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New Italian leader calls war an error

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 19, 2006

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi called the war in Iraq "a grave error" that was fueling international terrorism and restated Thursday his campaign promise to withdraw the nation's troops.

In his first address to Parliament since taking office on Wednesday, the center-leftist Prodi said it was "the intention of this government to propose to Parliament a pullout of our troops even though we are proud of the professional ability, bravery and humanity that they have shown and keep showing.

"We consider the war and occupation in Iraq a grave error that hasn't solved - but has complicated - the problem of security," Prodi said. "Terrorism has found a new base and new excuses for internal and external terrorist action."

The government of former conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a close ally of President Bush, sent about 3,000 troops to Iraq to help with reconstruction after the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The move was widely opposed by Italians.

The contingent is being gradually withdrawn in a process Berlusconi's government had said would be completed by year's end.

The Ministry of Defense said Thursday that about 2,600 Italian troops were still in Iraq.

As opposition leader, Prodi opposed the war in Iraq and had said during the campaign that the remaining troops would be pulled out "as soon as possible."

On Thursday, he did not give a precise timeline for withdrawal.

He promised that Italy would remain on the front lines in the war against terrorism, saying his government would back participation in antiterrorism operations if they were sanctioned by international organizations such as the United Nations.

"We are convinced participants in the war against terrorism, even militarily, when it is legitimized by an international organization to which we belong," he said.

However, he said terrorism should be fought primarily on the "political, social and economic" fronts, and in ways that "do not limit our freedom or our rights."

Prodi said the dangers in today's world included nuclear proliferation, a reference to the West's current standoff with Iran over the Islamic republic's uranium enrichment program.

Prodi vowed to do everything in his power to help make Europe a strong and unified force on the international scene but "also to consolidate and enrich ...the historic alliance with the United States of America."

[Last modified May 19, 2006, 06:20:08]