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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (38647)	4/9/2004 4:02:48 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793900

I am afraid this story is true. Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune \| www.iht.com Spaniards say war makes them a target Katrin Bennhold/IHT IHT Wednesday, April 7, 2004 Many want nothing to do with Iraq MADRID Still shaken by the March 11 train bombings and the discovery of further plots to bomb the city since then, people here increasingly blame the American-led war in Iraq, fought with the support of the outgoing center-right government, for making Spain the focus of Islamist militants. That could spell unexpected trouble for the new Socialist administration, which won election three days after last month's bombings in part because it opposed the war, like 90 percent of the Spanish population. Prime Minister-elect José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is due to take office on April 16, has stuck by his campaign promise to pull Spain's 1,300 troops out of Iraq at the end of June unless the United Nations has taken control of the occupation by then. This pledge was made before 10 coordinated bombs ripped apart four commuter trains and killed 191 people on March 11. But now, many in Spain say they do not think about a UN mandate when they talk about the need to withdraw troops. They say they think about avoiding more terrorist attacks, leaving the new government's motive for a possible pullout uncomfortably out of line with views on the street. It also makes it more vulnerable to criticism from abroad, notably from some Americans, that Spaniards are appeasing terrorists by demanding a troop withdrawal. In an opinion poll conducted last week for the Spanish radio broadcaster Ser, 38 percent of respondents wanted Spanish troops to stay in Iraq if a UN resolution was passed. Forty-two percent said they wanted troops to come back even if the UN took control of the country. "Even if a UN resolution gets passed, a large percentage of people still would want the soldiers out of Iraq," Diego López Garrido, general secretary of the Socialist Party's parliamentary group, said in an interview. "But this is a promise we made long before March 11. We can't just change it because there was a terrorist attack." Calls for troop withdrawals intensified after a tumultuous weekend. On Friday police discovered a partly assembled bomb made of the same explosive as the one used on March 11 on a high-speed train link between Madrid and Seville. On Saturday, four important suspects in the train bombings blew themselves up in a suburb of Madrid during a police raid in the first suicide bombing on European soil. Officers then found several readily assembled explosive devices, pointing to a plot to cause more destruction and death during Easter week. Finally, on Monday, a letter said to be from the head of Al Qaeda Europe, published in the Spanish newspaper ABC, pledged to turn Spain into an "inferno" for its support of the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. These latest developments have changed the mood in a city where gregarious locals crowd onto outdoor terraces and public squares, and the word crime usually refers to something like pickpocketing. "This is all the fault of the United States; they got us into this," said Santiago Ruíz, a 55-year-old electrician who lives in suburban Leganés, a block from where the four suspects killed themselves and a police officer on Saturday. "The way to combat terrorism isn't the way Bush has done. Spain is paying the consequences of its solidarity with the United States." In the city center, Alejandro Rodríguez, 36, agreed: "We should withdraw from Iraq right now. Why wait until June? Do we want to wait for more attacks?" Pointing to the bloody clashes in Iraq between Spanish troops and local Shiites in recent days, Rodríguez said Spanish soldiers were creating enemies. Thousands of people have taken to Madrid's streets over the past two days, protesting against terrorism and decrying Spain's involvement in Iraq. Many banners focused on the war, reading "Get the troops out of Iraq now" and "No more blood for oil." "There is a growing feeling in the population that there is a direct link between our troops in Iraq and the terrorist threat - it's an emotional reaction," said Araceli Mangas, professor of political science at the University of Salamanca. "It's irrational and incoherent, but it's real. The new government needs to explain very carefully why it is pulling troops out, if it does." In his parliamentary office in central Madrid, López Garrido said a withdrawal was almost certain, as the U.S. administration had so far given no indication that it was ready to cede military command to the United Nations, one of the Socialists' main demands. Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune