Okay, so maybe Iraq was about oil, after all

The Khaleej Times (UAE) says that RAI News (Italy) reported on Friday that, directly contrary to government claims,

Italian troops were sent to Iraq to secure oil deals worth 300 billion dollars, and not just for post-war humanitarian purposes....

A government report compiled months before the war broke out recommends that Italy, in case of conflict, should secure the region of Nasiriyah and the nearby area of Halfaya, south of Baghdad, so as to secure "a deal worth 300 billion dollars" [made in 1997 between Italy's largest energy producer, ENI, and Saddam Hussein].

I imagine this will further increase pressure on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, already committed to beginning an Italian troop withdrawal in September, to pull them out rather sooner and faster than he would prefer. Well, actually any pullout would be sooner and faster than he would prefer, but there you are.

The link to the Khaleej Times story is via The Raw Story; I gave no direct link to the RAI story because the site is in Italian, which I can't read. If you can, good for you and this is the link to the homepage.