Anyone who stands by us in defense of freedom has my respect. God bless the Italians. My deepest gratitude for their support. And my profound regrets for their loss.
Posted on 11/12/2003 10:20:38 AM PST by kattracks
US allies Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland vowed to keep their 6,000 troops in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition despite the deaths of 23 people in a deadly attack on Italian forces."Our determination is the same as those Italians in uniform who are honouring the coalition engaged in supporting Iraq on its road to democracy," Italian Prime Minister Silvio said.
"No intimidation will change our desire to help this country to rebuild and form a government, in security and freedom."
Condolences poured in for the Italian people, with the White House thanking Rome for its help in trying to stabilise and rebuild Iraq.
"We honor the sacrifice of the brave Italian soldiers who gave their lives to help the Iraqi people," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.
But the blast, the first to cause casualties among Italian troops since they joined the occupying forces in Iraq in June, sparked calls from the Italian and Portuguese opposition for the troops to be brought home.
Early on Wednesday a lorry followed by a car smashed into the entrance of the Italian barracks in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, killing 14 military staff and one civilian, Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino said.
Italian television said eight Iraqi civilians had also been killed.
The parliament in Rome observed a minute's silence in memory of the dead and suspended business after the attack as the opposition called for the 2,400 Italian contingent to be brought home.
But President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi vowed Italy would "continue to fulfill it role our role, at the side of our allies and the United Nations, in the fight against international terrorism".
Speaking before leaving for the United States for talks with President George W. Bush and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Ciampi sent his condolences to the victims' families, saying the officers had died "carrying out their duty to help the people of Iraq recover peace, order and security".
Pope John Paul II condemned the "vile attack" on police officers and soldiers carrying out a "selfless mission of peace", saying it would not contribute to peace and reconstruction to Iraq.
The European Union and three EU members who vehemently opposed the US-led invasion of oil-rich Iraq -- France, Germany and Belgium -- all voiced shock and sadness.
But Portugal said it would go ahead with the dispatch to Iraq on Wednesday of 128 military police officers, who will serve with the Italians in Nasiriyah as part of a multinational force operating under British command.
And Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said: "Italy can count on Spain at this sad time (for support) in the fight against terrorism in Iraq as in any other part of the world.
Spain and Poland, which like Italy and Portugal strongly backed the US-war on Iraq, also vowed to maintain troops in the country.
"Our analysis does not vary, any more than our readiness to stay in Iraq," said a foreign ministry spokesman in Madrid, which has lost three soldiers in Iraq since it deployed 1,250 soldiers there in July.
Poland, which leads a 9,000-strong multinational force in southern Iraq and which lost its first soldier out of its 2,350 contingent in an ambush last week, said the bomb was "a new attack against international solidarity with Iraq".
"Instead of weakening our will to help Iraq, it will strengthen our conviction that we took the right decision," government spokesman Boguslaw Majewski told AFP.
Wednesday's attack was the deadliest against non-US forces in Iraq and followed an audio-tape threat by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden last month that mentioned both the US and Italy.
Ciampi said Rome's troops were in Iraq "with a mandate and the will of parliament", adding: "All of Italy is behind them."
But the opposition demanded their immediate recall, saying it was a mistake to support the US-led occupation.
"The Italian army is paying the price for a foreign policy close to that of the United States and Israel," said Maurizio Caldi, a former Socialist senator who heads a centre for terrorism studies.
"The Italian mission is a mistake. It is not a peace mission. It has been grafted onto an ongoing war," said Fausto Bertinotti, leader of Italy's Communist Refoundation Party.
Oliviero Diliberto, leader of the Party of Italian Communists, accused the government of "sending boys to their deaths".
"We have a non-existent foreign policy, totally subordinated to that of the United States. We must immediately withdraw all troops," he said.
The Portuguese opposition said meanwhile Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, who has declined to comment on Wednesday's attack, should reconsider sending officers to Iraq.
Anyone who stands by us in defense of freedom has my respect. God bless the Italians. My deepest gratitude for their support. And my profound regrets for their loss.
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