HOD
2003-12-01 22:32:01 UTC
December 1, 2003
By Mar Roman
MADRID - Spanish troops will remain in Iraq as part of the fight against
"fanatical terrorism," Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said yesterday in a
live broadcast to a nation angry about the slaying of seven of its
intelligence agents south of Baghdad.
Mr. Aznar, one of the staunchest European supporters of the Iraq war,
spoke as the agents' bodies arrived at a Madrid airport, awaited by about
150 relatives and senior government officials.
"Our freedom is threatened by all terrorists," the prime minister said.
"We know that a withdrawal would be the worst route we could take."
The attack occurred Saturday, the same day that gunmen killed two
Japanese diplomats at a food stand on the road between Baghdad and Tikrit,
the first Japanese to die in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in March.
The ambush could further weaken the already-shaky public support for
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who nevertheless affirmed his intention to
send noncombat troops to Iraq.
Attacks on U.S. allies continued yesterday when gunmen killed two South
Korean electricians and wounded two others near Saddam Hussein's hometown of
Tikrit, authorities reported.
The U.S. military said a Colombian civilian working as a contractor for
the military was killed Saturday in an ambush on a convoy. The South Koreans
were shot yesterday while riding in a passenger car apparently en route to
Tikrit.
The victims were electricians for a firm contracted by a U.S. company to
lay power lines at an electricity transmission station near Tikrit.
Asked in Seoul whether the shootings would affect the government's
decision to send more troops to Iraq, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck
said, "It is too early to comment. We must take time to analyze things."
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said at a news briefing in Baghdad
that the Colombian citizen died when insurgents opened fire with small arms
on a convoy near the town of Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad. The Colombian
was an employee of the U.S. defense contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, a
subsidiary of Halliburton Co.
Also yesterday, U.S. troops repelled simultaneous attacks in the
northern city of Samarra, killing 46 Iraqis, wounding at least 18 and
capturing eight, the U.S. military said. Five American soldiers and a
civilian were wounded.
Many of the dead attackers were found wearing uniforms of the Fedayeen,
a militia loyal to Saddam, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald of the 4th
Infantry Division, who described the attack as massive and well-coordinated.
The Spanish agents killed Saturday were attacked with rocket-propelled
grenades and rifle fire about 18 miles south of Baghdad. Photos of young
Iraqis putting their feet on the corpses and raising their arms in triumph
were splashed across the front pages of every Madrid newspaper yesterday,
and TV stations broadcast the footage repeatedly.
In another development yesterday, a U.S. military commander said
American forces have captured three members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist
network in northern Iraq. If confirmed, it would be the first disclosed
detention of al Qaeda militants in Iraq.
Col. Joe Anderson, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne
Division, said three men, believed to be Iraqi nationals, had been captured
in the past two weeks.
He said the captured trio had been transferred to Baghdad for further
interrogation.
In Spain, where protests last spring against the Iraq war drew hundreds
of thousands of people, the weekend deaths provoked deep anger and calls for
Spain to withdraw its 1,300 troops.
"I was shocked with the images as if it were happening to my own
brother," said Gabina Bosco, 70, a homemaker on a morning stroll in downtown
Madrid. "But at the same time I felt furious against those who instigated
this war and caused this massacre."
Mr. Aznar, in his short, somber speech, said, "Against fanatical
terrorism, there is no other option than confronting it." He said he had no
intention of withdrawing Spanish forces.
"We know that unity is our principal strength, and now is the moment to
maintain it even stronger than ever," he said. "There is no alternative to
the defense of freedom, democracy and the values that mark our way of life."
Antiwar demonstrations in Tokyo yesterday drew a few thousand people,
but polls show a majority of the public opposes sending troops to Iraq.
Mr. Koizumi said yesterday his government would stick to its plan to
send troops to help in Iraq's reconstruction.
