Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was accused today of bowing to pressure from the United States after he apparently backtracked on an announcement that Italian troops would start withdrawing from Iraq this September.
"It's a world record. The withdrawal of an announced withdrawal in half a day," said Francesco Rutelli, leader of the centre left opposition.
Mr Berlusconi told a television chat show earlier this week that he wanted to begin reducing Italy's 3,000-strong contingent in September, but he later said he had never set a fixed date for any pullout.
"It was only my hope ... If it is not possible, it is not possible. The solution should be agreed with the allies," he told reporters.
Top selling Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica agreed that Mr Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had forced Mr Berlusconi to retract his earlier statement.
Berlusconi himself angrily denied any U-turn and accused the press of misinterpreting his remarks. "What has happened in the newspapers is a case of intellectual dishonesty," he said today.
Italy has the fourth largest foreign contingent in Iraq after the US, British and South Korean forces and any eventual withdrawal ahead of the other main partners would leave a hole in Iraq's international security network.
But the majority of Italians are opposed to the deployment. The death earlier this month of an Italian intelligence officer, killed by US forces while leading a hostage to freedom, has only intensified those feelings.
Political analysts said Mr Berlusconi was having to play a skilful balancing act, battling to keep both the Italians and his foreign allies happy.
But Mr Berlusconi's comments will certainly have set alarm bells ringing in both Washington and London, and made clear that Rome wants to be out of Iraq by the time of the Italian general elections, which are due in the first five months of 2006.