My sense that Formigoni was a major opponent of desert storm might be based on seeing him argue against it on TV a couple of times. As I recall the standard of eloquence was not very high. The case on Formigoni and Oil for Food is quite strong and includes a letter with his signature. It is quite different from being friendly with Aziz as part of seeking peace and publicity (not in that order). I think the timing partly genuinely follows the timing of the Volker’s investigation and the communication from the UN to the procura di Milano.

I live in Italy. My anger over the right changing the laws to keep Berlusconi prosciolto and Previtti out of jail is dominates my view of Italian politics, although I recognise that other issues are more important to the everyday livelihood of Italians.

If I may just disagree with you on one claim you make, about Formigoni being “in 1991, perhaps the most prominent and eloquent Italian opponent of Desert Storm over shadowing the Italian left which was divided and confusing”. Aside from the fact that, as you probably noticed too, *any* Italian party coalition is “divided and confusing” (with the difference that, within Berlusconi’s coalition all the other member parties happily hate each other and are always threatening to withdraw their support for Forza Italia; whereas on the left the main problem is still the same as after 1989, they just don’t know what they’re supposed to become, to be called, what their logo should be, who should run as coalition leader, and so on…). Aside from that, I do not really recall Formigoni being on the front of opposition to Desert Storm at all. It was mostly the left, politicians, journalits, opinionists, who made the case against US intervention. Formigoni was not even that prominent back then. He was indeed the most prominent centre-right anti-war politician, but for this last war in Iraq, 2003 - perhaps you were conflating the two? His lowest point was actually welcoming Tareq Aziz in a visit to Italy just before the war. And I’m saying this as someone who was opposed to the war too. But shaking the hand of the number two of a dictatorship was not my idea of being anti-war. It was awful. Pure unprincipled opportunism and sycophancy.
I live in Lombardy, Formigoni is just one of the most despicable figures in politics here. He has his fans, especially among the Comunione & Liberazione people, who are a very tight and powerful if minority lobby. He is very arrogant and so full of himself. His social views are only marginally more advanced than those of Rocco Buttiglione. He wouldn’t have got where he is if it weren’t for the kind of political-religious connections he has.

The current scandal is a political move from his opponents, including those within the right. His Iraqi connections had already been brought up some time ago (and it didn’t come from freerepublic), so the choice to give it prominence now just before elections is rather cynical than a matter of principles alone. But you don’t fight fair with people who don’t fight fair. So, I too am hoping it has some effect.

By the way, public transport is plastered with campaign ads for Formigoni “il presidente di tutti”. Everybody’s president, hmm, I don’t think so. I was about to vandalise a bus just yesterday. I can only hope the money he used for those ads comes from his own pockets.