out, and they got it with the Sgrena shooting.
Bulgaria was given the very same reason the very next day.

It won't be long before other countries get a clue and get out too.

[Ted-Easton]

It's Italy's prerogative if they want to withdraw their troops. If I was in command of Italy's army, I would do the same.
As terrible as it is that US Soldiers are dying, the blame falls on the US government for sending them there, but the Italian government can avoid such blame by withdrawing their troops.

[ReiperX]

At 3/18/05 10:20 AM, Ted_Easton wrote:

As terrible as it is that US Soldiers are dying, the blame falls on the US government for sending them there, but the Italian government can avoid such blame by withdrawing their troops.

Exactly. We cannot expect other people to stick around in an unpopular war when they have no real reason to be there. The US made its bed with the invasion, and now its going to have to sleep in it.

[D2Kvirus]

Not according to tony Blair they aren't, as he mealy-mouths it to something along the lines of "Oh, myself and Mr. Berlosconi agreed to a slow withdrawal so the Iraqi people can look after themselves, or until My Friend George says we can go home. Vote for me on May 5th, even though I just said I won't be pulling out troops - I'm saving that until the polls start to get alarming."

[Pillullis]

Good! Italy is retreating! I mean, the I talians will not have to worry about to lose people there...