Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday he was against NATO intervention in Libya but had to go along with it, an admission that exposed the fragility of the alliance trying to unseat Muammar Gaddafi.
NATO warplanes have been bombing Libya under a U.N. mandate, but the alliance is under mounting strain because of the cost of the operation and the failure, after more than three months, to produce a decisive outcome.
Which is a problem when you consider that many NATO planes take off from Italian bases just north of Libya.
And the cost of being in a war that they don't particularly want to be in could hit home pretty soon
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Italy said July 6 it has decided to gradually reduce its military operations abroad, as the government grapples with a financial crisis which has forced it to pass a series of austerity cuts. ...
Italy has troops deployed in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Kosovo and is involved in NATO's military operations in Libya, much to the chagrin of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, Berlusconi's coalition ally.
Well, I doubt that Khaddafi could pull off a landing at Salerno to trigger the exit of Italy from the war. But should Greece default on their loans, the financial tremors would reach Italy pretty fast.
I wouldn't put a lot of money on the NATO efforts to continue much long after Italy leaves the war.
