Tuesday, March 16, 2004

New Spanish Leader Lashes Out at Bush, Blair Over Iraq War: "'The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster,' [Prime Minister elect] Zapatero, 43, told Cadena Ser radio on Monday... Zapatero, whose Socialist Party ended eight years of rule by Aznar's Popular Party (PP) after winning 43 percent of the ballots to the PP's 38 percent, said near-total public opposition to the Iraq war had been key."

"Zapatero also said Bush and his main ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, need to engage in "self-criticism". "You can't bomb a people just in case" they pose a perceived threat, Zapatero said in statements just five days before the first anniversary of the March 20 start of the war. "You can't organize a war on the basis of lies," he said, alluding to Bush's and Blair's insistence the war was justified by their belief -- so far unfounded -- that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat. "Wars such as that which has occurred in Iraq only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate," he said.

"The head of the EU executive arm, European Commission chief Romano Prodi, agreed in an interview published by Italy's La Stampa newspaper Monday. "It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists," Prodi said. "Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago," and all of Europe now feels threatened, he told the paper."

Any chance Mark Latham could produce some blunt speaking of this sort?

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