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Spanish PM Pledge Brings Reaction
Spain's newly elected prime minister pledged Monday to bring his peacekeeping troops home from Iraq by June 30. All other governments helping rebuild Iraq said they would stay the course, but there were signs of nervousness after the Madrid bombings and the Spanish government's defeat at the polls. Britain, America's closest ally, insisted the coalition must remain committed to bringing stability and democracy to Iraq. So far, no significant opposition party has called for a withdrawal of Britain's 8,220 troops. Poland, which leads a multinational force in southern Iraq, said a pullout of its 2,500 troops would hand a victory to terrorists. Prime Minister Leszek Miller pledged to stay with the peacekeeping mission despite pressure from opposition lawmakers. "It would amount to an admission that the terrorists are right and that they are stronger than the whole civilized world," Miller said.
| Too bad Zapateros is blinded by his ideology. |
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday that all countries, not just those who supported the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein, were the targets of terrorists. "We are under a threat from Islamic extremism, and so is almost every other country in the world," Straw told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "No one should believe that somehow if you say 'I opposed the military action in Iraq,' that this makes you safer or exempts you as a potential victim."
| As Churchill noted a while back, they're just hoping to be the last eaten. |
The Polish ambassador to NATO, Jerzy Nowak, told The Associated Press he was deeply concerned about a possible Spanish withdrawal, adding it would leave a "terrible loophole" in the multinational force. In Bulgaria, which lost four citizens in the Madrid bombings, the government insisted it would not pull its 500-member infantry battalion from the southern Iraqi city of Karbala. "The only policy we can conduct is to fight international terrorism," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi said. In Japan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he foresaw no change in plans to deploy 1,000 Japanese military personnel in the Persian Gulf region to assist in Iraq's reconstruction. "Japan's (political) situation is different from Spain's," Kyodo News agency quoted him as saying. Koizumi faces intense pressure from opponents who fear Tokyo's involvement could make Japan a terror target. Last November, an alleged al-Qaida operative threatened to attack Tokyo if it sent troops to Iraq.
| Somehow I can't see Mahmoud al-Kaboomi arriving at Narita with his suitcase full of explosives and eleven passports and not being noticed by the oh-so-polite customs guys. If they try subcontracting to Southeast Asians, say MILFies or JI, those guys would stand out almost as much. The Japanese as a group look different from run-of-the-mill Chinese and Koreans and much different from Malays and such. And then there's the matter of learning how to act so as not to stand out. The Japanese version of "Y'ain't from around here, are yew?" is a little more politely phrased but means the same thing. |
Roman Giertych, the head of the Polish Families' League, a far-right Catholic party, said he wants a referendum to determine whether Poland remains with the U.S.-led coalition. "The whole nation is in danger - not the government itself - and people should decide if our troops should stay there or not," Giertych told AP.
| No Roman, you have a government to decide that, and people to decide on the government in the next election. |
The Czech government said it had no plans to withdraw its 150 military police from Iraq. Ukraine, which has contributed some 1,650 troops to the Polish-led multinational contingent, is also not considering a withdrawal, said Kostiantyn Khivrenko, Defense Ministry spokesman. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said proposals to be discussed at the EU meeting would also include a "solidarity clause" committing nations to help each other in response to terror attacks, as well as appointment of a security coordinator to oversee counterterrorism measures, improved intelligence sharing and closer cooperation with outside nations to combat terrorism.
| I'm sure the "solidarity clause" will be worth the very paper it's printed on! |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-03-16 |
