03/18/05

The coalition of the willing is losing its will. Italy just announced it will withdraw its 3,000 troops from Iraq by the fall. The Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine are also in the process of pulling out or preparing to pull out an additional 4,750 troops. When Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, says, 'We have to have an exit strategy,' he is not kidding. With the departure of those nations, the coalition will be down to 21 countries. That is a massive cut from the days when the administration boasted the window dressing of 38 fighting countries and nearly 50 total allies (even as the United States accounted for 85 percent of the troops). President Bush downplayed Italy's imminent abandonment in a press conference this week. Bush said Berlusconi reassured him in a phone call 'that there was no change in his policy ...

http://tinyurl.com/4j4t3

from Boston Globe, by Derrick Z. Jackson


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp