[T]here are Italians of a certain age who still consider Americans to be "the guys who helped us kick out the Nazis after we got rid of Mussolini".

They also may remember how Il Duce came into power in the first place. He wasn't just a dangerous moron, but he was initially a mind-bogglingly popular moron, sort of like Bush. (I'm always leery of facile parallels, but some of the early rhetoric about national security is resonant)