Spain PM pledged to Iraq withdrawal

The incoming Socialist government intends sticking by its pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30, even though some world leaders have asked it to reconsider the decision, Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said today.

“The occupation is … a fiasco,” Zapatero said in a radio interview.

He said there had been “almost more deaths since the end of the war” than during last year’s US-led invasion and the United Nations was still not in control.

Others may urge Spain to keep its 1,300 peacekeeping troops in the Middle East nation, but Zapatero said his response was: “fighting terrorism with bombs … with Tomahawk missiles, isn’t the way to defeat terrorism…”

“Terrorism is combated by the state of law…. That’s what I think Europe and the international community have to debate,” he said.

The outgoing conservative government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar supported the war against the wishes of the majority of Spaniards and the country’s political parties.

Spanish troops did not fight in the invasion, but were sent in afterward.

In an hour-long interview on radio Onda Cero, the winner of last Sunday’s general elections continued, “I’ll explain to our allies, which include the United States, of course, and Britain … what my position is”.

About how he might respond if US President George Bush personally asked him to reconsider, Zapatero said, “I will listen to Mr Bush, but my position is very clear and very firm.”