"we consider the war in Iraq and the occupation of the country a grave error."

New Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi didn't mince words addressing Italy's Senate in describing his decision to begin withdrawing Italian troops from Iraq. Prodi said,

"We consider the war in Iraq and the occupation of the country a grave error."

"It has not resolved, but complicated, the situation of security."

"Terrorism has found a new base in Iraq and new excuses for terror attacks both inside and outside the country."

That's what I was telling people would be the outcome of a US invasion of Iraq back in 2002. But even if Prodi had been the Italian Prime Minister then instead of Bush's corrupt crony Silvio Berlusconi (who shares with Bush the attitude that if they do something it is by definition legal), it wouldn't have stopped Bush from invading Iraq. He ignored plenty of other foreign leaders (Schroeder, Chirac, Mubarak, etc) in getting us involved in this absurd, tragic folly.