"Japan has a responsibility to provide humanitarian and reconstruction
aid in Iraq," he said. "There is no change to our policy of not giving in to
terrorism."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Mar Roman
MADRID - Spanish troops will remain in Iraq as part of the fight against
"fanatical terrorism," Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said yesterday in a
live broadcast to a nation angry about the slaying of seven of its
intelligence agents south of Baghdad.
Mr. Aznar, one of the staunchest European supporters of the Iraq war,
spoke as the agents' bodies arrived at a Madrid airport, awaited by about
150 relatives and senior government officials.
"Our freedom is threatened by all terrorists," the prime minister said.
"We know that a withdrawal would be the worst route we could take."
The attack occurred Saturday, the same day that gunmen killed two
Japanese diplomats at a food stand on the road between Baghdad and Tikrit,
the first Japanese to die in Iraq since the U.S.-led war began in March.
The ambush could further weaken the already-shaky public support for
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who nevertheless affirmed his intention to
send noncombat troops to Iraq.
Attacks on U.S. allies continued yesterday when gunmen killed two South
Korean electricians and wounded two others near Saddam Hussein's hometown of
Tikrit, authorities reported.
The U.S. military said a Colombian civilian working as a contractor for
the military was killed Saturday in an ambush on a convoy. The South Koreans
were shot yesterday while riding in a passenger car apparently en route to
Tikrit.
The victims were electricians for a firm contracted by a U.S. company to
lay power lines at an electricity transmission station near Tikrit.
Asked in Seoul whether the shootings would affect the government's
decision to send more troops to Iraq, Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck
said, "It is too early to comment. We must take time to analyze things."
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said at a news briefing in Baghdad
that the Colombian citizen died when insurgents opened fire with small arms
on a convoy near the town of Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad. The Colombian
was an employee of the U.S. defense contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, a
subsidiary of Halliburton Co.
Also yesterday, U.S. troops repelled simultaneous attacks in the
northern city of Samarra, killing 46 Iraqis, wounding at least 18 and
capturing eight, the U.S. military said. Five American soldiers and a
civilian were wounded.
Many of the dead attackers were found wearing uniforms of the Fedayeen,
a militia loyal to Saddam, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald of the 4th
Infantry Division, who described the attack as massive and well-coordinated.
The Spanish agents killed Saturday were attacked with rocket-propelled
grenades and rifle fire about 18 miles south of Baghdad. Photos of young
Iraqis putting their feet on the corpses and raising their arms in triumph
were splashed across the front pages of every Madrid newspaper yesterday,
and TV stations broadcast the footage repeatedly.
In another development yesterday, a U.S. military commander said
American forces have captured three members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist
network in northern Iraq. If confirmed, it would be the first disclosed
detention of al Qaeda militants in Iraq.
Col. Joe Anderson, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne
Division, said three men, believed to be Iraqi nationals, had been captured
in the past two weeks.
He said the captured trio had been transferred to Baghdad for further
interrogation.
In Spain, where protests last spring against the Iraq war drew hundreds
of thousands of people, the weekend deaths provoked deep anger and calls for
Spain to withdraw its 1,300 troops.
"I was shocked with the images as if it were happening to my own
brother," said Gabina Bosco, 70, a homemaker on a morning stroll in downtown
Madrid. "But at the same time I felt furious against those who instigated
this war and caused this massacre."
Mr. Aznar, in his short, somber speech, said, "Against fanatical
terrorism, there is no other option than confronting it." He said he had no
intention of withdrawing Spanish forces.
"We know that unity is our principal strength, and now is the moment to
maintain it even stronger than ever," he said. "There is no alternative to
the defense of freedom, democracy and the values that mark our way of life."
Antiwar demonstrations in Tokyo yesterday drew a few thousand people,
but polls show a majority of the public opposes sending troops to Iraq.
Mr. Koizumi said yesterday his government would stick to its plan to
send troops to help in Iraq's reconstruction.
"Japan has a responsibility to provide humanitarian and reconstruction
aid in Iraq," he said. "There is no change to our policy of not giving in to
terrorism."
ASSOCIATED PRESS