Posted on 11/12/2003 4:42:23 PM PST by Brian S
ROME, Nov 12 (AFP) - The killing of at least 18 Italians in the worst attack against the Italian military since World War II on Wednesday provoked a furious reaction from opposition parties, who demanded that Italian troops be brought home even as the government insisted they would stay on.
The Italians -- 12 paramilitary police, four soldiers and two civilians -- died in the most serious incident involving non-US forces in the country since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
They were Italy's first casualties since Rome deployed its forces alongside the US-led coalition in June.
A massive two-vehicle blast gutted the barracks housing the Carabinieri police force in Nasiriyah, trapping victims under the rubble and engulfing several vehicles and an ammunitition dump in flames.
The attack, which also claimed the lives of eight Iraqis, prompted calls from the opposition in Rome for the immediate withdrawal of the Italian military, with some accusing the government of sending them to their deaths.
But as Italy announced it was stepping up security at home in the wake of the attack, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi vowed that the 2,400-strong Italian force would remain in Iraq.
"No intimidation will change our determination to help this country get back on its feet, to create a government and ensure security and freedom," said Berlusconi, one of the top European allies in the US-led war on Iraq.
Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino is to visit Nasiriyah on Thursday, the head of the parliamentary defence committee, Luigi Ramponi, announced.
The Italians were among 26 people killed and at least 79 injured in what Foreign Minister Franco Frattini described as a "terrible and vile attack." Another 20 Italians and 59 Iraqis were wounded.
But the opposition said Italian forces should be immediately recalled. "The Italian mission is a mistake. It is not a peace mission, it has been grafted on to an ongoing war," said Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the communist PRC party.
The leader of the PdCI ccommunist party, Oliviero Diliberto, took an even harder line, accusing the government of "sending boys to their deaths."
Maurizio Caldi, a former senator who heads a center for terrorism studies, said the Italian army was "paying the price for a foreign policy close to that of the United States and Israel, which is being carried out by the Berlusconi government.
"We have a non-existent foreign policy, totally subordinated to that of the United States. We must immediately withdraw all troops in a war zone," he said.
Defense Minister Martino told parliament he had intelligence reports the bombing was carried out by Saddam's Fedayeen militia.
The attack followed an audiotaped threat purported to be from Osama bin Laden, head of the al-Qaeda terror network, last month that specifically mentioned Italy.
As a result, the government had tightened security around thousands of possible targets in Italy and Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said those measures were being stepped up still further on Wednesday.
Berlusconi said Wednesday's assault was "perhaps inevitable" in view of previous deadly attacks against the United Nations and the Red Cross in Iraq.
Pope John Paul II voiced his sorrow at the attack, calling it "vile."
"I voice the strongest condemnation of this new act of violence which adds to the others committed in this tormented country, and which do not help to bring peace and reconstruction," he added.
Berlusconi said he was "proud of the courage and humanity with which our troops, and in the first instance the carabinieri, are working to make the situation more bearable for women, children, the elderly and weak who are living in a region which for 34 years was under the tyranny of a foul regime, maintained by terrorism."
Despite the attack, Portugal said it was going ahead with plans to send a 128-member contingent of its its Republican National Guard to serve alongside the Italian Carabinieri in Nasiriyah.
Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi expressed condolences to the families of the dead police officers and soldiers, and vowed: "We will continue to fulfil our role, at the side of our allies and the United Nations, in the fight against international terrorism."
Ciampi said the service personnel were killed "in carrying out their duty to help the people of Iraq recover peace, order and security."
"Our carabinieri, our armed forces are in Iraq by a mandate and the will of parliament," Ciampi added. "All of Italy is behind them and supports them in this bitter trial."
The previous worst incident involving Italian troops on a mission abroad took place nearly 42 years ago when 13 airmen, part of a UN peacekeeping force, were murdered in the Congo (today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo) on November 11 1961.
clr/bj-jfs/wdb/
Iraq-attack-Italy-politics
It is time to get serious there. Let our military do it's damn job W!!!
This is eerily similar to Nam in one respect: Politics is getting our men and women killed, and coalition partners men and women killed.
You cannot have a successful politically correct war!!!! Do what needs to be done to WIN and deal with the political consequences later!!!
Precisely. This is more of a psy-ops war than a shooting war.
That's all it takes for a Western nation to lose a war to a handful of men...............A loss of national will fueld by that nation's political opposition party.
This is WWIII and this behavior would have been unthinkable in WWII, but then they had FDR, not a "damned Republican" in the Whitehouse.
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