Bush criticizes Spanish pullout

President Bush yesterday rebuked Spain’s new socialist prime minister for pulling Spanish troops out of Iraq, a move that prompted Honduras to follow suit while other nations stood firm.

During a five-minute phone call with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Mr. Bush expressed “regret” for Spain’s “abrupt” withdrawal of 1,300 troops — less than 1 percent of allied forces in Iraq, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

“The president stressed the importance of carefully considering future actions to avoid giving false comfort to terrorists or enemies of freedom in Iraq,” he said. “The president urged that the Spanish withdrawal take place in a coordinated manner that does not put at risk other coalition forces in Iraq.”

The decision by Mr. Zapatero, who took office over the weekend, prompted Honduras to announce that it rapidly would pull out its 370 troops, who had been scheduled to leave Iraq at the end of July.

“The government has ordered an urgent and detailed evaluation of the situation with the goal of taking appropriate measures in the short term,” Honduran Foreign MinisterLeonidas Rosa Bautista told reporters.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher acknowledged that “Honduras was affected by the decision of Spain.”

But two other Latin American nations — El Salvador and the Dominican Republic — planned to keep their troops in Iraq. So did Britain, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Australia, Portugal and Slovakia.

And Albania, a predominantly Muslim nation, responded to Spain’s withdrawal by announcing that it was prepared to beef up its mostly symbolic presence of 71 noncombat troops in Iraq.

“We have expressed our readiness to positively respond to the request for additional forces and we are working to set the practical details to achieve that,” said Albanian Foreign Minister Kastriot Islami in a letter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

The White House was heartened by such gestures of support.

“The coalition in Iraq is strong, and we appreciate recent statements by many of the coalition nations expressing their solidarity and resolve,” Mr. McClellan said.

Mr. Zapatero’s announcement, coming just hours after the new Socialist government was sworn in, reignited speculation that terrorists might try to influence upcoming elections in such countries as the United States and Australia. On Sunday, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warned against an increase in terrorist attacks during the U.S. presidential campaign.

Mr. Zapatero scored an upset victory on March 14 after terrorist train bombings that killed 191 persons in Madrid four days earlier. He defeated Jose Maria Aznar, a staunch Bush ally in the war to liberate Iraq.

“They want us to panic — that’s their intent,” Mr. Bush said yesterday of the terrorists. “Their intent is to say: ’Let’s create panic among the civilized world. We want nations to turn upon each other, civilized nations to argue and debate about the mission.’ ”

Mr. Zapatero’s announcement prompted radical Shi’ite cleric Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr to declare a moratorium on attacks against Spanish troops in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi blasted the planned pullout, telling La Stampa newspaper: “This is a serious mistake that offers international terrorism victory on a silver plate.”

Members of Mr. Zapatero’s government began efforts at damage control, imploring the international community not to read too much into the withdrawal.

“That does not mean that Spain is giving up its commitment to the stability and democratization of Iraq,” Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said in a speech in Madrid. “And of course, we will be the leading actors in the international fight against terrorism.”

Mr. Moratinos also told El Pais newspaper that Spain would continue to help fund Iraq’s reconstruction.

“We’re not washing our hands” of the crisis, he said.

“This decision should not affect bilateral relations between Spain and the United States,” he said, adding that Spain’s list of shared interests with the United States would be “wider and more attractive” under Mr. Zapatero.

U.S. military commanders, who have 100 times more troops than Spain in Iraq, downplayed the importance of the pullout. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said the withdrawal would create no “security vacuum in that area at any time.”

He added: “Numerically, those are numbers that should be able to be replaced in fairly short order.”