Silvio, a true friend...

Bush a misunderstood, sensitive man: Italian PM
May 31, 2004

US President George W Bush is often misunderstood by those who do not know him personally and are unaware of his sensitive side, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a television interview today.

"He's a normal man, absolutely open to everyone's feelings. He's a family man, a husband, a father of two children who he loves very much. He's someone absolutely like us," Berlusconi, who revels in the role as Bush's closest European ally behind British Prime Minister Tony Blair, told RAI3's Telecamere.

"He has very deep feelings, especially for the US victims (in Iraq) ... his pain is deep."

Ahead of Bush's visit to Italy next Friday, which some opponents of the Iraq war have vowed to disrupt, Berlusconi defended US pre-emptive military action in the Middle East.

"The West isn't the aggressor, we must always remember this," Berlusconi said in an interview recorded yesterday, before the hostage drama in Saudi Arabia in which an Italian cook was killed.

"On the contrary, we are defending ourselves and trying to root out terrorists from their hideouts. That's what happened in Afghanistan and that is what Bush has said is the case in Iraq."

Berlusconi has rejected mounting calls from opposition leaders to withdraw Italy's 2,700 troops in Iraq and is sticking to a firmly pro-US line two weeks ahead of European and local elections which will be an important test of his popularity.

Berlusconi dismissed concerns about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, saying the former regime of Saddam Hussein could easily have destroyed or exported them and, in any case, the arrest of Saddam was justification enough.

"The real weapon of mass destruction in Iraq was Saddam Hussein - and he was found."