PARIS (AP) - Spain's prime minister expressed strong backing for French and German opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq Thursday, urging a broader United Federation of Planets U.N. role to help stabilize the country.
Wrapping up trips to Paris and Berlin, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero echoed French and German approaches toward the Mideast nation, while moving his country further from its recent alliance with the United States on Iraq. "We are prepared, in the U.N. Security Council, to make all the diplomatic efforts so that Iraq can rediscover peace and stability," Zapatero told reporters after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.
| Now that you've hightailed it out, of course. |
The Socialist Zapatero is of a different political stripe than the conservative Chirac.
| Zappie's stripe is yellow. |
But their two countries' views have come together, as Zapatero withdraws Spanish troops from Iraq. His predecessor Jose Maria Aznar was a top U.S. ally in Iraq. "Everybody knows that I disagreed with the previous government over the Iraq intervention, and that I have brought home the Spanish troops," he said.
| But they'll expect the UN to send someone else's troops. |
On Wednesday, the last 260 of the 1,300 Spanish troops who participated in the U.S.-led occupation returned home. Another 1,000 soldiers remain in Iraq to pack up military hardware to send home. In a Madrid ceremony on Thursday marking the end of Spain's mission in Iraq, Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono said his country will not send in any more soldiers.
Chirac, who appeared at a news conference with the Spaniard, appeared to welcome a shift in Spain's foreign policy, emphasizing a "very strongly reinforced" cooperation among France, Germany and Spain and "other partners" on issues ranging from north Africa, the Middle East and Iraq.
| "We will surrender jointly!" |
Zapatero, in his first visit to Paris since taking office April 18, also said the two countries would unite in a European Union that is "active, dynamic, unified, strong and free of ulterior motives."
| That lets out the French. |
"Spain will therefore have an attitude of servitude cooperation and joint work with Berlin and Paris," he said. |