Italians Retake Base, Nasiriyah Library in Flames

[Chicago Democrat]

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants out of Iraq with honor, according to Italian sources. He is down in the polls and keenly aware of what happened to rightwing Spanish PM Aznar. The Italian public is increasingly against an Italian presence in Iraq, and opposition politicians are calling loudly for withdrawal. Even Berlusconi's own cabinet is drawing up withdrawal plans behind the scenes.

Bush may be pushing Europe to the Left. He may have already helped elect Gerhard Schroeder, who ran against the war before the fact, and PM Zapatero in Spain. Berlusconi could well fall victim to the same trend. There may yet be a Labor Party revolt against Tony Blair, similar to the one mounted by John Major against Maggie Thatcher among the Tories over a decade ago.

(snip)

(ANSA) - ROMA, 17 MAG - 2004-05-17 - 16:55:00

The base called "Libeccio" (trans: southwest wind; ndt: where they lost the young soldier), abandoned yesterday evening by the Italian military, was retaken today. There was no fighting. The militia has in fact left the city, according to Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, head of Defense (something like joint chiefs of staff).

(snip)

Corriere della Sera noted that a library in Nassiriyah containing some 4,000 volumes was set on fire by unknown persons. They reported on some six hours of fighting ("bombing")
in Nassiriyah with help from "other coalition forces" since the Italians are equipped with fairly light weapons and only armored cars, no tanks and no helicopters. No information is available about the nature of the counterattack (secret).

rest at...

http://juancole.com/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I msut say this

Paging Mr Wolfowitz, you said that the war woudl lead to a
domino effect. Hate to say it, you were right, it is leading
to a dominoe effect... IN EUROPE... I am sure Wolfowitz of Arabia
was not quite counting on this

[wtmusic]

2. Add to list

New library in Nassiriyah...