Why can't the U.S. follow suit???

Italy has announced it will start the withdrawal of their troops in Iraq come September.

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Associated Press Writer
41 minutes ago



GLENEAGLES, Scotland - Italy plans to begin withdrawing some of its troops from Iraq in September, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday.

Berlusconi, who was a strong supporter of President Bush on Iraq, sent 3,000 troops to the country after the ouster of Saddam Hussein to help rebuild the country. He had previously indicated he hoped a pullout could begin in September.

"We will begin withdrawing 300 men in the month of September," Berlusconi said at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. But he added the decision would depend on security conditions on the ground and could change.

In recent months, Italian officials have gone back and forth on when a withdrawal might begin. Berlusconi said September was a possibility, but Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini then talked of early 2006.

Relations between Washington and Rome have been strained in recent months — first by the killing of an Italian agent by American soldiers in Iraq and then arrest warrants issued by an Italian court accusing 13 purported CIA operatives of kidnapping a militant Egyptian cleric from Italy and sending him to Egypt, where he was reportedly tortured.

Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli of the right-wing Northern League party said Friday the time had come for the United Nations to begin discussing "the progressive withdrawal of troops, beginning with our contingent, perhaps by September."

"It's evident that after New York, Madrid and London, Italy represents the most probable next objective of the terrorists," he said. "The time has come to begin to think also about our house, and to use the same resources currently committed in Iraq to prevent and combat possible attacks on our territory."

A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" — which claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombings in London — said the attacks were a punishment for British involvement in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Because after destroying these people's government, we owe it to them to wait until their government can at least stand on it's own before we abandon them.

Don't buy for one second that the attacks on London were "punishment" for helping the USA! We weren't even in Iraq until after 9/11 when the terrorists started this entire thing in the first place!:(

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Why can't the U.S. follow suit???

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Because we started it and we have to finish it. Like MOFF says, it would be even more wrong of us to leave now and leave their country in total chaos.

I think we were lied to and went to war for all the wrong reasons and I don't agree with anything Bush says, but the fact is we went in and overthrew their government, so we now have to finish the job and stick around until their new government gets their act together.

Hold on just a minute... I'm still under the impression that none of the terrorist attacks were from people from Iraq. Did I miss something?

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Originally posted by IRescue452
Hold on just a minute... I'm still under the impression that none of the terrorist attacks were from people from Iraq. Did I miss something?

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You are right about that but we are there because of 9/11.

This is the way I see it, & please feel free to disagree:

After 9/11 our government declared war on terrorism.
Iraq seemed to be filled with them, including their leader.
Bush was given info (whether correct info or not, blame the CIA for this mess up), that Saddam had WMD and would use them. He had in fact used them on his people before (mustard gas on the Kurds).

I'm still not convinced there weren't any WMD that got moved out of the country, but that is neither here nor there. (Of course if the Media hadn't blabbed that we Might attack Iraq, there may have been a different discovery).

Anyway, whether we should or shouldn't be there, there we are! We can't abandon them like we did Afghanastan when Bush Sr. ran out. :(

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I think we were lied to and went to war for all the wrong reasons and I don't agree with anything Bush says, but the fact is we went in and overthrew their government, so we now have to finish the job and stick around until their new government gets their act together.

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I agree with you, Debbie, in that we were lied to. But I thought we were there to teach the Iraqi people how to defend their own country and run their own government. Did they not take notes??? Or are they slow learners???

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Originally posted by moosmom
I agree with you, Debbie, in that we were lied to. But I thought we were there to teach the Iraqi people how to defend their own country and run their own government. Did they not take notes??? Or are they slow learners???

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No, they keep getting killed by terrorists!

Almost every day there are reports where police recruits are killed or other government officials are!

Kind of discourages people from wanting to join the police force over there. :(

I don't think that we should've been in Iraq in the first place, but, we have to finish what we started!

I have personally been completely against Bush from the start! The only thing that he can take GOOD credit for is the war in Afghanistan. The whole Iraq war is swred up. Now our people and other countries people are being killed out there!

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No, they keep getting killed by terrorists!

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Great way to state that!-- I'm glad you did.

It's sad...the US, one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) military in the world declares war on "terrorisim" and it now seems like terrorists are becoming MORE active.

I agree with your synopsis of the whole Iraq situation MOFF. what bothers me about the whole situation is the politicking. IMO the Bush administration has turned this war into one political chess match and unfortuneatly that is reflecting poorly on the troops over there, who have absolutely NO say in how the war progresses in the political arena.

This whole fiasco supports my idea presidents should fight wars, not innocent people.

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Originally posted by DJFyrewolf36
It's sad...the US, one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) military in the world declares war on "terrorisim" and it now seems like terrorists are becoming MORE active.

I agree with your synopsis of the whole Iraq situation MOFF. what bothers me about the whole situation is the politicking. IMO the Bush administration has turned this war into one political chess match and unfortuneatly that is reflecting poorly on the troops over there, who have absolutely NO say in how the war progresses in the political arena.

This whole fiasco supports my idea presidents should fight wars, not innocent people.

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I agree!!!

I've always thought the leaders should be the first to duke it out!;)

My take on it is if we have to stay there to finish it, then we will always have troops over there. The middle east has been at war with itself for years upon years.

I don't see how anything we can do will change that.

So if our troops have to stay there to finish it (ie, set up a government that won't have it's leaders killed by terrorists), then I'm sorry, I just don't see that happening.

I try to be optomistic since I have family and friends over there, but as the days, months, and years progress, I find myself losing hope that they will ever get to come home.

Maybe the next president that comes into office will see things differently than Bush.

let's finish this the smart way...


Let's untie the hands of the military and let them really have their say about things.

Let's go rape and pillage Iran, UAE and N Korea.....and lets stop in Libya and Cuba.....altho Castro ain't long for this world anyway.....He's the SOB that I pick for my dead pool every year and he keeps squeezing by.


Of course, a nice FAE bomb over a few cities would be cool, or we really could bring back napalm.....as a joke of course.

I mean, if terrorists are gonna pop a few little bombs, let's give them a SUPER HUGE headache and then W'll get George to make a statement like...


"We are gonna keep bombing your cities and kill everyone in them...unless you promise to behave..."


Some beheading tapes are still in style...none of this 'naked prisoner getting his pee pee pointed at and laughed about.....'
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Altho,
these effing morons are SO STUPID they thought that Lyndie England was a city in the United Kingdom.
and that's what led them to bomb London.
:confused:

Terrorists aren't a real bright lot...

I just saw this thread.
I am surprised that Italy has stayed on for this long.
I've lived there for 13 yrs.
Berlusconi lost a lot of support from Italians because of his decision to help the US.
He really had no choice but to help. The US helped the Italians when they needed it. They freed Italy.
I hope all this ends soon. :(