A withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq was expected to be discussed Monday during talks in Washington between U.S. President George W. Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, dpa reorted. The meeting comes at a particularly delicate time in what have been traditionally warm relations between leaders of the two countries. Officials in Washington are said to be irked by Berlusconi's comments suggesting he opposed the war in Iraq. According to extracts of a television interview to be aired later on Monday, Berlusconi had "repeatedly tried" to talk the U.S. president out of going to war and remained unconvinced that "war was the best system to make a country democratic" or to topple a dictator. The Berlusconi government publicly sided with the Bush administration both before and after its decision to go to war to oust Saddam Hussein. Italy did not take part in the war but later sent around 3,000 peacekeeping troops there despite strong domestic opposition. With his popularity sagging in the polls, the Italian premier is said to be pushing for a pull-out of Italian troops from Iraq in time for the next general election, likely to take place in April. --mor 1402 Local Time 1102 GMT
