Italy to withdraw from Iraq
(Xinhuanet)
Updated: 2006-05-21 15:26
BEIJING, May 21 -- Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said on
Saturday that the new government will convene next week to work out a withdrawal
plan to pull out Italy's troops from Iraq.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema.[file
photo] |
D'Alema, who is also a deputy prime minister, said that the meeting would
likely be held on Wednesday.
Early on, Italy's new Prime Minister Romano Prodi said his government wanted
to bring home Italy's remaining 2,600 troops from Iraq. He said his government
felt the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a "grave mistake".
But Prodi has promised to make the move in coordination with the Iraqi
government and the other foreign forces in Iraq, according to some government
officials.
D'Alema said the new government would continue to help the Iraqi people, but
Italy's presence in Iraq would be totally civilian in nature.
"We are not running away but we want to convert our commitment into a
civilian presence in the best tradition of Italy," he said.
The previous government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi planed on
bringing home 1,000 more troops by the end of June and the rest by the end of
the year.
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