As anyone who has read my posts knows, I am no Europhile by any stretch of the imagination. But in this case I am willing to cut Berlusconi some slack. Italy is not an easy nation to govern, the communists still have considerable influence, and since WWII Italy has changed governments more often than my grand-dad changed his socks. Polls have shown that 70% of Italians favor pulling out of Iraq, and by not giving in to that 70% of his people Berlusconi has shown that he, along with Blair, are the only true friends we have in any of the EU governments.
In any case, we have announced that we also intend to incrementally reduce our forces in Iraq as time goes on. I don't see the Italian staged withdrawal as being all that much different from our own long range plans.
What does bother me though is the impression this will give to Iraqi terrorists in the immediate aftermath of the faked "kidnapping" and subsequent ransoming of that Italian communist wench. I'm afraid that the announced withdrawal will be seen as the result of that incident, and will almost certainly lead to more such staged (IMO) "kidnappings" of terrorist sympathizers from nations which have troops serving in Iraq. But I still don't condemn Berlusconi for this latest announcement. If his government falls because of a totally inflexible policy on troop withdrawals, the result will be an immediate Italian replay of the Spanish withdrawal following the Madrid train bombing.
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