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| Tuesday, 20 April 2004 |
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Spain's pullout from Iraq deals new blow to US coalition BAGHDAD, Monday (AFP,Reuter) Spain will withdraw its troops from Iraq as soon as possible, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said dealing a new blow to the US-led coalition struggling to bring order to Iraq. Ten US soldiers were killed in another tough 24 hours for US forces battling insurgent groups in several cities. And the White House could only put a brave face on Zapatero's vow to carry out the pledge to pull the 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq made following his Socialist Party's victory in an election last month. "Spanish troops in Iraq will be withdrawn as soon as possible and with maximum security," Zapatero said in a nationally televised broadcast, a day after taking office. He had originally said the withdrawal would go ahead unless there was a UN Security Council mandate for an international force in Iraq before the June 30 transfer of power to an interim government. "It does not look like a UN resolution will match the content" of the Spanish demands on Iraq, the prime minister said. Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Maher the tne troops would leave within 15 days, an Egyptian foreign ministry official said in Cairo. US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday pledged to give the United Nations a "central role" in the transfer of power to an Iraqi interim government. The move had been seen as a bid to keep Spain in the coalition, despite the recent surge in violence and hostage-taking in Iraq. The Spanish contingent is part of a 9,000-strong Polish-led force controlling a southern sector of Iraq. It is the sixth-largest national contingent in the coalition. The United States has 135,000 troops in Iraq. A White House spokesman, Ken Lisaius, said: "We will work with our coalition partners in Iraq and the Spanish government and expect they will implement their decision in a coordinated, responsible and orderly manner." He added that the United States will continue its "close cooperation" with Spain "in fighting the war against terror." Meanwhile ten US soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq at the weekend, but a mediator said he held "positive" talks with the US-led coalition on resolving a showdown with radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sard. More than 90 US soldiers have now been killed in the upsurge of violence in April. More than 700 Americans have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March last year that ousted president Saddam Hussein. On the ground, British troops on Sunday traded fire with Sadr loyalists in the southern city of Amara where residents reported mortar attacks on the governor's office and British positions. A Sadr spokesman called for a UN peacekeeping force in Iraq and demanded the immediate withdrawal of US-led occupation forces, in an interview with Bulgarian television. "It is in the interest of the whole world to send peacekeeping forces under the UN flag" to Iraq, said Qais al-Khazaali, spokesman for Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. But "the occupation forces must withdraw from the occupied regions and must release political prisoners. The war will thus end," he said. In Baghdad, the Shiite Dawa party said its representatives held a "positive" meeting with the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, to revive a stalled mediation over the standoff with Sadr in the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala. "We feel that this contact was positive and that the coalition is prepared to resolve the crisis peacefully," said Adnan Ali al-Kazem, an aide to Dawa party chief Ibrahim Jaafari. He said Dawa planned to meet with Sadr on Monday. Meanwhie the United States expects other nations with forces in Iraq to reassess their position after Spain's decision to pull its troops out, President George W. Bush's national security adviser said on Sunday. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius also said Washington wanted the Spanish withdrawal to be made in a "coordinated, responsible and orderly manner" but expressed no opinion of Madrid's decision. Condoleezza Rice, speaking on ABC's "This Week" before the decision was announced in Madrid, said, "We know that there are others who are going to have to assess how they see the risk." "We have 34 countries with forces on the ground. I think there are going to be some changes." Earlier Australia's commitment to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will not be swayed by Spain's decision to withdraw troops, Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday amid calls Australian troops may be needed until end-2005. Howard, a close U.S. ally, told Australia radio that the withdrawal of Spain's 1,400 troops would encourage an uprising by radical Shi'ites, which has claimed hundreds of lives in the past month. But he insisted it would not change Australia's policy. |
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