| Spainâs opposition Socialist Party (PSOE) leader said on Thursday that if he wins a March 14 general election he will withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq at the end of June unless a UN-led force takes charge. Spain currently has 1,300 troops serving in Iraq whom the conservative government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar deployed last August in the teeth of massive political and public opposition. The Spanish mission in Iraq officially runs until June 30 and the government elected next month will have to decide whether to extend it. The PSOE leader, who will go up against the Popular Partyâs Mariano Rajoy in the election with Aznar voluntarily stepping down from power, also said that in his view âthe situation has become worseâ in Iraq in recent months. Zapatero explained that while he gave his full support to the troops themselves he believed they should not be left in an unstable country, sent there on the basis of âa serious error of the government." |