Peter Popham (Extracted from "Berlusconi I tried to talk Bush out of invading Iraq", The Independent, 31 October 2005)

"Less than six months away from a general election, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has urged his voters to believe that he opposed the Iraq war from the outset. His declaration came in a television interview as he was preparing to fly to Washington for talks with President Bush.. . .

Marco Rizzo, a Communist MEP, said 'Berlusconi the pacifist? ... He wants the wine bottle full, the wife drunk and the money in his wallet ... Berlusconi has made his choice. His reconsideration, on the eve of the election, is a case of crocodile tears.' "

[Ed So one rat wants to leave the sinking ship! It's becoming apparent that there'll be no peace in Iraq unless the Sunnis are given predominant power over the Shias again (as in Saddam's time) or repressed. America can do neither. As was revealed yesterday by Stuart Bowen, the US Special Inspector-General for Iraq reconstruction, the Bush administration had no plans for the reconstruction of Iraq when they invaded (except, of course, to mount guard on the Oil Ministry in Baghdad -- the only government building not destroyed by "Shock and Awe" bombing.]