Home>News Center>World
         
 

Aznar says successor's Iraq plan is a big mistake
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-23 13:44

Spain's outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Monday his successor was making a serious mistake by planning to withdraw troops from Iraq, portraying the move as a concession to terrorism.

In his first interview since his party's stinging defeat in March 14 elections, held in the shadow of train bombings that killed 202 people, Aznar urged Spain not to give in to violence.

"What the terrorists want is for us to throw in the towel. What I ask for, hope and wish is that we never throw in the towel," he said on Telecinco television.

Aznar, a close ally of U.S. President Bush, supported the Iraq war and sent 1,300 Spanish troops there afterwards to help keep the peace.

Incoming Socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has raised controversy with his pledge to withdraw the Spanish troops if the United Nations does not "take charge" there by June 30.

Aznar said withdrawing the troops "seems to me a very serious error."

"When you have such a brutal attack as Spain has suffered ... you have to carry out your responsibilities. The first thing that Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero has to know is what he wants to do with the Spanish troops in Iraq and secondly think what he wants the United Nations to do," he said.

"But to think that you can beat terrorism with concessions seems bad to me. I think that weakening the international coalition fighting terrorism is a very serious error," he said.

HEAD HIGH

Bush and other leading U.S. politicians have urged Zapatero to rethink the move, which some analysts think could have a "domino" effect on other nations which have sent troops to Iraq.

Aznar said he believed the rail attacks had "something to do" with the upset election result. Polls before the attacks had shown Aznar's conservative Popular Party consistently ahead.

He said the government had always told the truth after the March 11 attacks, despite widespread anger over its handling of information on the investigation.

The government initially insisted the armed Basque separatist group ETA was the most likely suspect even though later evidence pointed to Muslim militants.

"I leave with my head held high and proud of the work I have done," Aznar said.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China slams US move, suspends human rights dialogue

 

   
 

Credit consumption a way of life in Shanghai

 

   
 

Taiwan case could spur court intervention

 

   
 

May Day Europe trip still out of reach

 

   
 

Nation pins hopes on oil project with Russia

 

   
 

Government puts lid on overheating industries

 

   
  Aznar says successor's Iraq plan is a big mistake
   
  Angry Palestinians bury Hamas leader
   
  Pakistan finds 'escaped' tunnels
   
  Israeli armored force enters northern Gaza -Source
   
  Top Shiite cleric in Iraq criticizes constitution
   
  Hizbollah fires at Israeli posts, draws air raids
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Iraq pull-out all but inevitable-Zapatero
   
S. Korea won't send troops to Iraqi city
   
Report: Group claims truce with Spain
   
Zapatero: Iraq occupation a 'fiasco'
   
Bush urges Iraq-war allies to stick with US
   
Anger over attack puts Spain's Socialists in power
  News Talk  
  The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2003  
Advertisement