Kerry has been endorsed by the incoming Spanish Socialist Prime Minister
Spain's Next Prime Minister Says U.S. Should Dump Bush
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 18, 2004; Page A23
MADRID, March 17 -- Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Wednesday described the U.S. occupation of Iraq as "a fiasco" and suggested American voters should follow the example set by Spain and change their leadership by supporting Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts for president in November.
"I said during the campaign I hoped Spain and the Spaniards would be ahead of the Americans for once," Zapatero said in an interview on Onda Cero radio. "First we win here, we change this government, and then the Americans will do it, if things continue as they are in Kerry's favor."
Zapatero, whose Socialist Party swept the governing Popular Party out of office in elections Sunday, just three days after terrorist attacks killed 201 people in Madrid, also rejected President Bush's request that he reconsider his plans to withdraw Spain's troops from Iraq unless the United Nations is given control of the country. "I'll listen to Mr. Bush. But my position is very clear and firm," Zapatero said.
"The occupation is a fiasco," he said. "There have almost been more killed after the war, from a year ago, than during the war. In the end, the occupying forces have not handed over control of the situation to the U.N."
Spanish troops constitute 1 percent of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq, and other nations participating in the coalition have rushed to reaffirm their willingness to remain in Iraq. But a Spanish pullout could hamper U.S. attempts to encourage other nations to send troops. In addition, diplomats said the new Spanish government's position would make it more difficult for the Bush administration to persuade NATO to take a stronger role in Iraq after the planned June 30 handover of sovereignty.
The Spanish force currently in Iraq is scheduled to come home in April, and a replacement contingent had its farewell ceremony Wednesday at a Spanish military base. Officials said no decision had been made to delay or cancel the transfer. Zapatero said he looked forward to "a profound debate" with the Bush administration about how to effectively combat terrorism. "Fighting terrorism with bombs, with Tomahawk missiles, isn't the way to beat terrorism, but the way to generate more radicalism," he said.
Zapatero's implicit endorsement of Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, was a surprising public repudiation of a sitting U.S. president by the incoming leader of an allied country and fellow NATO member.
Members of Spain's Popular Party -- which will become the opposition when Zapatero, a 43-year-old lawyer, takes office next month -- immediately criticized Zapatero's remarks, saying they demonstrated his inexperience in diplomacy.
"I think that was extremely un-careful," said Gustavo de Aristegui, a Popular Party member of parliament who is expected to become the opposition's spokesman on foreign affairs. "A prime minister cannot say that -- maybe an opposition leader can say that."
The outgoing prime minister from the Popular Party, Jose Maria Aznar, was one of the Bush administration's most steadfast allies in Europe. He joined Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair a year ago at a prewar summit in the Azores before the invasion of Iraq and sent more than 1,300 Spanish troops to help with peacekeeping after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Aznar was not running for reelection, but his close embrace of the Bush administration was seen as a major factor in his party's defeat.
Government officials and Popular Party leaders, stunned by their loss Sunday, have accused the Socialists of exploiting the March 11 attacks on trains in Madrid to gain the upper hand in the elections. Some officials have questioned whether the Socialist victory would be seen as a victory for the terrorists who planted the bombs.
On Wednesday, several thousand Popular Party supporters converged on the party headquarters chanting "Zapatero, manipulator!" and waving placards equating the Socialist Party with terrorists.
Meanwhile, several Spanish media outlets reported that an Arabic-language newspaper in London had received a new letter from an Islamic group claiming credit for the attacks. In the new message, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade said it was halting "all operations in the Spanish territory" to give the new government time to honor its pledge to withdraw from Iraq.
Several experts had previously discounted the group, saying it had falsely claimed responsibility for such actions as the power blackouts on the U.S. East Coast last year that were caused by a faulty power grid.
Spanish investigators continued seeking clues Wednesday that might link three arrested Moroccans, and at least five others being sought, to Thursday's bomb attacks. One of the Moroccans already in custody, Jamal Zougam, has been linked to an al Qaeda cell operating in Spain and to suicide bombings in the Moroccan city of Casablanca last May that killed 45 people, including 12 of the bombers.
The Spanish interior minister, Angel Acebes, offered no new details about the investigation Wednesday, telling reporters that it had reached "a decisive phase." The Spanish are being assisted by Moroccan investigators and by other European intelligence agencies. The FBI is helping with fingerprint and background checks on some suspects.
Also Wednesday, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that investigators believe the explosives used in the attacks may have been stolen from a factory in Burgos, north of Madrid, and that the detonators had come from a nearby rock quarry. That would suggest a high degree of local knowledge and some sophisticated planning for the attacks.
washingtonpost.com |
