Rice to meet Italian minister ahead of Iraq troop pullout

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http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-05-27T171443Z_01_L27464016_RTRUKOC_0_US-ITALY-USA-IRAQ.xml&archived=False

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ROME (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet her new Italian counterpart on June 12 in Washington to discuss issues including Rome's plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq, Italy's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Italy's centre-left Prime Minister Romano Prodi has vowed to live up to campaign promises for a swift pull-out, recently calling the Iraq war a "grave error".

Prodi, elected last month, is still drawing up a timetable to withdraw Italy's 2,800 soldiers. He is expected to speed up plans by his centre-right predecessor Silvio Berlusconi that would have ended the Iraq mission by the end of the year.

Military sources have suggested this might now happen within several months.

[cliss]

1. I wonder what she is going to tell him?

As if I didn't know.

She is going to beg the FM for more time. Forget the arrogance and finger-pointing and the tough-girl boots. Now is the time to sit down on your bended knees and BEG. That's right, grovel.

The Italians are not pulling out all their troops in June. Just most of them. Certainly enough to give the Italian voters their money's worth.

Condi, your big pretense is not worth it any longer. The price is just too high for other countries to participate in your Barnum & Bailey's Three-Ring Catastrophe.