Berlusconi to Pull Out Troops from Iraq

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Berlusconi to Pull Out Troops from Iraq
    By John Hooper in Rome, Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor
    The Guardian U.K.

    Wednesday 16 March 2005

        PM forced into pledge after outrage at killing of Italian officer.

    Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, yesterday announced that he
would begin withdrawing his country's troops from Iraq in September under
pressure from public opinion.

    "I've spoken to [Tony] Blair about this," he told a TV interviewer.
"We've got to construct a precise exit strategy. Public opinion expects it,
and we shall be talking about it soon."

    British defence sources last night repeated the British government's
stated policy that its troops will stay in Iraq "as long as is necessary and
as long as the Iraqis want us".

    Mr Berlusconi's comments about a precise exit strategy were "an
aspiration" or "political guesswork", they added.

    Mr Berlusconi, who is among President Bush's closest allies, has been
under huge domestic pressure over Italy's staunch support for US policy in
Iraq. Early next month, he faces a test of electoral strength and in recent
weeks he has felt the full force of Italians' misgivings.

    On March 4, a senior intelligence officer, Nicola Calipari, was killed
by US troops in Baghdad after rescuing an Italian hostage. His death united
right and left in appalled condemnation, with thousands of Italians turning
out to pay their respects to the dead agent during a lying in state.

    Mr Berlusconi dropped his bombshell last night hours after Italy's lower
house of parliament, in which the prime minister's supporters have an
outright majority, approved funding for its contingent in Iraq until the end
of June.

    Italian officials had already indicated troops would be withdrawn as
soon as it was clear that Iraq could handle its own security. But Mr
Berlusconi went much further than before in defining the outlines of a
timetable. He said: "A progressive reduction of the presence of our soldiers
will start from September."

    He added that the phase-out would take place "in agreement with our
allies". He was careful not to let himself be pinned down to a finishing
date, saying that would "depend on the ability of the Iraqi government in
equipping itself with adequate security and public order forces".

    With 3,000 troops, Italy is one of the biggest contributors to the
US-led coalition. Its forces did not take part in the invasion of Iraq, but
were sent in afterwards as part of what Mr Berlusconi and his ministers have
always insisted was a peace mission.

    Yesterday saw Italy's death toll reach 21 when it was announced that a
soldier had accidentally shot and killed himself during target practice.

    In London, the government announced yesterday it was proposing an
international conference on Iraq later this year to encourage the United
Nations and other major organisations to kickstart the stalled
reconstruction programme. A similar idea for a postwar conference was put
forward by France a year ago but was blocked by the US, because it was
proposed by a country that had spearheaded international opposition to the
war. But the British idea is gaining widespread support, including that of
the US and France.

    The conference would bring together the countries contributing troops,
those offering economic help, and the UN, the World Bank, the International
Monetary Fund and other international bodies. British officials said that
the Iraq conference is likely to be held abroad, probably in Brussels.

    The proposal comes as the Iraqi assembly, elected on January 30, meets
today for the first time.

    But the Shias and Kurds who make up the bulk of the 275-member
parliament have so far failed to reach agreement on the formation of a
coalition government.

    The assembly will meet behind the concrete blast-barriers and barbed
wire that separates Baghdad's Green Zone, home to the US and British
embassies and the interim Iraqi government, from the rest of the Iraqi
capital.

________________________________

    Go to Original
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1525997,00.html>

    Ranks Begin to Thin in Coalition of the Willing
    By Richard Beeston
    The Times U.K.

    Tuesday 15 March 2005

    Nearly two years after the United States led the "coalition of the
willing" into Iraq, the alliance of 30 nations that once boasted 25,000
troops serving alongside the dominant American forces is showing signs of
unravelling.

    In a move that is causing concern to the already over-stretched main
contributors, particularly the US, Britain and Australia, key allies, such
as the Netherlands, Ukraine and Poland, are ordering their forces to return
home.

    Under pressure at home, some countries, such as Portugal, withdrew their
small contingent this year. Other key coalition partners, such as Italy,
with 3,000 troops, face growing public pressure to withdraw their forces.

    The pressure on the Government in Rome has intensified since the
shooting this month by American troops of an Italian intelligence officer
who had helped to free a hostage.

    This week the Dutch contingent, which once numbered 1,500 troops and
controlled the vast southern province of Muthana, lowered its flag and left,
leaving the desert border territory to British forces.

    Although Britain had hoped to cut the size of its contingent after the
election on January 30, the Army has had to deploy reinforcements to fill
the gap left by the Dutch retreat. Some 650 British soldiers, mostly from
The Queen's Dragoon Guards and The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, have
been sent to the area. They will work alongside 450 Australian soldiers who
were ordered to Iraq by John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, last
month. The Anglo-Australian force will protect some 600 Japanese army
engineers, who serve in the province but are barred from fighting.

    The region in southern Iraq is relatively benign and British officials
hope that once Iraqi forces have been trained, the area can be handed over
to their control.

    A bigger headache for the coalition is the reduction of the two main
contributors to the central area south of Baghdad, a volatile insurgent
area. Over the weekend, the first 150 Ukrainian troops packed up and headed
home, with the remaining 1,500 to follow over the next six months.

    The move leaves the Poles, the lead force in the area, badly exposed and
they, too, have signalled that they are halving the size of their
1,700-strong force and changing the mission.

    Jerzy Szmajdzinski, the Polish Defence Minister, said last week that
Polish forces increasingly would concentrate on training Iraqi troops, with
the aim of handing over security to them. But there are fears that this
approach may be premature as the insurgency continues to make the country
ungovernable.

    Nevertheless, it may be difficult to persuade remaining members of the
coalition to be in the country much beyond the end of the year, whether or
not the Iraqi security forces are ready. Many contributing nations expect to
have their soldiers home as soon as Iraq holds its second round of
elections, scheduled for December, when a permanent government should be in
place.

    How the Numbers Are Adding Up

    STAYING: US 150,000 (military personnel); Britain 8,850; South Korea
3,600; Italy 3,000; Australia 900 (up to 1,350 by April); Romania 800, up to
900; Japan 600; Denmark 500; Bulgaria 380; El Salvador 380; Georgia 300, up
to 800; Mongolia 180; Azerbaijan 150; Latvia 120; Lithuania 100; Slovakia
100; Czech Republic 90; Albania 70; Estonia 50; Tonga 40; Kazakhstan 30;
Macedonia 30; Moldova 25

    GOING: Netherlands 1,500; Ukraine (1,650 leaving by October); Poland
1,700 (reducing by half)

    GONE: Spain 1,300; Thailand 460; Hungary 300; Honduras 370; Dominican
Republic 300; Nicaragua 115; Portugal 127; New Zealand 60; Philippines 50;
Norway 10

  -------