MADRID, March 17: Spain's prime minister-elect on Wednesday rejected an appeal by US President George Bush to keep Spanish troops in Iraq, and Madrid boosted security in the wake of last week's railway bombings.
"I will listen to Mr Bush but my position is very clear and very firm," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told radio station Onda Cero. "The occupation (of Iraq) is a fiasco."
Mr Zapatero said on Monday, the day after his Socialist Party dealt a surprise election defeat to the pro-Bush Popular Party, that he would honour his campaign promise to pull Spain's 1,300 troops out of Iraq unless a United Nations force took over there.
Mr Bush responded by urging US allies to keep troops in Iraq, as officials in Washington suggested they could propose a new UN resolution which would enable Spanish forces to stay.
Most US allies said after Zapatero's bombshell that they would keep their forces in Iraq. But many have electorates opposed to the war and new polls show that a majority of Italians and Dutch want to follow the Spaniards' example.
Evidence is emerging to support a videotaped claim that Al Qaeda carried out last week's bombings in Madrid in revenge for the outgoing government's support for the US-led war. -AFP
