by Denis Barnett
ROME - Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday denied that his allies had forced him to revise his plans to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq, saying his comments had been misinterpreted in the press.
Berlusconi has taken a battering from the press and opposition parties, which said he had been forced into an ignominious climbdown by his more powerful allies in Washington and London over his stated intention to withdraw Rome's troops from Iraq.
But Berlusconi hit back Thursday, saying: "I have no reason to correct myself."
"It's been a completely invented story, the result of disinformation" in the press, he told reporters while campaigning in northern Italy for next month's regional elections.
Opposition parties have charged that Berlusconi's "troops home" comment are a cynical ploy to boost support for his flagging Forza Italia party ahead of the polls, seen as an important indicator for next year's general elections.
"In what I said there is no possibility of seeing a U-turn, a change, something which conflicted with what I have always told the allies," insisted Berlusconi.
He went from announcing he would begin withdrawing troops from Iraq in September in a television chat show Tuesday night to saying a day later -- after a phone call from Bush -- that he "hopes" he will be able to withdraw his forces.
Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday responded by saying that no troop withdrawal was programmed and that Berlusconi would not act unilaterally.
"Ours are not occupation troops, they are training the Iraqi security forces," said Berlusconi on Thursday.
"When Iraq....will have the ability to defend itself on its own, we will progressively reduce our presence. That this can begin at the end of the summer is something linked with the training programme," he added.
Berlusconi said it was "obvious" that any plans to reduce the multi-national force in Iraq, including Italian troop numbers, "can only occur in the closest agreement with the Iraqi government and our allies".
The episode is particularly damaging to Berlusconi's reputation because since his election in 2001 he has pledged to make Italy a more important player in Europe and the world.
To that end, he has sought a greater role for Rome in the Middle East peace process, dispatched troops to Iraq as part of the US-led coalition and lobbied fiercely for an Italian seat on the UN Security Council.
When it comes to the crunch however, the events of the last two days show that Italy cannot act alone.
Opposition leader Romano Prodi said Berlusconi had been ignominiously "called to order" by Bush.
"It's not possible that one evening you have a specific plan on the withdrawal of the troops and that 24 hours later, you back-track because you've been called to order," Prodi said, accusing Berlusconi of damaging Italy's "dignity".
The press said the 68-year-old prime minister had been forced to back-track after Bush had told him to toe the coalition line on Iraq.
The conservative Corriere della Sera said the US and British leaders had "put the brakes on" their Italian counterpart.
"In a serious country the head of government cannot allow himself to make statements so ambiguous when it concerns the life and death of so many human beings," the newspaper said.
The left-wing La Repubblica, which said Bush and Blair had "stopped" Berlusconi, said Berlusconi's excuse to Bush "has not diluted the feeling of an Italian botch-up".

03/17/2005 17:55 GMT