SILVIO BERLUSCONI, BLOODIED!

Once again it has been proved that no amount or measure of security is enough once a determined person makes up his mind on perpetrating mayhem or taking the life of another. Late United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy made this observation a few short months before the assassin's bullets felled him in Dallas Texas in 1963. In Milan Italy, on December 13, 2009, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi again became the target of a murderous fool, who drew blood from him in a failed attempt at harming or even killing the prime minister?

Icheoku condemns this brazen attack on a public office holder and says, the attack was not just on Berlusconi but on all the people of Italy in general. He is their prime minister and represents them; hence any attack on him while functioning in his official capacity is an attack on the people who elected him and who he represents. The attacker whoever he is or in whatever mental condition he may be, should never be allowed to enjoy his full freedom again; he should be put away for good and for a very very long time as an atonement for this public assault and as a deterrent to would-be future copy-cat perpetrators? Acts of violence on any public official anywhere and anyplace should not be condoned by anyone, Icheoku inclusive; no matter the circumstance, and no one should be allowed to add to the problems of their respective societies which they are toiling day and night to find solutions to! The attack on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is one attack too many and should be condemned intoto and Icheoku hereby do!

Another teachable and poignant lesson from this attack is the failure of the security to protect their chief object of protection, for which they are employed and paid. At least someone among the prime minister's security detail should have seen this mad guy raise his hand to launch and should have blown him out of this world before he was able to launch his missile at the Prime Minister. But no, the team failed woefully and completely; only to live in the shame of not being able to protect the only one who they were employed to protect. Icheoku asks, what if the weapon of choice of the attacker was not a statue but a gun or knife or some other more lethal weapon? Italians should conduct an inquiry to unravel what went awry and figure out a way to guard against any future likely occurrence! No explanation is good enough for this lapse or collapse of security that enabled this monster to draw the blood of a seating Italian prime minister and no one should suggest otherwise. It was a total and complete failure of security and not even the infamous and despicable President George W. Bush shoe-throwing incident compares to this blatancy; at least President GW was nimble en0ugh to duck those unpolished dirty Iraqi shoes and denied the Iraqi-fanatic the joy of finding his intended target? But neither Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi nor his retinue of security details were able to see the statue-missile coming, until it was too late; with only a bloodied Prime Minister's mouth and face to show as evidence that the launched missile honed in well on its intended target.

Italian Prime Minister, 73 year old Silvio Berlusconi was attacked by a lunatic following a rally he held in central Milan to fight off series of virulent attacks waged on him in recent past. He slumped to the ground and was whisked away by his security guards to San Raffaele hospital for observation and treatment. Berlusconi sustained a gash cheek wound, bursted upper lip, a fractured tooth, a broken nose and bloodied face. The prime minister was mingling through a crowd of supporters of his People of Freedom party, in the square in front of the Duomo, the Milan’s Gothic cathedral, signing autographs. But unbeknownst to him and his security details and real supporters, a disgruntled attacker was lurking in their midst, waiting for opportunity; and eventually, like a viper, sprung the unsuspected attack! The attacker's weapon of choice, a statue of the Duomo, the city's world-famous cathedral with gargoyles the symbol the city of Milan.

The wild-eyed attacker, here pictured left, Massimo Tartaglia, 42, was arrested at the scene of the attack and is being held for assaulting a public official? According to available information, the attacker is a person of unsound mind and has been a mental patient at Milan’s Policlinico for the past 10 years? The attacker, a graphic designer at his lucid intervals, have no known political affiliations, no criminal record and was not among the small group of protesters at the rally, suggestive of a random spontaneous attack, but who knows until investigations are completed? Icheoku however says, he is a lunatic that would launch an attack on any public official and Mr. Massimo Tartaglia now qualifies as a crazed-out madman, only fit for the confines of a lunatic asylum and not the freedom to be around or near any public official. How dare this animal injure the Italian Prime Minister in this way, with his blood gushing out unto the holy ground of the Duomo? In a way, it reminded some historians and literature buffs of the Pompei Statue fountain and of Julius Caesar during his conspiratorial stabbing to death by the renegade Roman senators. But never again Romans!

Luckily, according to his prognosis, Berlusconi did not suffer any life threatening serious injury or concussion; although not in any way superficial, he bled much from his mouth, with two loose teeth, one of which was fractured. In the admitting hospital's words, "He has suffered trauma to the front of his face, around the lips and nose, and he has two loose teeth, one of which is fractured and there may be damage to the nasal bone. As a precaution, doctors have said that he should remain in hospital for the night for observation.” But in his usual defiant self characteristics, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told Italians not to worry about him; and in his own very words, despite being bloodied, he quipped, "I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry about me!"

It will be recalled that this is the second time that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been attacked publicly in a somewhat similar fashion. In 2004 he was hit on the head with a camera tripod while taking a walk in Rome. But being the survivor he is, the prime minister will pull through this challenge; it is just another nasty side of what public officers are once in a while, forced to put up with; and Icheoku wishes him well.

In summation, Icheoku agrees with Umberto Bossi, the leader of a coalition partner the Northern League, that this attack was an act of terrorism. Commenting on the attack Mr. Bossi said, "we have had a heavy climate for some time now and this is the first worrying sign. After what has happened today we need to raise our guard." Yelp, we agree that Italians should guard their prime minister better and save themselves the pain and agony of having their leader being humiliated again in this public way! Icheoku also agrees with Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, that this attack was "inexplicable and is to be firmly condemned". We hereby join the rest of the world in condemning the attack on Prime Minister Silvo Berlusconi. Lastly, borrowing the words of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Icheoku concurs, that the attack is a "grave and unusual gesture of aggression" against a sitting prime minister of Italy! To Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Icheoku wishes you quick parching up and pray you get over quickly the trauma that was such an unexpected and unprovoked attack. God bless!