Vance
11-30-2003, 02:22 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/11/30/sprj.irq.spaniards.killed/index.html
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain will stay in Iraq and continue to support the U.S-led coalition despite the weekend deaths of seven Spanish intelligence agents near Baghdad, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar told the nation.
"Our presence in Iraq makes sense," Aznar said in a nationally televised address Sunday. "Our freedom is threatened by the terrorists, who act wherever they can.
"We are where we have to be and won't abandon (the effort). We will carry out our mission."
Aznar spoke as the bodies of the seven agents were flown to Madrid. The agents, assigned to Spain's National Intelligence Center, were ambushed and killed south of Baghdad on Saturday.
An eighth agent who survived the attack returned to Spain with the bodies of his slain comrades.
Aznar cut short a weekend away from Madrid to rush back to the capital following the attack. Wearing a black suit and black tie, he told Spaniards that withdrawal from Iraq would be the "worst alternative" and called on them to stand united to get through the shock of the agents' deaths.
He said Italians, Britons, Americans, Poles, Iraqi civilians and international diplomats have suffered losses in Iraq as well.
Aznar read the names of the seven Spanish agents and said they were all career military personnel.
"No one knew the risks better than them, but in spite of that, they wanted to fight terrorism" in Iraq, he said.
The slain agents were identified as Alberto Martinez Gonzalez, Jose Merino Olivera, Jose Carlos Rodriguez Perez, Jose Lucas Egea, Alfonso Vega Calvo, Luis Ignacio Zanon Tarazona and Carlos Baro Ollero.
The agent who survived the attack, with just slight wounds, was identified as Jose Manuel Sanchez Riera.
Aznar said a day of national mourning would be declared to coincide with the funerals, which have yet to be scheduled.
A Spanish Hercules C-130 based in Kuwait retrieved the remains Sunday at a morgue at Baghdad airport and returned to Kuwait.
The caskets were then transferred to an Airbus A310 for the flight to Madrid, a senior aide to Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo told CNN.
On Saturday, the Airbus flew from Madrid to Kuwait with Trillo and Jorge Dezcallar, director of Spain's National Intelligence Center. Trillo and Dezcallar were expected to return with the caskets to Madrid Sunday night.
The remains of the agents were to undergo autopsies at a military hospital in southern Madrid later Sunday.
Stay the course!
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain will stay in Iraq and continue to support the U.S-led coalition despite the weekend deaths of seven Spanish intelligence agents near Baghdad, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar told the nation.
"Our presence in Iraq makes sense," Aznar said in a nationally televised address Sunday. "Our freedom is threatened by the terrorists, who act wherever they can.
"We are where we have to be and won't abandon (the effort). We will carry out our mission."
Aznar spoke as the bodies of the seven agents were flown to Madrid. The agents, assigned to Spain's National Intelligence Center, were ambushed and killed south of Baghdad on Saturday.
An eighth agent who survived the attack returned to Spain with the bodies of his slain comrades.
Aznar cut short a weekend away from Madrid to rush back to the capital following the attack. Wearing a black suit and black tie, he told Spaniards that withdrawal from Iraq would be the "worst alternative" and called on them to stand united to get through the shock of the agents' deaths.
He said Italians, Britons, Americans, Poles, Iraqi civilians and international diplomats have suffered losses in Iraq as well.
Aznar read the names of the seven Spanish agents and said they were all career military personnel.
"No one knew the risks better than them, but in spite of that, they wanted to fight terrorism" in Iraq, he said.
The slain agents were identified as Alberto Martinez Gonzalez, Jose Merino Olivera, Jose Carlos Rodriguez Perez, Jose Lucas Egea, Alfonso Vega Calvo, Luis Ignacio Zanon Tarazona and Carlos Baro Ollero.
The agent who survived the attack, with just slight wounds, was identified as Jose Manuel Sanchez Riera.
Aznar said a day of national mourning would be declared to coincide with the funerals, which have yet to be scheduled.
A Spanish Hercules C-130 based in Kuwait retrieved the remains Sunday at a morgue at Baghdad airport and returned to Kuwait.
The caskets were then transferred to an Airbus A310 for the flight to Madrid, a senior aide to Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo told CNN.
On Saturday, the Airbus flew from Madrid to Kuwait with Trillo and Jorge Dezcallar, director of Spain's National Intelligence Center. Trillo and Dezcallar were expected to return with the caskets to Madrid Sunday night.
The remains of the agents were to undergo autopsies at a military hospital in southern Madrid later Sunday.
Stay the course!