Spain's new leader labels Iraq 'a fiasco,' gives backing to Kerry

By Keith B. Richburg
The Washington Post

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"I said during the campaign I hoped Spain and the Spaniards would be ahead of the Americans for once," Zapatero said in an interview on Onda Cero radio. "First we win here, we change this government, and then the Americans will do it, if things continue as they are in Kerry's favor."

Zapatero's Socialist Party swept the governing Popular Party out of office in elections Sunday that came just three days after terrorist attacks killed 201 people in Madrid.

He rejected President Bush's request that he reconsider his plans to withdraw Spain's troops from Iraq unless the United Nations is given control of the country.

"I'll listen to Mr. Bush, but my position is very clear and firm," Zapatero said.

Kerry last week said foreign leaders had told him privately they hoped he would win the election. Bush told reporters that Kerry should back up his claims.

Kerry has refused to reveal the names of any leaders who made the comments, saying the conversations were private.

"The occupation is a fiasco," Zapatero said. "There have almost been more killed after the war, from a year ago, than during the war. In the end, the occupying forces have not handed over control of the situation to the U.N."

Spanish troops constitute just 1 percent of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq, and most other nations participating in the coalition have rushed to reaffirm their willingness to remain in Iraq. But a Spanish pullout could hamper U.S. attempts to encourage other nations to send troops.

Diplomats said the new Spanish government's position would make it more difficult for the Bush administration to persuade NATO to take a stronger role in Iraq after the planned June 30 handover of sovereignty.

The Spanish force currently in Iraq is to come home in April, and a replacement contingent had its farewell ceremony yesterday at a Spanish base. Officials said no decision had been made to delay or cancel the transfer.

Zapatero said he looked forward to "a profound debate" with the Bush administration about how to effectively combat terrorism.

"Fighting terrorism with bombs, with Tomahawk missiles, isn't the way to beat terrorism, but the way to generate more radicalism," he said.

Zapatero's implicit endorsement of Kerry's campaign was a surprising public repudiation of a sitting U.S. president by the incoming leader of an allied country and fellow NATO member.

Members of Spain's Popular Party — which will become the opposition when Zapatero, a 43-year-old lawyer, takes office next month — immediately criticized his remarks, saying they demonstrated his inexperience in diplomacy.

"I think that was extremely uncareful," said Gustavo de Arístegui, a Popular Party member of parliament who is expected to become the opposition's spokesman on foreign affairs. "A prime minister cannot say that — maybe an opposition leader can say that."

About 5,000 demonstrators gathered outside the conservative Popular Party's headquarters in downtown Madrid to support the party's outgoing prime minister, José María Aznar. They derided Zapatero as "the president of al-Qaida."

The demonstrators dispersed about 30 minutes after the party's defeated candidate, Mariano Rajoy, appeared and applauded at a balcony, The Associated Press reported.

Aznar was one of the White House's most steadfast allies in Europe, joining with Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain one year ago at a prewar summit in the Azores before the invasion of Iraq, and then sending more than 1,400 Spanish troops to help with peacekeeping in the country after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Aznar was not running for re-election, but his close embrace of the Bush administration was seen as a major factor in his party's defeat.

Government officials and Popular Party leaders, stunned by their surprise loss Sunday, have begun accusing the Socialists of having exploited last Thursday's attacks to gain the upper hand. Some officials have begun to question whether the Socialist victory would be seen as a victory for the terrorists who planted the bombs.

Meanwhile, several Spanish media outlets reported that an Arabic-language newspaper in London had received a new letter from an Islamic group that had claimed responsibility for the attacks. In the new message, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade said it was calling a halt to "all operations in the Spanish territory" to give the new government time to honor its pledge to withdraw from Iraq.

Several experts had previously discounted the group, saying it had falsely claimed responsibility for actions such as last year's power blackouts on the U.S. East Coast that were caused by a faulty power grid.

Spanish investigators continued seeking clues yesterday that might link three arrested Moroccans, and at least five others being sought, to last week's attacks. One of the Moroccans already in custody, Jamal Zougam, has been linked to an al-Qaida cell operating in Spain, and to suicide bombings in Casablanca last May that killed 45 people, including 12 of the bombers.

The interior minister, Angel Acebes, offered no new details about the investigation yesterday, telling reporters it had reached "a decisive phase."

The Spanish are being assisted by Moroccan investigators and other European intelligence agencies. The FBI is helping with fingerprint and background checks on some suspects.

Also yesterday, El País newspaper reported that investigators believe the explosives used in the attacks may have been stolen from a factory in Burgos, north of Madrid, and that the detonators had come from a nearby rock quarry. That would suggest a high degree of local knowledge and some sophisticated advance planning for the attacks.

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