** Revising our positions on Iraq after terrorist attacks would be to admit that terrorists are stronger and that they are right
Polish PM
Leszek Miller**
Spain threatens Iraq troop pull-out
Spain has more than 1,300 troops in Iraq
Spain’s Socialist Party prime minister-elect says he will pull troops out of Iraq - unless the UN takes charge.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said: “The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster.”
He called for a grand international alliance against terror and an end to “unilateral wars”.
The Socialists won a shock poll victory after voters appeared to turn on the government over its handling of the Madrid bombings that killed 200 people.
Revising our positions on Iraq after terrorist attacks would be to admit that terrorists are stronger and that they are right
Polish PM
Leszek Miller
Spanish troops’ political role
Zapatero in quotes
Police are quizzing five men over the bombings, amid reports that one of them has links to a group blamed for attacks in Casablanca last May that killed 45 people.
Spain supported the US-led war on Iraq despite much domestic opposition. It currently has 1,300 troops in the Polish-led multinational force in the central-south sector.
Meanwhile, Poland - another key US ally - pledged to keep its 2,400 troops in Iraq. However, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller admitted the defeat of the Spanish conservatives could cause “very serious complications” for Warsaw.
“Revising our positions on Iraq after terrorist attacks would be to admit that terrorists are stronger and that they are right,” Mr Miller told reporters in Tarnow.
Warsaw’s ambassador to Nato, Jerzy Nowak, told Reuters news agency Poland was prepared to stay in charge of the 9,000-strong if Spain, which had been due to take over on 1 July, withdrew.