ROME - From Spain to Ukraine via Hungary and now Italy, US President George W. Bush's European allies in Iraq are starting to thin out as they withdraw, or announce plans to withdraw, their troops.
Italy, whose Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to start pulling troops from September, joins at least five other European countries who have done or are thinking of doing likewise, or have scaled back their forces in Iraq.
Many of the withdrawals or scale-backs appear the result of growing public opposition to the war in Iraq and anger at rising casualty numbers.
Drawing ire from Washington, Spain's newly-elected leftwing government was the first to jump ship in April last year, following an electoral pledge in a country staunchly opposed to the Iraq war.
It followed deadly train bombings in Madrid which killed nearly 200 people, and which were blamed on Islamic extremists.
Outrage over the handling of the aftermath saw the centre-right government defeated, letting in the Socialists who were opposed to Spain's involvement in Iraq, and the country's 1,400 troops completed their withdrawal in May.
Berlusconi, Italian media commentators agreed Wednesday, also had an eye on upcoming regional elections next month, with the public in Italy also opposed to Rome's military presence in Iraq.
Moreover, Italy was outraged by the killing earlier this month of an Italian secret service agent, shot dead by US troops as he brought a journalist hostage to safety outside Baghdad airport.
A November 2003 bomb attack killed 17 Italian soldiers and two civilians, while five other Italian soldiers have died in clashes and accidents in Iraq.
Separately, Iraqi insurgents demanding that Italy withdraw its troops have kidnapped nine Italians, executing three of them.
Electoral pledges also brought home the first Ukrainian troops this week, after President Viktor Yushschenko made the withdrawal of the 1,650 troops a central promise of his campaign last year.
The first batch of 137 Ukrainians flew home Tuesday, while Yushchenko has said another 590 are to be repatriated in May with the rest to return home by October.
A total of 18 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in Iraq since deployment in August 2003.
Poland, which has lost 20 soldiers and civilians since the start of the war, announced last week that it would withdraw several hundred troops in July.
"We have a plan for 2005 and are confident that this year will be decisive and will enable us to withdraw from Iraq or reduce the Polish presence significantly," Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said.
Poland, a close ally of the United States in the Iraqi conflict despite strong domestic opposition, controls an area south of Baghdad. Following elections in Iraq on January 30, Warsaw already cut its contingent from 2,400 to 1,700 soldiers.
In Hungary, opposition to a military presence in Iraq prompted deputies to vote for the return of troops in December despite a request by the country's president that their mandate be extended until the Iraqi elections.
All 300 troops, who had been charged with logistics work in Hilla, south of Baghdad, returned in December.
A withdrawal of the 1,400-strong Dutch contingent has started and is to be completed by April, in line with the scheduled end of their mandate.
Bulgaria has talked of withdrawing its troops by the end of this year.
Portugal's 127 national guards returned home last month, also at the end of their mandate. They were welcomed by Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, who lost an election two weeks later to the opposition Socialists.
Along with Spain and Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Philippines have withdrawn their forces ahead of schedule.

03/16/2005 14:18 GMT