Incoming Spanish leader pledges to bring troops home from Iraq

Incoming Spanish leader pledges to bring troops home from Iraq

GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer
Monday, March 15, 2004


(03-15) 13:31 PST MADRID, Spain (AP) --

Spain's incoming prime minister pledged Monday to bring Spanish troops home from Iraq unless the United Nations takes control there, harshly criticizing the U.S.-led war even as he promised to maintain good relations with Washington.

A day after his Socialists swept Spain's ruling conservatives from power in elections overshadowed by terrorist bombings, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also promised to lead a more pro-European government that would restore "magnificent relations" with France and Germany -- which unlike Spain's outgoing government both opposed the Iraq war.

In a surprise defeat, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's conservatives on Sunday became the first government that backed Washington in Iraq to be voted from office.

The election was held amid charges that Aznar made Spain a target for terrorists by supporting the war, and that his government concealed possible connections between the attack and Islamic terrorists for political gain. Thursday's train bombings -- the worst terrorist attacks in Spain's history -- killed 200 people and wounded some 1,500.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/03/15/international1406EST0604.DTL

just like our 9/11 sure as hell ain't helping chimp