Italy to Pull All of Its Troops From Iraq

[tocqueville]

By MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 59 minutes ago

ROME - Italy will withdraw all its troops from Iraq by the end of this year, the defense minister said Thursday in the first official timetable for Rome to end its mission.

Defense Minister Antonio Martino said in an address to a parliamentary committee that the mission "will be considered concluded at the end of the year having definitively completed its mission."

Italy has 2,600 troops based in southern Iraq. The country's military mission will be phased out gradually over the year and a civilian force will replace it, Martino said.

The withdrawal was being made in agreement with allies and according to a timetable that allows for Iraq's reconstruction, Martino said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060119/ap_on_re_eu/italy_iraq

[joemurphy]

1. Rats...another defection in the "coalition of the willing" n/t

[TheBaldyMan]

2. Does this make Berlusconi a macaroni-eating surrender monkey

for not staying the course and taking as long as it takes to get the job done?

Will there be a lot of WWII jokes about Italians re-cycled?