http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/li...15-rferl02.htm

Are those sexy Italians doin' what I think they're doin'? Or do I not have a fine eye for detail?

They are surrending to terrorist just like Spain did. They lost.

Eh, I don't really think it's that big of a deal. The troops have been in Iraq for almost 2 years now, I think it's perfectly legit now that the elections have been heald for other countries to begin to leave the party.

Originally Posted by [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4352259.stm

bbc[/url]]
He emphasised that Italy's withdrawal "will be based on the ability and capability of Iraqi forces and the Iraqi government to be able to assume more responsibility".

But he rejected suggestions that Italy's decision was due to strained relations after secret service agent Nicola Calipari was shot dead by US troops in Baghdad on 4 March.

bull stauro, grow up and open your eyes, theres a whole world out there, and there is more to it than black and white, a few narrow minded people forget that.

while the italian government may want to support thier allies (allies, they look out for each other!!) the reason they are in power is because they wer voted in, which means they are there to serve the people. if they do something wrong by the people, the people wont vote for them and they wont be in power. thats democracy 101 over, now u know a little more about how the real world operates.
as i said if the people are unhappy, the government wont survive the next election.now, answer this: was there any word of Italy withdrawing troops before the journalist was killed?? i never heard of any,so i will assume there wasn't. this means right up until she died, the italian people where happy with what the soldiers were doing.
once she died, the lid has come off and because of one death, over 3000 troops may be bought back home. yes, from what i hear, she shouldn't have died and that her death was a horrible, horrible mistake but now there seems like the spell has been broken, that the general public thought they could send troops into a hostile zone and they wouldn't suffer KIA's because of superior technology. now that that spell has been broken they are afraid of everyone dying.
now, im not a fan of george bush and im not a fan of some of his party members or of some american, but at least i have the decency to not generalise my dislike onto all americans, as it seems is common in todays environment of hate and suspicion.
its hate, mistrust and closed minds which have caused so many of the problems we are in today, i suggest a LOT of people out there practice a little tolerance.
honestly, some threads and people iv laughed at while at my desk because some people such closed narrow minds, they are blinded by patriotism, hate and fear and they seem like charactature of the people they fear or hate so much.

Just for clarification, the Italian journalist (Giuliana Sgrena) was not killed, she's very much alive. She continues to work for "Il Manifesto", a communist publication. In fact she's already speaking out on another related issue (http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...e_050312202952).
There has been opposition to Italian troops in Iraq since they first were deployed there and I believe Il Manifesto has been at the forefront of the protests.

Originally Posted by Locke

bull stauro, grow up and open your eyes, theres a whole world out there, and there is more to it than black and white, a few narrow minded people forget that.

while the italian government may want to support thier allies (allies, they look out for each other!!) the reason they are in power is because they wer voted in, which means they are there to serve the people. if they do something wrong by the people, the people wont vote for them and they wont be in power. thats democracy 101 over, now u know a little more about how the real world operates.
as i said if the people are unhappy, the government wont survive the next election.now, answer this: was there any word of Italy withdrawing troops before the journalist was killed?? i never heard of any,so i will assume there wasn't. this means right up until she died, the italian people where happy with what the soldiers were doing.
once she died, the lid has come off and because of one death, over 3000 troops may be bought back home. yes, from what i hear, she shouldn't have died and that her death was a horrible, horrible mistake but now there seems like the spell has been broken, that the general public thought they could send troops into a hostile zone and they wouldn't suffer KIA's because of superior technology. now that that spell has been broken they are afraid of everyone dying.
now, im not a fan of george bush and im not a fan of some of his party members or of some american, but at least i have the decency to not generalise my dislike onto all americans, as it seems is common in todays environment of hate and suspicion.
its hate, mistrust and closed minds which have caused so many of the problems we are in today, i suggest a LOT of people out there practice a little tolerance.
honestly, some threads and people iv laughed at while at my desk because some people such closed narrow minds, they are blinded by patriotism, hate and fear and they seem like charactature of the people they fear or hate so much.

As Dtop said, the italian journalist is not dead, she was just shooted. In Italy there were people against the war like in many other places. You do not have to explain me how a democracy works.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/in...&ex=1111122000

I think Berlusconi is taking the troops out of Irak now because he doesn´t wanna lose the elections.

I am not blinded by patriotism like many of the people in this forum, If you critize Spain I will agree or not with you, but i will give you arguments

staurofilakes, one more clarification: the journalist was not shot directly, she was injured by shrapnel.

Nothing controversial is going in Italy. Only truth can explain itself. As for the people who have obscured this issue, they merely cower within the shadows to save their faces.

Publicity is paramount in every leadership.

Originally Posted by Cabal

Nothing controversial is going in Italy. Only truth can explain itself. As for the people who have obscured this issue, they merely cower within the shadows to save their faces.

Publicity is paramount in every leadership.

That's a strong statement. People have amazing abilities to connect the dots and complete a picture, truth looks very different in everyone's eyes.

well, first, you have a hero died for the hostage, second, the hostage basicly say "they(americans) want to kill me..., then survivers testmony, "we were not driven so fast, they signaled us too late....... plus the anti-war movement in the country, you can feel the political heat that come out there.