Posted on 03/15/2005 10:52:43 AM PST by MadIvan
Italy will start withdrawing its troops from Iraq in September, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said.
More to follow...
In any case, we have announced that we also intend to incrementally reduce our forces in Iraq as time goes on.
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Elections coming up again at the end of the year makes me sceptical of a drawdown until after the holidays. IMO
Blair's comment is worrisome, I wonder if the UK is getting soft also?
They always, do. :o)
Gimme a break. These euro act like they have no responsabilty to foster freedom.
They sure as hell are going to benifit from a free Middle East.
Isolationism dissapeared in the 1940's. Italy didn't seem to learn much from WW II. Using your attitude, the USA should have said no when Europe begged us to stop the Yugoslavia war from spreading in EU-rope.
If that's the case,lets pull out of Bosnia/Kosovo now and see if the fighting starts up again. If it does, it's Europes problem. Right?
Silvio Berlusconi, a Communist? That's hilarious.
Blair's comment is worrisome, I wonder if the UK is getting soft also?
Before all hell breaks out when we bomb Iran, they are pulling out of Iraq.
Well said. WTF were we doing there again? No Kosovar WMDs or any reason to be there at all.
It's important to honor the sacrifice and valor of those from Italy who have been in the battle and those in their country who supported us in our time of need.
The political realities in Italy are different than here. They, for example, went out of their way to retrieve a "communist" journalist. If nothing else, that means that that political party had made great inroads in Italy. It is something that Berlusconi has to deal with.
And that has absolutely nothing to do with their soldiers who have helped defeat Saddam, man checkpoints, endure explosions, and tolerate an unfriendly climate. They are troops and they deserve our respect.
You go too far. Freedom may have been the outcome of America's foreign interventions, and you may think that Americans are worth sacrificing to fight for others' freedom, but Americans fought in every single foreign war in which America has been involved for the defense of the nation, not freedom for other countries. Ask any American why we fight before or during any foreign war, and the answer will be almost exclusively self-defense. We did not invade Germany to stop the Holocaust, and we didn't invade Iraq to stop Saddam's rape rooms. We did it to protect ourselves.
And as to 'what they do with it being up to them,' I doubt our Iraqi based forces will stand by and silently assent if the Iraqis vote in a theocracy.
True as that might be, we should still get out of Kosovo. Let the Spanish and Italian troops tag out and patrol their own backyard if they won't patrol the world's. We can use the American troops in Iraq and elsewhere.
I was in Germany during the early Bosnian and Kosovo campaigns. The only reason America originally went in was because Europe could not gather the wherewithal to do anything for themselves. That was flawed. Additionally, the entire mission was flawed, although the efforts of our troops are appreciated, and in this case, commendable. We essentially went in to the region backing Islamic insurgents. We woke up to that after a while, realizing we were in large measure assisting those who elsewhere are our enemies.
We have been there entirely too long. I agree. It is time to pull out.
I believe we remain because we don't trust the EU simply to give it to the radical islamics.
It's important to honor the sacrifice and valor of those from Italy who have been in the battle and those in their country who supported us in our time of need.
The political realities in Italy are different than here. They, for example, went out of their way to retrieve a "communist" journalist. If nothing else, that means that that political party had made great inroads in Italy. It is something that Berlusconi has to deal with.
And that has absolutely nothing to do with their soldiers who have helped defeat Saddam, man checkpoints, endure explosions, and tolerate an unfriendly climate. They are troops and they deserve our respect.
I agree.
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