[Excerpt: "There is a plan to withdraw 300 troops by September if an agreement is reached between the allies and the Iraqi government," he said. Mr Berlusconi made a surprise announcement in early March that Italian troops would start leaving Iraq in September.]
http://www.dawn.com/2005/04/01/int8.htm 300 troops to quit Iraq in Sept: Berlusconi ROME, March 31: Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday Italy planned to withdraw 300 soldiers from Iraq in September - if the United States and Britain agree. "Before the end of August, thousands of members of Iraq's security forces will be trained and this will make the presence of certain troops unnecessary," Berlusconi said on RAI television. "There is a plan to withdraw 300 troops by September if an agreement is reached between the allies and the Iraqi government," he said. Mr Berlusconi made a surprise announcement in early March that Italian troops would start leaving Iraq in September. US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair played down his comments by saying that no troop withdrawal from Iraq has been ordered and that the Italian leader would not act unilaterally. Mr Berlusconi later clarified that the troops would only leave if agreement was reached among the allies. Italy's 3,300-strong Iraq contingent, based in the British-controlled south, is the fourth largest after those of the United States, Britain and South Korea. Following the statement two weeks ago, Mr Berlusconi was accused - even by members of the center-right coalition - of announcing the withdrawal purely to make electoral gains in regional polls scheduled Sunday and Monday. -AFP enditem ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
