ROME - Italy`s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday that the time had come for Rome to "begin to discuss" with the government of Iraq and its allies "the possibility of a gradual withdrawal" of Italian troops from the country.
In an opinion piece for the Italian daily Il Foglio due to be published on Thursday, Berlusconi appears to be preparing his allies in the US-led coalition for the prospect of a full withdrawal of Italy`s 3,300 troops from Iraq.
The prime minister said the move was "a natural political evolution" of its commitment in Iraq.
"To disengage gradually a certain number of soldiers from territorial control functions and from reconstruction assistance -- agreeing each step with those receiving our help, and with the coalition allies -- is the natural political evolution of a battle which continues," Berlusconi is quoted by the paper as saying.
The comments follow Berlusconi`s surprise declaration on Tuesday that Italy, one of US President George W. Bush`s staunchest European allies, would begin to "reduce" its troop contingent, based in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah, from September.
Berlusconi said Italy could be proud of its contribution to the restoration of peace in Iraq and would do nothing to hinder its reconstruction.
"It is with these feelings and these political conditions that Italy can start discussing with the Baghdad authorities and with the coalition allies the gradual withdrawal of its mission in Nasiriyah, from next September," he wrote.
Berlusconi said that since the January 30 elections, "one can begin to say `mission accomplished`," though he did not rule out the need in the future for "serious political, military and diplomatic commitments" to sustain the nascent Iraqi democracy.
"We are happy to have been on the right side of history, and to have been able to reap the first fruits of a stategy of peace and freedom, of security and democracy, which is fulcrum of the Western reaction to the dramatic lesson of America`s September 11 and Madrid`s March 11," he wrote.
Berlusconi, who pledged to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Washington in its "war against terror" in the wake of September 11, insisted that Italy had been right in its "difficult decision" to back US President George W. Bush.
"More and more people are recognising that we were right, that political stability at all costs was no longer, for a long time, the winning stategy to disperse armed fanaticism, and that someone in the West had to represent and express the great majority of the Arab and Islamic peoples` desire for change," he said.
03/16/2005 14:05 GMT