Dennis G
04-19-2004, 12:35 PM
Spain's Pullout Won't Hurt Ties With U.S.
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
By ED McCULLOUGH, Associated Press Writer
MADRID, Spain - Spain's withdrawal of its troops from Iraq (news - web sites) should not harm its long-term relations with the United States, the new foreign minister said in remarks published Monday, adding that his country will remain steadfast in the fight against terrorism.
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Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos also said the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will honor Spain's pledges at the recent Iraq Donor's Conference and help in Iraq's reconstruction and transition to democracy.
"We're not washing our hands" of the situation, Moratinos said in an interview Monday in the El Pais newspaper.
President Bush (news - web sites) expressed regret at the "abrupt" withdrawal in a five-minute phone call with Zapatero on Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
"The president stressed the importance of carefully considering future actions to avoid giving false comfort to terrorists or enemies of freedom in Iraq," McClellan said.
On Sunday, Zapatero ordered the 1,300 troops to return home as soon as possible, fulfilling a campaign pledge to a nation recovering from terrorist bombings that al-Qaida militants said were reprisal for Spain's support of the war.
"This decision should not affect bilateral relations between Spain and the United States," Moratinos said. He said aside from the issue of Iraq, Spain's agenda with the United States would be "wider and more attractive" under Zapatero.
Zapatero issued the recall just hours after his government was sworn in, saying there was no sign the United States would meet his demand for United Nations (news - web sites) control of the postwar occupation — his ultimatum for keeping troops there.
In the phone call, Bush urged that the withdrawal "take place in a coordinated manner that does not put at risk other coalition forces in Iraq," McClellan said.
Spanish troops have been stationed in south-central Iraq with responsibility for Diwaniya and the flashpoint Shiite holy city of Najaf. Eleven of the Spaniards have died since August, including seven intelligence agents in a highway ambush in November.
Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said there would not be a security vacuum in the area, though he did not say what country's troops would replace the Spanish soldiers.
"Numerically those are numbers that should be able to be replaced in fairly short order," Kimmitt said, adding that officials had been studying the issue since Zapatero was elected. "There will not be a security vacuum in that area at any time."
The troops are part of the 23-nation international peacekeeping force of 9,500 troops under Polish command. Poland will not be able to make up the difference itself, officials said Monday.
Zapatero's Socialist party won the March 14 general election amid allegations that outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, by backing the war in Iraq, had provoked commuter-train terrorist bombings that killed 191 people three days before the vote.
Zapatero has rejected claims that withdrawing troops would appear to be appeasing terrorists, saying his idea of removing them came long before the March 11 bombing.
Though Zapatero, a 43-year-old lawyer and career politician, had promised to remove Spanish troops, his immediate action was a setback for the United States as Moratinos prepared to travel to Washington to discuss the dispute with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites). He was scheduled to leave Tuesday.
The Bush administration has been eager to maintain an international veneer on the increasingly besieged coalition force in Iraq, which is dominated by its 130,000 American troops.
In an address at the Moncloa Palace, Zapatero said he had ordered Defense Minister Jose Bono to "do what is necessary for the Spanish troops stationed in Iraq to return home in the shortest time possible."
He cited his campaign pledge to bring the 1,300 troops in Iraq home by June 30, when their mandate expires, if the United Nations failed to take political and military control.
"With the information we have, and which we have gathered over the past few weeks, it is not foreseeable that the United Nations will adopt a resolution" that satisfies Spain's terms by its deadline, Zapatero said.
The latest poll showed 72 percent of Spaniards want the troops withdrawn.
U.S. officials said Zapatero's announcement was not a surprise.
"We knew from the recent Spanish election that it was the new prime minister's intention to withdraw Spanish troops from the coalition in Iraq," said a White House spokesman, Ken Lisaius.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a strong supporter of the U.S. line on Iraq, condemned Spain's decision and vowed to keep Canberra's 850 troops in the region.
"It's likely to encourage those who are opposed to the coalition to believe that if they can cause more bloodshed and trouble then more will pull out," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "It will encourage the insurgency, it will not encourage more peaceful activity in Iraq."
Zapatero said Bono would give details in coming days of the process of bringing the soldiers home, and that he himself had convened an urgent meeting of Parliament to discuss his decision.
For now, Spain will continue with scheduled troop replacements, including 190 troops to head to Iraq later Monday, the Defense Ministry said. About 240 new troops went to Iraq last week, in addition to 165 earlier this month, a ministry spokesman said. Corresponding numbers of troops in Iraq returned home.
Most Spanish political parties including the Socialists endorsed the decision. The now-opposition Popular Party immediately denounced it.
Mariano Rajoy, who ran against Zapatero in the election after Aznar decided not to seek another term, said the decision made Spain "much more vulnerable and weak in the face of terrorism in the face of terrorism."
Zapatero has "thrown in the towel" rather than try to exhaust all possibilities of getting a new U.N. resolution to meet his demands, Rajoy said.
In his announcement, Zapatero indicated that nothing argued for him to reverse the course of his campaign pledge.
"More than anything, this decision reflects my desire to keep the promise I made to the Spanish people more than a year ago," he said.
In a videotape found the night before the election, an Arabic-speaking man claiming to speak for al-Qaida said the bombings were punishment for Aznar's support of the war. Before then, Aznar's party had been expected to easily win.
