OBL had demanded that we leave Saudi Arabia for 10 years. It wasn't until the SAUDI's wanted us out that we left. And even then, the bases there were redundent with the infrastucture now in Iraq.

It doesn't matter what and why the Spanish SAY they flipped their election - Either way, the terrorists think they had a victory. That makes them feel that mass-murder works, and all of the rationalization in the world won't change that. All elections are now a real potential target.....

(By the way, the same goes for the pull-out. You can call them names all you want - but if you're doing it - while doing what they want - they win.)

Fup

Te quiero, España.

I agree with Almohada and Fernando. Me, as many Spaniards, we are really sad for the unexpected decision of Zp to pull out the Spanish troops from Irak. Spain is going to be an isolated country as we were before . ZP is doing something wrong when fundamentalist and terrorists (Eta and Al Q), are applauding what is happening in Spain now.

I wonder what is behind this quick, coward and unexpected decision of ZP. What are the reasons?

I invite you to read this article publised yesterday on El Mundo about “Los agujeros negros del 11-M” (Black holes on 11-M) . It seems that there have been a group of policemen, close to PSOE party who gave wrong information to the PP government after the train attacks. 12 pages in Spanish, use a translator.

How do you know that ETA is happy? I can't understand it. There has not been any comunicate from ETA. On top of that, ETA has suffered important arrests and is nearly dismantled by police actions.
Do you really think ETA is happy?
I repeat: I can't understand why you say this.

While I understand the decission of calling back the troops (though I don't share it) I think Zapatero has choosen the worst way to retire our troops from Iraq.

First: No matter you disagree with past governments of your country, you must comply with their agreements or try to minimize the effects of their breaking.

Second: A UN representative has stated that a new UN resolution is possible and very probable. Zapatero has not given the chance to US and the UN to launch a new resolution (contrary to what he said he wanted for the troops to stay).

Third: It seems Zapatero has been quick to announce the retirement of the troops because he agreed with Al-Sadr (the terrorist chii leader) an inmunity for spanish troops. To our shame. This is covering our troops with a taint of cowardice, as well as reaching agreements with terrorists instead of a) The local legal leaders, b) our allies, and c) our troops polish and american command.

Fourth: Zapatero has called back the troops without even informing the governments of El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, who sent troops to Iraq thanks to spanish and american logistical support, and who will have a bad time if they decide to stay there, because they are prived of our troops infrastructure.

Conclusions: No matter we were for or against the war, this way of calling back the troops is a great slopiness which will taint spanish positions in the future as an unstable, unaccountable and volatile country in its decissions. Thanks to Zapatero and his demagoguery, like any populist president of a southamerican country.

My thoughts.

Fernando

Hola Fernando,

I just got a Spain Google alert from the Associated Press:
I went to the digital El Mundo, but could not locate the article in its entirety, only a brief overview, and this was not mentioned.

Do you know if Zapatero said this?

The interview is on pages eight to fourteen of today's El Mundo. Obviously it's quite long. I've made a hasty translation of the piece you're looking for. It'spart of a lengthy response to the accusation that he has broken a promise of waiting till June 30 to see if the UN would take charge of all troops in Iraq.

"My discourse has always been 'either the UN takes charge or the troops shouldn't be there'. From the day of the elections, a number of leading members of the Socialist Party as well as myself have been involved in meetings and conversations. I should remind you that on the day of the state funeral (for the victims of March 11) I met Colin Powell and Tony Blair and got a feel for how things were going to evolve. From that point on, we have been in contact with practically all the European governments and the US government and it was obvious that there was no chance... One high up US commander said, literally, 'Can you imagine 130,000 US troops taking orders from someone who isn't a US general?' So our conclusion was quite clear.
"This commander said this to a PSOE official. To Bono, precisely. (New minister of defence). It was therefore obvious that there was no chance that the UN was going to take over. Under these circumstances it was pointless to continue under false illusions, causing uncertainty among our troops and our allies."

Do you know the title of the article? I would like to try to find it to read.

Here are the highlights (in Spanish):

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2004/04/23/espana/1082683095.html

You'll have to pay to see the whole thing

Debil,
Please tell me that you're trying to be funny here...

The USA supported SPAIN in its conflict with Morroco in regards to 'Perejil' and *PREVENTED* a war, while, as our witty board-compatriot Fernando wrote, France simply laughed at SPAIN for being in such a situation with north-Africans.

Also, it's either your political 'emotion' coming thru or just the way you are, but why are you so militant? You always seem just one step away from throwing a tantrum.

I have a friend that's like you. In all other types of conversation he is great. He's funny, creative, loves to talk over canias. But as soon as politics comes into the discussion, he's a militant @*$@@#( socialist. He just is, even his socialist buddies say that. So it must be a trait of the left-wing like here in the USA.

So Debil, it's good you're not running SPAIN's diplomacy machine or else SPAIN would have been taking kickbacks from Iraq for the 'Oil for Food' program like Kofi Anan's son, France, Russia, and China. And by the way, an officer of your precious UN just admitted to taking *over* $3 million in kickbacks from Saddam. I'm sure glad the UN is such an important organization! I'm hoping that any day they'll pack their bags and get out of the USA.

over and out.