Italy ready to send peacekeeping contingent to Iraq: Berlusconi

ROME (AFP) Apr 10, 2003
Italy is ready to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in his first reaction to the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad.

"Italy is ready to send a peacekeeping contingent to Iraq after parliamentary approval," Berlusconi told reporters during a local election tour in Pescara, Italy.

"I'm very glad the war is over," he added.

Berlusconi predicted a post-Saddam Iraq in two phases: "The first will be the withdrawal of the allies, the second will be the involvement of the international institutions."

"One must remember that there is an absolute power vacuum (in Iraq) and that people are very frightened by the possibility of revenge."

SPACE.WIRE