Prodi: "We'll Pull Out of Iraq Without Irritating the U.S."

Italian Prime Minister Romani Prodi spoke yesterday saying that Italian troops would leave Iraq without "irritating" their American allies. Prodi, a man who campaigned largely on the fact that he was against the invasion of Iraq, seems to have lost some of his electorate backbone.

"We are working in such a way that everything happens without irritating the Allies, least of all the Americans.

The Italian public was overwhelmingly against the United States-led, March 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent presence of Italian troops.

Prodi and Bush will meet for their first face-to-face since Prodi's re-election (he was Prime Minister from 1996-1998, and head of the European Commission from 1999-2004) during the July 15th-17th G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia.