Spain's outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said in an interview published Wednesday that countries cannot protect themselves from terrorism by remaining neutral on Iraq.
| "With us or against us..." |
Spain's support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq was "the pretext, not the cause" of the Madrid train bombings, Aznar was quoted as telling The Times newspaper. "Nobody is free of danger," he said. "There is not a single country not at risk. ... There's no neutrality against this kind of terrorism, and those who try to be neutral are probably those who will suffer most."
| It actually hurts more when you whimper. |
Aznar's Popular Party, which strongly backed the war in Iraq despite massive popular and political opposition, lost general elections three days after the March 11 terror attacks that killed 191 people. Many in Spain interpreted the bombings as a reprisal for Aznar's support of military action in Iraq. Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who is due to take over as prime minister on Friday, has pledged to withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq by June 30 if the United Nations does not assume control of the country by then.
Aznar said the terror threat would not discriminate between countries that backed the war and those that opposed it. Although Aznar did not name them, France and Germany were leading opponents of the U.S.-led invasion. "There are certain people in Europe who just want to look the other way," Aznar said. "Do we have to wait for another attack, or do we face up to terrorism with all the consequences? We're in a war. You can get attacked. You can get hurt. It can be painful. I think the (new) Spanish and other governments will have to start thinking very seriously about this." |