Premier (Berlusconi) Says He Was Against War

[Rose Siding]

(ANSA) - Rome, October 29 - In a television interview to be aired next week, Premier Silvio Berlusconi says he repeatedly tried to convince American President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq .

..."I was never convinced that war was the best way to make a country democratic and to bring it out of a bloody dictatorship .

"I tried many times to convince the American president not to wage war... I tried to find other ways and solutions, even through joint action with African leader (Libya's Muammar) Gaddafi .

"We didn't succeed and there was a military operation but I believed military action should have been avoided." The comments were released by La7 two days before Berlusconi was due to visit Washington .
....
GOVT DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN FAKE IRAQ-NIGER DOCUMENTS. His comments on Iraq also came at a time when his government is denying accusations of involvement in the passing on of false documents to the United States which purported to show an attempt by Saddam Hussein's regime to buy uranium in Africa ...........MORE...........

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2005-10-29_1831221.html

Via Laura Rosen at War and Piece, who asks, "Did anyone mention that he was up for elections next year?"

[jasmeel]

1. Another lying politician- bastard!

[Mass]

2. Berlusconi is a crook. Why did he send troops if he was against the war.

[rodeodance]

15. or what did be pribe or threaten him with to say yes.

[Wilms]

3. Hmmmmmmm.

Not sure I trust Burly Scone.

In fact, I know I don't.

[BillZBubb]

4. Berlusconi == Lying Piece of Shit!

Trying to revise history to save his sorry ass.

[hippiechick]

5. Liar, Liar Pants on Fire !!!

:nuke:

[sadiesworld]

6. Berlusconi distancing himself from Bushco.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

[leQ]

9. ayup, he's seen his last election win i'll bet

unless they use diebold over there.

[IndianaGreen]

39. This is like Mussolini distancing himself from Hitler

Revisionism is on the march!

[Judi Lynn]

7. It would seem the pResident's not going to like this one bit!

No doubt, when he courts people, he expects them to STAY courted! Berlusconi seems to be interested in a little damage control to save his career. He's silly not to recognize the only career that matters is _Bush's.

[patdem]

8. This war must be going worse than we even know..he was for it

when he believed it going swimmingly, now he is against it..and for a leader to say that just before visiting bushista, the war must be REALLY bad! :shrug:

[ewagner]

10. He sees the image

of Mussolini hanging by his heals from a street light....and it's a little too close for comfort.....

[CentralEuropeanDude]

14. Yeah, scary!

This one?

[ewagner]

16. Scary is right!

There was another one I was thinking of ...more of a mob scene...but that's Mussolini and his Mistriss right?

This is the one I remembered.

[booksenkatz]

28. An interesting page I found to go with your post

http://members.aol.com/Custermen85/ILDUCE/Mussolini.htm

Amazing what happens to fascists in the end, isn't it?

[0007]

11. This guy is as laughable as Mussolini - n/t

[jobycom]

12. He probably was. Most good politicians take both sides of an issue

just in case one fails. Bush Daddy opposed abortion, then let it secretely slip out that he was personally in favor of Roe v Wade. JFK claimed he was for and against a buildup in Viet Nam. Both sides still claim he was definitely on their side (watch, someone will here). LBJ made enough statements that supporters can claim he privately opposed Viet Nam but was tricked into it by his advisors. Even Lincoln made comments for and against slavery.

In another year W will claim HE was against invading Iraq, that Scooter Libby was rreally the one who tricked them all into it. They are probably writing the scripts now to make Scooter the next Aaron Burr.

[alarcojon]

13. What a lying sack of shit!

not to mention opportunistic.

[cliss]

17. Well, the folks here at the DU

have memories like an elephant. We simply don't forget.

Remember when Berluscolini said "I was promised billions for Iraqi oil". Christ, how his alliance with Bush has cost him.

They've lost some Italian troops over there. The journalist Sgrena who survived an assassination attempt by US troops. The negotiator Calipari who didn't. The Italians who finally decided they'd had enough of this fiasco.

Then, Berluscolini's government collapsed. Now the little Danny De Vito look-alike has decided the knives are out for Bush. He wants to lead the pack of the turncoats.

[Canuckistanian]

18. Riiiight, pull the other one, then, Silvio

It's got bells on.

[grytpype]

19. Well, there's another world leader that is smarter than Bush...

... how many does that make now? Just about all of them?

[LynnTheDem]

20. LIAR...92% of your people were against the war...YOU cheerleaded

the bullshit along with bush & Cabal.

And that's a fact;

"We are able, with Russia and America, to look at the states of the world and assess the dignity of the people and we give them democracy and liberty. Yes! By force if necessary, because that is the only way to show it is not a joke. We said to Saddam, do it or we come. And we came and we did it."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/04/wun04.xml

[burrowowl]

21. I don't know who is the worst BSer

Berli or Bu$hi? The Italians were against it, why did Berli send troops?

[LynnTheDem]

23. Same reason Poland did...altho Poland was honest about it.

OIL.

[oblivious]

40. Great quote. You got the lying facist: "give them democracy...by force"

[converted_democrat]

43. Thank you for posting that link.....

I thought I was going to choke as I read his statements in the article. I remembered reading something like 90% of his people were against the war, but he went on with it anyway. I thought for a moment I had imagined it, thank you for posting that link. What a dirty liar.

