Berlusconi Blows It

According to the Associated Press, at the end of the G-8 summit, the day after the evil doers blew up three trains and a bus in London killing over 50 and injuring 700, Italy's Premier Berlusconi said Italy would start to pull its troops out of Iraq in the fall.

Berlusconi tried to sugar coat it implying it was time to withdraw Italy's contingent because Iraqi security forces are becoming increasingly capable of securing the country.

Even if we accept Berlusconi's explanation at face value, the evil doers won't. After the London attacks a group calling itself the Secret Organization of the al-Qaida Jihad in Europe claimed responsibility for the attacks. In addition to taking credit for the attack the band of evil doer wannabees also threatened attacks in Italy and Denmark:

We warned the British government and the British people repeatedly. We have carried out our promise and carried out a military attack in Britain after great efforts by the heroic mujahideen over a long period to ensure its success.

We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all crusader governments that they will receive the same punishment if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

No matter what the Italians say, the evil doers will claim they attacked London, killed 50 and injured 700 others, then threatened the Italians who immediately announced their withdrawal from Iraq. The lesson - terrorism worked.

Added to today's Beltway Traffic Jam.

Comments

[opine6]

Ill-timed announcement. Now it looks like the Italians are caving. NOT-a-good!

[Rod Stanton]

He stood by us for years. finally ran out of guts. Given that the Communist/Socialt Party is the #1 ( but has less than 20% of the voters in a many party system) in Italy and the failure of the Brits to defend themselves or get the killers; I can not be mad at him. Disapointed yes. Mad no.
We need to start doing a better job ourselves.Since Mar the terrorists have been scoring victory after victory in Iraq. Killing over 1,800 Iraquis and destroying $billions of infrastructure. He may feel that he can not count on us to get the job done.