Spain will not send troops back to Iraq

Spanish troops will not return to Iraq under any international mandate, the foreign minister said today just as George Bush and Tony Blair said they wanted Nato involvement in the country.

“Spain will not send troops to Iraq, neither unilaterally nor as part of a multinational force, nor as part of a Nato force,” Miguel Angel Moratinos said in Madrid.

“Spain will not have any presence in Iraq because we’re convinced that the best way of speeding up the process of stabilisation of Iraq is that foreign occupation forces withdraw from Iraq,” he added.

Spain withdrew its 1,300 soldiers from Iraq in May when the new Socialist government took power.

Moratinos welcomed the UN Security Council’s unanimous backing of the US-British resolution spelling out the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq.

He shrugged off criticism by the opposition Popular Party that the government had been disloyal to countries that still have troops in Iraq.