Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: XBrit who wrote (48934)	6/12/2004 12:10:15 AM
From: sylvester80	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

NEWS: Last of Spain's Iraq troops arrive home TORREJON, Spain - The last of Spain's soldiers who served in Iraq arrived home on Monday, sealing Spain's conversion from a pillar of the US-led coalition into one of Washington's harshest Western critics over Iraq. A group of 227 soldiers landed on a chartered jet at Torrejon air base outside Madrid and were greeted by Defence Minister Jose Bono and other top brass. "Today is a happy day but I must tell you that we are pained over the 11 military people who could not return alive and for the two civilians who also died in Iraq," Bono told the soldiers. Champagne corks flew as soldiers clutched their girlfriends, hugged babies and shed a few tears. "I'll sleep better tonight," Bono said in reference to those who returned home safely. Bono announced on Friday that all Spanish troops had left Iraq upon crossing the border into Kuwait. Some 150 Spanish military personnel remain in Kuwait but they had never been to Iraq, the Defence Ministry said. Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar lent unwavering support to US President George W. Bush over Iraq and sent Spanish troops there after the fall of Saddam Hussein. But Aznar's Popular Party lost March elections, and Spain's new Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ordered the troops home immediately after he took office in April. "There were some Americans who looked down upon us. They have taken over everything there (at the former Spanish base in Diwaniya), and there is a lot to do," said soldier Daniel Moreno. Zapatero had opposed the Iraq war all along and vowed in the election campaign to bring home the troops. But his decision sent shockwaves through Europe, Washington and the Middle East because Zapatero won a surprise election victory days after the March 11 al Qaeda-linked train bomb attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people. But politics wasn't on the mind of soldier Liz Valdeolivas, who was pleased by a change of scenery after seeing nothing but "sand and sun" in Iraq. "I really miss Castilian soup, which I hope you have already prepared," she told her mother.