Italy to give Iraq pullout calendar in few weeks

[Barrett808]

MESSINA, Italy, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Italy will spell out the dates of a planned phased withdrawal of its 2,900 troops in Iraq in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday.

Berlusconi said earlier this week Italian troops would withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2006 in coordination with the Iraqi government.

Italy, which has the fourth-largest foreign contingent in Iraq, faces a general election next April where the highly unpopular Iraq war will be an important issue.

"We have already reduced our military presence in Iraq by 10 percent. This reduction will continue in a gradual way ... (Defence Minister Antonio) Martino will go to parliament in the next few weeks to announce the dates of this plan," Berlusconi told reporters.

U.S. defence officials said this week that the Pentagon planned to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, currently 155,000, to about 138,000 after next month's Iraqi election.

This could be reduced further to about 100,000 next summer if conditions allowed.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, on a visit to Japan, said on Friday an early pullout of coalition forces would lead to more violence by insurgents.

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=10701

[babylonsister]

1. I am very confused. Why is

the blivet advocating staying the course, but from this article, "U.S. defence officials said this week that the Pentagon planned to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, currently 155,000, to about 138,000 after next month's Iraqi election."
What's the true story?

[Barrett808]

2. The Truth: We have been withdrawing for several months

I estimate since around May. The only question is whether Bush has been told.

[babylonsister]

4. We have? You realize I have to ask you for a link, even

if the blivet is unaware.

[Barrett808]

6. Just my assessment

I've been doing Iraq Front News (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IraqFrontNews) for over 2 years, and this seems the inescapable conclusion.

In a nutshell:

Cheney declares insurgency in its "last throes" against all evidence;
AEI and NR run cover stories on how "we've won the day";

May was the "declaring victory" part. Immediately following was the "leaving" part.

The Brits have handed over Basra.

The US has handed over Najaf, Kerbala, and Diyala province. More handovers are imminent. (Meanwhile, of course, whole Baghdad neighborhoods are controlled by the insurgency.)

In spite of handing over cities to local strongmen, US troop losses continue to trend upward; stated simply: we are losing.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey declares "Americans are walking away from this war" and proclaims that we have to withdraw by summer 2006 to prevent permanent damage to the military. The war is logistically unsupportable.

The current trend of Bush approval numbers puts him in Nixon territory by March 2006. Fear of losing control of Congress and the resulting impeachment drives the GOP to drastically change course.

There's more; check out the site. The upshot is that we will be mostly, if not entirely, out of Iraq by the end of next year. Honorably or not, we are leaving.

[AndyTiedye]

5. That Was Always the Plan

It was about 130,000 before the runup to the "election",
they brought in more for that, and they were always planning
to drop back to 130,000 after that. Not a real reduction.

[54anickel]

3. I read somewhere that Zebari, acting on his own, has been asking

the coalition to stay. The article stated without taken it up with the rest of the council. He seems to be the only one that keeps hammering on elevated violence after the forces pull out.

I've been trying to find that article the last 2 days, but no luck.