Posted on 12/18/2002 1:33:50 PM PST by knighthawk
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar pledged anew Wednesday to fight global terrorism together as Bush delivered his condolences for and continued U.S. help with an enormous oil spill off northwestern Spain.
Before a joint Oval Office meeting, Bush praised Aznar as ``one of the world's strongest leaders when it comes to our mutual concerns about keeping the peace and fighting terror.''
Among the stickier items sure to intrude on the meeting is Spain's displeasure over being involved by the United States in an embarrassing high seas takeover of a legal missile shipment to Yemen.
But in the leaders' public remarks ahead of their talks, only points of cooperation and agreement were raised. Neither took any questions from reporters.
Apparently referring to the armed separatist group ETA's violent, decades-long campaign to create an independent Basque homeland, Bush said Aznar ``understands firsthand the consequences of terror activity.'' The U.S. president offered condolences for the death of a police officer earlier this week in Spain by a suspected ETA member.
Bush also offered ``our deepest sympathy'' for the people of the Spanish coastal region of Galicia. An aging, single-hulled tanker ran into trouble on Nov. 13, then broke in two and sank six days after the leakage started. The ship is estimated to have spilled just under a quarter of its cargo of 20.5 million gallons of fuel oil, coating the coastline with oil sludge while the tanker continues to leak from the ocean floor.
Aznar has been criticized for failing to act more quickly to deal with the disaster.
Sprinkling his comments with Spanish, Bush said Aznar said ``nunca mas'' — or never more — ``and I believe him.''
Aznar was thankful for the U.S. ``offers of unconditional support.''
The matter of the North Korean shipment began when Washington had the Spanish navy intercept and board a freighter last week in the Arabian Sea, and Scud missiles were found aboard. Two days later, after Yemen demanded its missiles, the ship was sent on its way to Yemen.
The U.S. decision balanced the need to keep Yemen in the global anti-terror coalition against worries about North Korean missile sales. Yemen said it contracted for the missiles before promising to avoid such deals with North Korea.
But the release surprised the Spanish Defense Ministry and aroused scathing criticism from Spanish opposition politicians.
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo editorialized that Madrid should consider removing its two warships from the anti-terror coalition, saying the naval forces engaged in what turned out to have been a pointless exercise.
Another agenda item for the meeting was to be the Bush administration's resolve to take on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein if he does not give up weapons of mass destruction. Along with Poland and Italy, Spain has offered moral support for a military campaign, if not explicit promises of troops or other material help.
Bush and Aznar also were likely to discuss the European Union's rebuff, at a meeting last week, of Turkey's bid for a firm date to begin talks on joining the bloc of nations. Like the United States, Spain — which held the rotating presidency of the European Union until July — favors early entry for the secular Muslim nation.
Aznar also was planning to raise Spain's desire for the chairmanship of a U.N. Security Council's counterterrorism committee, according to diplomats.
Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, Jeremy Greenstock, is expected to hand over the chairmanship in April. The committee monitors efforts by all 191 U.N. member states to comply with a resolution adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that requires countries to stop supporting, financing or providing sanctuary to terrorists.
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The Spanish ships did a fine job of intercepting the N. Korean vessel. Too bad they didn't just sink it. However, we being able to verify the true cargo of Scuds and where they were going accomplished a great deal IMO. Sure sent the message that we're watching and know what the N. Korean scum are up to. Perhaps the next ship so loaded just might develop a "problem."
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