The Italian job: In a follow-up to Jon’s earlier posting, the rapidly deteriorating relationship between George Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi seems to be accelerating. As reported by the Christian Science Monitor, Berlusconi, in a “behind the scenes effort” to convince Bush not to go to war he even asked Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to help him.

That would have scored some points with the Repugs!

Berlusconi is coming to visit Bush just five months befpre his re-election bid and he’s coming to discuss something very delicate — the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq. A former Bush advisor, David Frum, told Italy’s La Stampa that Bush would likely view Berlusconi’s remarks as “treacherous”:

“What Berlusconi said has damaged his personal relationship with Bush. In politics, it is sometimes good to be cynical, but not to appear cynical. Berlusconi’s words and their meaning seemed very cynical,” said Frum, a political scientist at the neoliberal American Enterprise Institute think-tank in Washington.

“The Bush administration’s perception of Berlusconi has long been very positive. Bush [has made] it plain that he enjoyed his company and appreciated the sacrifices Italy has made in the war on terror. But maybe Bush thought Berlusconi a stronger leader than he actually is,” Frum continued. “I think that from now on, it will be very difficult for the president to confide in Berlusconi, to believe and trust him.”

The Italian-American waters are further muddied by allegations from a lleft-leaning Italian newspaper that has accused an intelligence official of passing forged documents to the United States suggesting that Saddam Hussein had been seeking uranium in Africa. Can you spell “yellow cake”?

In a statement today, Berlusconi said he appreciated the work that Nicolo Pollari, director of the SISMI intelligence agency, was doing and rejected suggestions that he should resign as a result of the allegations.

At least Bush and Berlusconi still share one thing — loyalty to corrupt subordinates — at least until the investigation gets too close.