quote:
Opposition leader Romano Prodi says he got on the phone to the U.S. ambassador right away to demand an explanation: Why did the State Department issue a public announcement warning Americans in Italy to stay away from political rallies because of possible violence?The March 21 caution came in the final weeks of a vitriolic election campaign in which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a close U.S. ally, is trailing in the polls. To many opposition ears, the U.S. statement seemed to support Berlusconi's accusations that Prodi's alliance harbors fringe groups in its ranks that resort to violence.
Prodi's "outburst is meant to cover up the reality of things -- that the left is the home of people who practice violence," Berlusconi said.
Last weekend, the prime minister addressed Confindustria, the powerful employers' association, accusing opposition leaders of siding with the left and calling people who supported the opposition "out of their minds."
Sounds like another colonial lap dog is grasping at straws. Hopes the US fear campaign works as well as it did in Bolivia.