Zapatero called the invasion of Iraq a "disaster"

MADRID, March 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The socialists' stunning victory in Spain's general election dealt a heavy blow to the United States and Britain, with the loss of a staunch supporter for the invasion of Iraq and the controversial war against terrorism, press reports said Monday, March 15.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) of former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, which was ahead in the polls only a week ago, apparently took a pasting because of its support for the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

People booed Aznar when he voted in separate Madrid polling stations, branding him a "liar and manipulator", a few days after more than 200 people dead and 1,500 others injured initially in railway attacks blamed either local separatist group ETA or Al-Qaeda.

Blaming the bombings on their government's support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Spanish voters ousted the ruling party in an angry, dramatic upset, Los Angeles Times reported.

Numerous voters said they believed Spain's support for the Bush administration had put it in the cross hairs of terrorists, the paper said.

The overwhelming majority of Spaniards opposed the Iraq invasion, but Aznar ignored that sentiment and gave his full support to President Bush and sent 1,300 troops to Iraq.

Aznar oversaw a period of steady economic growth, reducing inflation, creating jobs and balancing the budget. He held firm against the Basque separatist group ETA and is credited with whipping his once-divided party into shape and raising Spain's profile in the world.

But opponents said Aznar's devotion to Bush alienated Spain from its traditional European allies, said the Washington Post.

"It divided more than it united, there were no reasons for it, time has shown that the arguments for it lacked credibility and the occupation has been managed badly," said next Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after winning the election.

Zapatero called the invasion of Iraq a "disaster".

When France and Germany balked at supporting the Iraq offensive, Aznar, stood publicly by Bush at a summit meeting in the Azores a year ago this week, and just days before the war began, reported New York Times.

The Bush administration must now fight the perception, accurate or not, that acts of terror against America's allies can sway nations into rethinking the wisdom of standing too closely with Bush, the paper added.

Bush, Blair Affected

The loss of Aznar's party sent shockwaves through the White House and Downing Street, where hopes were pinned on success for a key ally in the Anglo-American invasion.

With growing unhappiness over Iraq already eating into Bush's lead in the race for re-election, and Blair facing a crisis of credibility over his justification for the invasion, the Spanish upset could augur a total change in the political landscape for the three main protagonists in the offensive, the Independent British daily reported.

The Socialist victory complicated the Bush administration's international political and military agenda.

Blair also faces the backfire concerns, as the Popular Party had dominated Spain's political life since the mid-90's as Britain's Labor Party.

Consultations

Urgent consultations between London and Washington were believed to be under way Sunday, as they braced for the arrival of an incoming Spanish Prime Minister, who has promised that he will pull Spanish troops out of Iraq in three months.

"The military intervention was a political error for the international order, for the search for cooperation, for the defense of the United States," Zapatero said.

So, U.S. administration officials scrambled Sunday evening to hide their disappointment. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell declined to respond publicly to the Socialists' victory.

But it was lost on no one in Bush's inner circle that Zapatero rode to victory by denouncing Bush's approach to the world, and that he pledged to bring home Spain's 1,300 troops in Iraq in July.

"We don't know how big a factor the Madrid bombing was in the outcome," one senior American official was quoted by the Times as saying.

"We don't know that what happened in Spain marks a broader trend. But I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said this is the kind of outcome we might have wished for," he added.

Boosted

"They had been warned. The Aznars and the Blairs and the Bushes…," Fisk

France, Germany and other anti-war opponents could not act in relief that their earlier warnings against invading Iraq proved true.

"They had been warned. The Aznars and the Blairs and the Bushes had been told by those who were their allies - France and Germany and many others, not to mention the Arabs - that their crusade against al-Qaeda could most cruelly rebound upon them," said famous British columnist Robert Fisk.

"The Madrid bombings are not only a terrible revenge for Spain's participation in 'part two' of the 'war on terror' - the illegal invasion of Iraq - but a cruel and incrementally more painful attack on civilians by al-Qaeda," Fisk added.

Spain’s Interior Minister Angel Acebes said earlier Sunday that Al-Qaeda network has claimed anew responsibility for Madrid’s train blasts in a videotaped message.

On the tape, a man claiming to be the military spokesman of Al-Qaeda said the attacks came in reprisal for Spain’s staunchest support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Spanish officials and analysts clearly keep the accusing finger at the ETA separatists, saying that taking the blame to Al-Qaeda could be rather a distraction.

"These groups, already sympathetic with Al-Qaeda, were pushed by what the U.S., European allies as well as Arab and Islamic puppet countries do against Islam and believers," said  Omar Bakri, a London-based leader of Islamic group.

"The U.S. strikes against Iraq and Afghanistan "enlarged armed opposition to Washington and its allies that joined or justified war against Iraq," said Yasser Serri, head of the Islamic Observation Center in the British capital.