Spain will pull its troops out of Iraq (!!!) [View All]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57707-2004Mar14.html

Spain's Socialist Party Defeats Popular Party

Elections Come 72 Hours After Worst Terrorist Attacks in Country's History

By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, March 14, 2004; 6:29 PM

MADRID, March 14 -- Casting their ballots against the bloody backdrop of the worst terrorist attacks in this country's history, Spaniards voted Sunday to oust the ruling Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, blaming his staunch backing of the American war in Iraq for the bombings that left 200 people dead.

In a stunning political upset, voters chose to give power to the opposition Socialist Party, whose leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has promised to immediately withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq, orient Spain's foreign policy away from the United States and restore good relations with anti-war European allies, France and Germany.

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