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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (566400)	4/18/2004 2:52:52 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

Spain's New Government Orders Soldiers Home From Iraq April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Spain's new prime minister ordered the country's 1,300 soldiers home from Iraq, saying there seemed little likelihood that the United Nations will assume control of the occupation in that country. Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, in his first policy statement after being sworn in yesterday, told the media in Madrid that the troops would return to Spain ``in the least time and with the most security possible.'' The decision is a blow for the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush, who had received strong backing from former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Aznar was voted out of office March 14, three days after terrorist bombings linked to al-Qaeda killed 191 people in Madrid and wounded 1,500. Months earlier, Zapatero pledged during his campaign to withdraw Spain's troops by June 30 if the UN wasn't taking control of the country by that date. He reiterated the promise after his Socialist Party won the election. ``Public statements by the principal actors involved in the conflict, as well as exchanges made by the Defense Ministry at my request during the last month, don't augur a substantial variation in the political and military situation in Iraq in the time frames or in the way that's demanded by the Spanish people,'' Zapatero said, according to a printed statement of his remarks available on the government's Web site. The U.K. government of Prime Minister Tony Blair said it regretted the withdrawal of soldiers by Spain. ``We respect the Spanish government's decision,'' a spokesman for the U.K. Defence Ministry said. ``We regret that they will be leaving, as Spain had made a valuable contribution in Iraq.'' The U.K. Foreign Office declined to comment. quote.bloomberg.com