Italy said today it will send several thousand troops to Iraq to help keep order and assist with medical and humanitarian aid.
Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told the Senate, the upper house of parliament that the size of the contingent would number between 2,500 and 3,000 troops from the army and navy, but that it would not have a combat role.
Parliament approved the proposal with the support of the centre-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi which has a majority in both the upper and lower houses. Most opposition centre-left parlamentarians abstained, with only a small group voting against the proposal.
The troops would help with policing, mine-clearing and protecting workers providing medical assistance and distributing humanitarian aid. Frattini said the situation in Iraq was "becoming precarious by the day" and that Italy, which supported the US-led invasion, had to act quickly in order to help the population.
"Our moral obligation is to intervene today, immediately, to help the Iraqi population," he said. Frattini said Italy would build field hospitals, help repair damaged water distribution systems and guard against looting. "Iraq has to be given back to the Iraqi people," he said.