Rome
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said this week that he tried “many times” to persuade President Bush not to invade Iraq. “I was never convinced that war was the best way to make a country democratic or to enable it to escape from a bloody dictatorship,” he said before leaving for a state visit to Washington. His opponents immediately dismissed the statement as an attempt to boost his flagging standing in the polls. Berlusconi, a staunch Bush ally, sent 3,000 troops to Iraq even though most Italians were opposed to the war. He faces re-election in the spring. Rival Romano Prodi, who says he will pull Italian troops out of Iraq if elected, is currently 10 points ahead in the polls.
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