Italian forces to withdraw from Iraq by September

The Italian prime minister Sylvio Berlyskoni announced he will start the withdrawal of his forces gradually as from September after the consent of the parliament to extend the presence of the Italian forces composed of 3000 troops for other 6 months.

The spokesman for the White House Scott McClellan played down the importance of the declaration made by Rome saying that there is no connection between this declaration and the killing of the Italian intelligence officer Nicolai Kaleibari. He explained that the withdrawal will be linked to the ability of the Iraqi government and forces to shoulder more responsibilities.

Italy, however, is not the only state which announced that withdrawal of its forces. Earlier Ukraine, Holland and Bulgarian did so. A matter which was considered by observers to mark the beginning of disintegration of the international coalition led by the USA since 2003 despite the American pressures on these countries to stay in Iraq.