Spain to withdraw Iraq troops
From correspondents in Madrid
March 16, 2004
SPAIN'S prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, vowed today to withdraw troops from Iraq and criticised US President George W Bush after Spanish voters ousted the government that dragged their 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.

His Socialist Party dealt the conservative Popular Party (PP) of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a surprise defeat yesterday in general elections coloured by Thursday's bombings of crowded Madrid commuter trains that killed 200 people and wounded 1500.

An ongoing investigation into the attacks has found growing evidence they were carried out by Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda as punishment for Spain's help in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.



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