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(ANSA) - Rome, October 29 - In a television interview to be aired next week, Premier Silvio Berlusconi says he repeatedly tried to convince American President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq .

In the lengthy interview to be shown on private TV channel La7 on Monday, Berlusconi says that: "I was never convinced that war was the best way to make a country democratic and to bring it out of a bloody dictatorship .

"I tried many times to convince the American president not to wage war... I tried to find other ways and solutions, even through joint action with African leader (Libya's Muammar) Gaddafi .

"We didn't succeed and there was a military operation but I believed military action should have been avoided." The comments were released by La7 two days before Berlusconi was due to visit Washington .

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The Italian parliament's intelligence watchdog committee Copaco has announced that it is holding an inquiry into the La Repubblica allegations .

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