Dailies and periodicals” “

The tragic terrorist attack at Nassiriya, which cost the lives of 18 Italians (16 military and two civilians), monopolises the attention of the main international dailies, once again trying to come to grips with the “post-war” crisis in Iraq . “A car bomb destroys the Italian police headquarters in southern Iraq”, is the front page headline in the Herald Tribune (13/11), over an article in which John F. Burns and Terence Neilan recall that “the some 2,300 Italian military are in service in southern Iraq as part of the multinational force under British command based in Basra… The explosion was the first attack on the Italian forces since their arrival in Iraq, in July”. “Iraq: the price of useless deaths”, is the front-page comment in Le Monde (13/11), which in its internal pages continues its analysis of the Iraqi “quagmire”, and in its news round-up recalls that “during and after the war, thousands of civilians were killed at Nassiriya, as in the suburbs of Baghdad or in the Sunni stronghold of Fallouja. The families accuse the brutal and ‘bunkerized’ American military, devoid of interpreters, and above all badly prepared for combat in an urban environment”. “They did not die in vain”, by contrast, is the headline dedicated to the terrorist attack of Nassiriya by the Italian Catholic daily, Avvenire (13/11), in which Marina Corradi writes: “This time it was the turn of the Italian soldiers (…) All these soldiers of ours – some little more than kids, and many as usual youths or former youths from Southern Italy – did not die without a reason, as some might have been tempted to claim (…). What happened at Nassiriya is a massacre, and massacres happen in war. And Italy has declared no war”. The major Spanish dailies also open their edition of 13 November with the massacre of Nasiriya and show the photo of a soldier in a state of shock in front of the devastated barracks. “Iraq is being Lebanized” is the grim title of the editorial in the Spanish daily El País (13/11), which declares that “the selective attacks against the occupying forces make the situation in Iraq increasingly untenable”. The paper points out that “conditions do not exist to guarantee security and Italy, shocked and moved, has announced that it will maintain its commitments, but it is probable that other governments will think twice before sending troops to a scenario that is rapidly becoming Lebanized” . The front page of another Spanish daily, La Vanguardia (13/11), declares that “Italy has received the worst lethal blow in Iraq” and explains that “Silvio Berlusconi has announced that his troops will not pull out”. La Razón (13/11) declares that “a change of policy is needed in Iraq” and calls the attack on the Italian troops “brutal”. The paper opens with the headline: “Iraqi guerrillas attack Italy” and says that “no one is safe in Iraq”. The editorialists of the paper underline “the urgent need to hand power over to an Iraqi administration, equipping it with its own security forces”. The ABC (13/11) for its part suggests that “the Bush administration seems to be studying the possibility of changing its timetable for the democratic transition”. “In spite of the grief and solidarity with the Italian military, there must be a commitment to reconstruct Iraq. Surrendering to the professionals of terror would mean opening the doors to general instability”. The German press also focuses on the effects of the terrorist attack on Italian political life: “Italy had not predicted, had not wished to predict, that its contingent in Iraq could become the objective of an attack”, say Andrea Nüsse and Roman Arens in the Frankfurter Rundschau del 13/11. “The minister of defence Antonio Martino had always spoken of the mission of Italian troops and carabinieri in terms of ‘humanitarian intervention’. The car bombs have catapulted the country from the illusion into a profound sense of grief, and immediately into a political dispute”. “Solidarity for the Carabinieri and their families: Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi pronounced these words immediately after the terrorist attack at Nassiriya. The opposition held itself back out of a sense of duty, but only for a few hours”, writes Birgit Schönau in the Süddeutsche Zeitung of 13/11 and adds with regard to the government: “The victims of Nassiriya are a further blow, still difficult to evaluate, for the already shaky coalition”. “That Italy is expressing grief and compassion for the families is undeniable. But it would not be a democratic country if the voices of the opposition were not to recall at this time the strong resistance of the Italian people to the war or the three million who protested in the streets of Rome on 16 February”, says Die Welt of 13/11. ———————————————————————————————————– ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1248 N.ro relativo : 78 Data pubblicazione : 14/11/2003