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
By ED McCULLOUGH, Associated Press Writer
MADRID, Spain - Spain's withdrawal of its troops from Iraq (news - web sites) should not harm its long-term relations with the United States, the new foreign minister said in remarks published Monday, adding that his country will remain steadfast in the fight against terrorism.
*
Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos also said the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will honor Spain's pledges at the recent Iraq Donor's Conference and help in Iraq's reconstruction and transition to democracy.
"We're not washing our hands" of the situation, Moratinos said in an interview Monday in the El Pais newspaper.
President Bush (news - web sites) expressed regret at the "abrupt" withdrawal in a five-minute phone call with Zapatero on Monday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
"The president stressed the importance of carefully considering future actions to avoid giving false comfort to terrorists or enemies of freedom in Iraq," McClellan said.
On Sunday, Zapatero ordered the 1,300 troops to return home as soon as possible, fulfilling a campaign pledge to a nation recovering from terrorist bombings that al-Qaida militants said were reprisal for Spain's support of the war.
"This decision should not affect bilateral relations between Spain and the United States," Moratinos said. He said aside from the issue of Iraq, Spain's agenda with the United States would be "wider and more attractive" under Zapatero.
Zapatero issued the recall just hours after his government was sworn in, saying there was no sign the United States would meet his demand for United Nations (news - web sites) control of the postwar occupation — his ultimatum for keeping troops there.
In the phone call, Bush urged that the withdrawal "take place in a coordinated manner that does not put at risk other coalition forces in Iraq," McClellan said.
Spanish troops have been stationed in south-central Iraq with responsibility for Diwaniya and the flashpoint Shiite holy city of Najaf. Eleven of the Spaniards have died since August, including seven intelligence agents in a highway ambush in November.
Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said there would not be a security vacuum in the area, though he did not say what country's troops would replace the Spanish soldiers.
"Numerically those are numbers that should be able to be replaced in fairly short order," Kimmitt said, adding that officials had been studying the issue since Zapatero was elected. "There will not be a security vacuum in that area at any time."
The troops are part of the 23-nation international peacekeeping force of 9,500 troops under Polish command. Poland will not be able to make up the difference itself, officials said Monday.
Zapatero's Socialist party won the March 14 general election amid allegations that outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, by backing the war in Iraq, had provoked commuter-train terrorist bombings that killed 191 people three days before the vote.
Zapatero has rejected claims that withdrawing troops would appear to be appeasing terrorists, saying his idea of removing them came long before the March 11 bombing.
Though Zapatero, a 43-year-old lawyer and career politician, had promised to remove Spanish troops, his immediate action was a setback for the United States as Moratinos prepared to travel to Washington to discuss the dispute with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites). He was scheduled to leave Tuesday.
The Bush administration has been eager to maintain an international veneer on the increasingly besieged coalition force in Iraq, which is dominated by its 130,000 American troops.
In an address at the Moncloa Palace, Zapatero said he had ordered Defense Minister Jose Bono to "do what is necessary for the Spanish troops stationed in Iraq to return home in the shortest time possible."
He cited his campaign pledge to bring the 1,300 troops in Iraq home by June 30, when their mandate expires, if the United Nations failed to take political and military control.
"With the information we have, and which we have gathered over the past few weeks, it is not foreseeable that the United Nations will adopt a resolution" that satisfies Spain's terms by its deadline, Zapatero said.
The latest poll showed 72 percent of Spaniards want the troops withdrawn.
U.S. officials said Zapatero's announcement was not a surprise.
"We knew from the recent Spanish election that it was the new prime minister's intention to withdraw Spanish troops from the coalition in Iraq," said a White House spokesman, Ken Lisaius.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a strong supporter of the U.S. line on Iraq, condemned Spain's decision and vowed to keep Canberra's 850 troops in the region.
"It's likely to encourage those who are opposed to the coalition to believe that if they can cause more bloodshed and trouble then more will pull out," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "It will encourage the insurgency, it will not encourage more peaceful activity in Iraq."
Zapatero said Bono would give details in coming days of the process of bringing the soldiers home, and that he himself had convened an urgent meeting of Parliament to discuss his decision.
For now, Spain will continue with scheduled troop replacements, including 190 troops to head to Iraq later Monday, the Defense Ministry said. About 240 new troops went to Iraq last week, in addition to 165 earlier this month, a ministry spokesman said. Corresponding numbers of troops in Iraq returned home.
Most Spanish political parties including the Socialists endorsed the decision. The now-opposition Popular Party immediately denounced it.
Mariano Rajoy, who ran against Zapatero in the election after Aznar decided not to seek another term, said the decision made Spain "much more vulnerable and weak in the face of terrorism in the face of terrorism."
Zapatero has "thrown in the towel" rather than try to exhaust all possibilities of getting a new U.N. resolution to meet his demands, Rajoy said.
In his announcement, Zapatero indicated that nothing argued for him to reverse the course of his campaign pledge.
"More than anything, this decision reflects my desire to keep the promise I made to the Spanish people more than a year ago," he said.
In a videotape found the night before the election, an Arabic-speaking man claiming to speak for al-Qaida said the bombings were punishment for Aznar's support of the war. Before then, Aznar's party had been expected to easily win.