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Spain suggests others should pull troops from Iraq TUNIS (Reuters) - Spain's prime minister said on Thursday other countries should follow Spain's example and pull out their troops from Iraq. "I can only say that the decision to withdraw the troops was a very correct decision," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference on a visit to Tunis. "I view the situation today with profound concern. All respect to all the countries that are there, but if there were more decisions along the lines of the Spanish government's, more favourable prospects would be opened up," he said. Zapatero won...

ISTANBUL (AFP) NATO-member Spain on Monday ruled out playing any role in Iraq, just hours after the alliance promised to help train the Iraqi army to calm the violence-wracked country. "The Spanish government does not foreseee any participation in the process under way in Iraq, and in no circumstances any participation on Iraqi territory," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters here. He was replying to a question on whether Spain would help train the fledgling Iraqi army. Spain last month completed the withdrawal of its 1,400-strong military contingent in Iraq, fulfilling a pledge by the Socialist prime minister...

Madrid, Apr 17 (DPA) New Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to turn Spain into a different country, and his programme could have a far-reaching impact both at home and abroad if he carries it out. Parliament confirmed the 43-year-old Socialist leader as prime minister yesterday after his party unseated the conservatives in the March 14 elections in the aftermath of Spain's deadliest terrorist attacks.Approachable and sophisticated, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since 2000 has yet to prove his leadership capacities, but his programme constitutes a blueprint for nothing less than a social revolution...

Amid the heady joy in parliament on Friday, after MPs had overwhelmingly approved his candidacy as prime minister (only the defeated Popular Party voted against) an action of one man in the visitors’ gallery was revealing: as applause rippled round the chamber, Juan Rodriguez, Zapatero’s snowy-haired father, could not resist raising his fist in the old socialist salute, a sight not seen in parliament for many years. Pressed to clarify his position by Mariano Rajoy, the opposition Popular Party leader, Zapatero responded: “You ask what we will do on Iraq? We will remove Spain from an illegal and unjust war.”

I have long maintained that the struggle against the global jihad is a struggle for human rights, and should be beyond partisan considerations. Right and Left both have ample reasons to support it. But with CNN only now dimly realizing that there is an ideological component to the conflict, and Spain caving in to jihadist bullying, it seems that most people are still largely ignorant of what kind of war we're in. That's why it's all the more significant that Spain's new Prime Appeaser-elect has endorsed one of the candidates in America's election. From NewsMax: Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriquez...

Spain's new Prime Minister wasted no time yesterday shaking up the European political landscape, putting Madrid back in the Franco-German camp and urging a swift adoption of the stalled Eurpoean constitution. The election poll was held three days after the Madrid train bombings, in which 201 people died.Voter anger at the Aznar government's blaming of local separatist group ETA, despite evidence that Islamic terrorist were responsible.Mr. Aznar's departure is a blow to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. One of Mr. Zapatero's senior lieutenants, Jose Bono, recently called the British Prime Minister a 'gilipollas' which can be translated as 'd*ckhead.'

Last Update: Tuesday, March 16, 2004. 8:36pm (AEDT) Alexander Downer .. Iraq withdrawal would be a win for Al Qaeda. (ABC TV) Aust challenges Spain on Iraq pull-out The Australian Government has urged Spain's newly elected Socialist Government not to pull its troops out of Iraq, saying such a move could be interpreted as a victory for terrorism. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer visited the Spanish Embassy in Canberra this afternoon to pay his respects and sign a condolence book after last week's terrorist attack in Madrid, which killed 200 people. Mr Downer says he spoke to the Spanish charge...

MADRID : Spain's prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero vowed to withdraw troops from Iraq and criticised US President George W. Bush after Spanish voters ousted governing conservatives who took the country into the controversial war. "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster," Zapatero, 43, told Cadena Ser radio on Monday. He spoke just before the European Union held three minutes' silence in tribute to the 200 people killed in last Thursday's bombings of crowded Madrid commuter trains. An ongoing investigation into the attacks has found growing evidence they were carried out by...