Italy to Get the "Spanish Treatment?"

Thus far, staunch U.S. ally Italy has managed to avoid or prevent any major terrorist attacks on its soil or forces in Iraq. That may be changing with the upcoming change of government in Italy, however.

A bomb blast rocked an Italian convoy on a road in southern Iraq on Thursday, killing four people — three Italian soldiers and one from Romania, the Defense Ministry said.

An officer with the Carabinieri was seriously wounded and was taken to a U.S. hospital about 93 miles from Kuwait City, Defense Minister Antonio Martino said.

The roadside bomb targeted a four-vehicle convoy carrying 17 troops to relieve those at the local Iraqi police station in the city of Nasiriyah.

Romano Prodi, who will head the next Italian government, said he had no plans to speed up Italy's withdrawal because of the bombing. Prodi had opposed the war and has pledged to bring Italian troops home by the end of the year.

"Our position is not changed," Prodi said at a news conference at his coalition's headquarters. "We've discussed it with the whole coalition."

Prodi's extreme left coalition allies seized on the news to criticize Premier Silvio Berlusconi's decision to send troops to Iraq and to demand a quicker withdrawal.

Could the terrorists, noticing a leftist government on the eve of taking power, be turning up the heat in Italy to get Italians to demand the withdrawl of its troops in Iraq? After all, if it worked on Spain, why wouldn't it work on Italy, too? Don't be surprised if we read more about dead Italians in the coming weeks and months.

Open trackbacked to OTB.