[daleo]

22. I think this is about the faked documents.

He is trying to distance himself. To me, that means he probably was involved in faking the WMD issue for Bush to get the war going. This is at the heart of everything. When (if?) it all comes out, the whole lot of them will be shown to be war criminals. I hope to God this is exactly what happens.

[anitar1]

24. What do crooks do? Desert the ship when they know

it is sinking. I'll bet some of the corps. will be making deals with the Dems before long.Berlusconi is a real pig walking a tightrope.

[confludemocrat]

25. controls 80% of the media outlets there=license to lie without consequence

And he is using what he has learned from the US form of the same degree of near complete media dominance, you can lie and there will be only stifled response to the naked, blatant ugliness of that lying

[all.of.me]

26. oh, horseshit! he sleeps with gwb, for crying out loud.

asswipe.

[leesa]

27. Liar.

[Endangered Specie]

29. You'd be a fool to believe any words that

come out of an Italian politicians mouth.


Can you say, corrupt?

[jefferson_dem]

30. Italian premier says he tried to dissuade Bush from going to war in Iraq

Italian premier says he tried to dissuade Bush from going to war in Iraq
Rome-AP, Oct. 29, 2005 2:25 PM) _

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, one of President Bush's strongest supporters over Iraq, says he tried repeatedly to dissuade the American leader from going to war and was never convinced military force was the best way to bring democracy.

Berlusconi is facing a tough re-election battle next year, and his popularity has fallen in part because of Italians' continued opposition to the war. Sluggish economic growth also has hurt him.

The premier made the comments in an interview with the private television station La7 that is to be broadcast Monday, the same day Berlusconi is to meet with Bush in Washington. Excerpts of the interview were reported Saturday by the Apcom and ANSA news agencies.

"I was never convinced that war was the best system to bring democracy to the country and to get rid of a bloody dictatorship," Berlusconi said of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. "I tried several times to convince the American president to not go to war."

"I believed that military action should have been avoided," he was quoted as saying.

<SNIP>

http://www.wtnh.com/global/story.asp?s=4045935&ClientType=Printable

[indepat]

31. If the Italian Premier really thought this war was about democracy,

wonder if he would like to buy some igloos?

[mazzarro]

32. Yea right!

I find it hard to believe him now! This is the same guy that was so gong-ho about the war that he was making all sorts of ridiculous anti Islamic comments at the onset of the war!

[Kagemusha]

33. So Berlusconi was against the war before he was for it.

Big man, that.

[Dogmudgeon]

34. Berlusconi, a Fascist AND a Liar?

Who'd'a thunk it?

--p!

[arikara]

35. I thought he was in chimpy's stupid

"coalition of the willing" along with Eritrea, Estonia and don't forget about Poland.

[Straight Shooter]

36. Mama mia!

Bwahahahahahahaha! Tell us another one, Silvio. :rofl:

[Faygo Kid]

37. Too little too late. He was for the war before he was against it?

I've heard that before. Election-year turns are tiresome.

[oblivious]

38. "was never convinced military force was the best way to bring democracy"

But figured it was a pretty damn good way to get the oil so he joined in.

[tabasco]

41. Can't change history, Bro.

We remember what you did you lying sack of shit.

Sent troops to Chimpy's folly over the objection of 90+% of your people.

[struggle4progress]

42. When former supporters start saying they were ALWAYS opposed ..

.. that sends a clear signal about current political realities ...

[Moderator]

44. kick

[Judi Lynn]

45. Berlusconi Backs Embattled Intel Director

Berlusconi Backs Embattled Intel Director

By Associated Press
October 31, 2005, 12:02 AM EST

ROME -- Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday defended an intelligence official accused of passing forged documents to the United States suggesting that Saddam Hussein had been seeking uranium in Africa, claims that helped justify the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Nicolo Pollari is the director of the SISMI intelligence agency, and Berlusconi rejected suggestions Pollari should resign as a result of the allegations. He is to be questioned this week by members of a parliamentary commission overseeing secret services.
(snip)

La Repubblica, a strong Berlusconi opponent, has said that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks Pollari was under pressure from Berlusconi -- a firm U.S. ally -- to make a strong contribution to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

To satisfy the request, Pollari used a dossier that originally had been fabricated in early 2001 with material stolen from Niger's embassy in Rome, La Repubblica said.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-italy-us-iraq,0,6348295.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[psychopomp]

46. Surprise

If * has an ideological counterpart anywhere on the world stage, he has one in Berlusconi, a man who shows no sign annuling his marriage to fascism.

[0007]

47. Man, with each passing day Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"

rings in the truth of today.

[Solly Mack]

48. So he felt pressured to lie and that excuses him how exactly?

it doesn't - but then look who is defending the lie (Berlusconi and his American counterparts)

[hang a left]

49. What interesting timing, no?

Berlusconi is visiting * on Monday???? Hmmmmmmmmmm.

[rodeodance]

50. what a bunch of crapola

[deminks]

51. Originally fabricated in EARLY 2001? Hmmmm. nt