Spain's new leader sends mixed messages over Iraq troops

By ANDREW CAWTHORNE

MADRID - Spanish election winner Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero says he will probably withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from the "disaster" in Iraq, and he has attacked George W. Bush and Tony Blair.

He also indicated a swing away from Madrid's recent pro-American stance towards a "pro-European" foreign policy.

"The war has been a disaster, the occupation continues to be a disaster. It has only caused violence," Zapatero said in his first interview after a surprise triumph yesterday.

"There must be consequences. There has been one already -- the election result. The second will be that the Spanish troops will come back," he said.

"Mr Blair and Mr Bush must do some reflection and self-criticism. You can't bomb a people, you can't organise a war with lies," he added in a lengthy chat with Spain's Cadena SER radio.

While he sounded definitive in parts of his interview, at others Zapatero repeated a previous campaign pledge to pull out troops if the United Nations does not take charge by mid-year.

"If there is no new developments, the soldiers will return on July 1," he said, adding he did not expect any new developments on a UN takeover.

At another point, however, Zapatero said no precise pullout plan would be set until he was in power and without wide political consultation.

The Socialists are not expected to take office for around a month until overseas votes are counted, legislators take their seats in parliament and Zapatero receives the approval of King Juan Carlos to form a government.

AZNAR FIRMLY BACKED WAR

The outgoing Spanish government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar firmly backed last year's US-led war in Iraq despite huge domestic opposition.

The Socialist leader's election victory was attributed in large part to a voter backlash against the government over Iraq. Many Spaniards blame Thursday's train bombings -- which killed 200 people and have drawn claims of responsibility from Muslim militants -- on Madrid's backing of Bush and Blair in Iraq.

Under Aznar, Spain became a staunch ally of the United States but Zapatero said one of his chief foreign policy priorities would be to deepen relations with Europe.

"I want Europe to see us again as pro-European, my feeling is that the election result has caused surprise but a lot of satisfaction in Europe," he said.

He pledged to try to help break the diplomatic deadlock over a new European constitution. "I think we can reach an agreement which will maintain the balance of power for an enlarged Europe," he said.

Zapatero also promised Spain would be a bridge between Latin America and the Mediterranean.

The EU's former Middle East envoy, Miguel Angel Moratinos, who is tipped to become Zapatero's foreign minister, reiterated the pledge to take troops out mid-year if there was no UN control of Iraq -- but left a door open for that to happen.

"If on June 30, we haven't managed to achieve this will for change, to give the United Nations the central role in the whole political process -- if we are stuck with demands to follow a policy that leads nowhere -- then Spain would take its responsibility and would ask its troops to leave and return to Spain after June 30," he said on France-Inter radio.

"But if we find a new attitude in the Security Council, if we get a new Security Council Resolution, if we manage to forge a strong, united Europe which wants to face up to the challenges of a new century, then we'd be ready to envisage contributing so that the whole international community, with the Arab League, can unite against terrorism and face up to this challenge."

Spanish forces form part of an international division under Polish command in parts of south-central Iraq. At least 10 Spaniards have been killed in Iraq since last August, including seven intelligence agents.

- REUTERS

JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO

* Zapatero is a 43-year-old lawyer who has never been in government.

* The first time he met outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as the Socialist Party's new leader in 2000, he nervously tripped over a paving stone outside the PM's office.

* His deliberately quiet, moderate and consensual style has been credited for a revival in the Socialists' fortunes.

* Zapatero was the Socialists' youngest lawmaker when first elected in 1986 at age 26.

* He shone sufficiently in local politics in the northern city of Leon, where he grew up, for the Socialists to turn to him after their disastrous 2000 election campaign.

* The execution of Zapatero's grandfather, a captain in the Republican Army, by dictator General Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces, strongly shaped Zapatero's leftist ideals.

THE REJECTED CONSERVATIVES

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of the ruling centre-right Popular Party was a key supporter of the United States and backed the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Aznar won a second term in 2000. He did not stand for a third.

Spain had eight years of economic growth and a fall in unemployment to 11 per cent, still the highest in the European Union.

Many felt sure that those successes would be enough to hand victory to Aznar's hand-picked candidate to succeed him, Mariano Rajoy.

Rajoy, a former deputy prime minister who held four Cabinet posts, had been leading in the most recent public opinion polls.