a setback
The new Spanish Socialist prime minister today abruptly ordered his troops home from Iraq.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero argued there was no sign the United States will meet his terms for the troops to remain - United Nations control of the postwar occupation.
Zapatero had campaigned on such a pledge ahead of Spain's March 14 general election. But his announcement - a setback for the United States - was a bombshell, coming just hours after his government was sworn in, and as his foreign minister planned to travel to Washington to discuss the dispute.
In a five-minute address at the Moncloa Palace, Zapatero said he had ordered Defence Minister Jose Bono to "do what is necessary for the Spanish troops stationed in Iraq return home in the shortest time possible".
Zapatero noted his campaign pledge to bring the 1,300 troops in Iraq home by June 30, when their mandate ends, unless the United Nations took political and military control of the situation there.
"With the information we have, and which we have gathered over the past few weeks, it is not foreseeable that the United Nations will adopt a resolution" that satisfies Spain's terms, Zapatero said.
Ireland Online Apr.16.04
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