October 19, 2002	Saturday	Sha'aban 12, 1423

MADRID, Oct 18: A war of words erupted on Friday between Spain’s conservative government and opposition parties after the top Spanish diplomat in Baghdad stepped down in protest at Madrid’s support for a US-led military campaign against Iraq.

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio attributed the resignation of charge d’affaires Fernando Valderrama to “pressure and stress” in an interview aired on Spanish public radio.

“This is someone who has not been able to withstand a tense situation and has sought to justify this with a flimsy alibi,” Palacio said.

“Fear is only human, and life in Baghdad is very difficult,” she added.

Her remarks drew scathing condemnation from the opposition Socialists, with senior party leader Jose Blanco blasting her for a “pathetic” attack on a government employee.

“No minister should allow herself to insult a public official,” Blanco said. “The truth is that the government and the minister are nervous because they are finding themselves rather isolated over Iraq,” he said.

Eager to add to the government’s embarrassment, the communist Izquierda Unida (IU) party has requested that Palacio and Valderrama appear before the parliament’s foreign affairs committee for further discussion of what it called his “courageous resignation”.

Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy meanwhile blasted Valderrama for having breached the “rule of common sense”, telling a press conference that any diplomat “must defend his country’s position, whether or not he shares it privately”.

Valderrama told national radio he had resigned because he could no longer represent his country’s official views, which he described as “subordination to the American government” in breach of international law.

He said he had taken the decision despite its “very high professional cost”. —AFP