I tried repeatedly to talk the US out of invading Iraq, says Berlusconi
Italian Prime Minister tries to distance himself
from the White House
Silvio Berlusconi, one of George Bush's closest allies, says he repeatedly tried to talk the US president out of invading Iraq, in comments to be broadcast today.
In the television interview, which goes out on the day the Italian prime minister flies to Washington to meet Mr Bush, Mr Berlusconi says he even enlisted the help of the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gadafy, in behind-the-scenes efforts to stop America going to war.
"I have never been convinced war was the best way to succeed in making a country democratic and extract it from an albeit bloody dictatorship," he says. "I tried on several occasions to convince the American president not to wage war."
You really need manure-proof boots to read this bombast.
Coming after Lewis Libby's indictment capped a crisis week for the Bush administration, Mr Berlusconi's remarks will be seen by many in Washington as treacherous. Italy's prime minister is standing for re-election in just over five months and polls indicate that his support for Mr Bush is a major handicap. He became closely identified with Mr Bush soon after coming to office in 2001 and avoided criticism of US policy in the run-up to the war. In March 2003 he told parliament the use of force against Iraq was legitimate and Italy could not abandon the Americans "in their fight against terrorism".
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His latest remarks were nevertheless at odds with public perceptions of his stance and astonished his political rivals. "What's going on?" asked Romano Prodi, the leader of the centre-left. "Has he finally realised the war was wrong? Well, let him say so. He told Bush? Well, it means he doesn't count for anything at all."
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But at least one opposition politician suggested the prime minister might have been trying in advance to limit damage to his administration from the "CIA-gate" scandal. The document at the origin of the affair, which indicated that Saddam Hussein's regime tried to buy uranium in Africa, was allegedly forged by an Italian with links to the intelligence services.
The government has acknowledged that the head of Italy's military intelligence met the then national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, in September 2002, shortly before the document was distributed to US intelligence agencies.
Detailed reporting about the forgeries is here. Berlusconi manages to add new qualities of shame to his opportunism.
Posted: Mon - October 31, 2005 at 06:40 AM