December 17, 2005

"Today we find ourselves caught up in a war that the Italian parliament never agreed to," Piero Fassino, leader of the main Italian opposition party, the Democrats of the Left, was once quoted as saying.

Italian defense minister Antonio Martino have recently stated that the Italian government and the opposition which represents the central left are expected to reach an agreement over a scheduled withdrawal for the Italian troops from IRAQ. However he claimed that pulling out troops didn’t mean escaping from IRAQ.

A television group owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, plans to show an embarrassing documentary on the clandestine conduct of Italian troops in IRAQ, after it censored it for three days, the company officials stated earlier this week.

The footage, recorded by Italian troops deployed in Iraq in August 2004 in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah shows a fierce firefight between Italian occupation forces and Shia fighters.

In the 10-minutes film, an Italian patrol appears returning fire after being attacked. Then it shows one soldier shouting: "See that one running, take him out," and another saying "Look at that bastard moving, get him."

Berlusconi has been facing mounting dissatisfaction and pressure at home from his nation to pull the Italian forces from Iraq since June 2003 when he despatched 3,000 troops to Nasiriyah.

Like the U.S. President GEROGE W. BUSH, Berlusconi has repetitively claimed that those forces were on a "humanitarian mission" aimed at easing the suffering inflicted upon the Iraqi nation.

The documentary was supposed to be aired during a popular programme, blending satire and reportage, last week on Italia 1 channel, owned by Berlusconi's Mediaset group. But it was retracted on the grounds that it "provides a representation of Italy's military presence in Iraq which is far from everyday reality."

"Mediaset, after viewing the report, have decided not to broadcast it," the company said.

On Sunday Mediaset changed decided to air the film during "journalistic depth" programme on another of its stations.

"This film should be put back in its context and made understandable through a journalistic interpretation," according to Mediaset official Mauro Crippa.

In fact the public broadcaster RAI has shown it several times since Thursday.

Last May, the Italian parliament defeated a motion tabled by the centre-left opposition, urging Berlusconi's government order the withdrawal of Italy's 3,000 troops from IRAQ.

At that time, Mr. Berlusconi was quoted as telling the MPs that an early withdrawal from Iraq would represent "an offence to the memory of the fallen and the wonderful and hard job of our soldiers".

"It is our duty and our honour to stay until the very end with those who are making sacrifices and taking risks to defend the principles of the UN charter," he said, echoing similar statements by the American President GEROGE W. BUSH.

"Those who proclaim peace but do nothing to support it, help the enemies of peace."