Spain will ask anti-war allies Germany and France to join in a proposal calling for a U.S. exit from Iraq and a new international presence in the country, a Spanish government source said Tuesday.
"The idea is to see if Spain, France and Germany can help the United States find an exit from Iraq...and devise a formula for an international presence there that would not be perceived as an occupation by most of the population," the source said.
New Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose first decision on taking office was to withdraw troops sent to Iraq by his predecessor, said Tuesday the last of Spain’s soldiers will have left Iraq by May 27.
Zapatero will make the proposal during talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin Wednesday and with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris Thursday. Germany has already expressed interest in it, the source said.
Asked whether Spain would be prepared to send troops back to Iraq under such a formula, the source said it was too soon to say.
Any joint Spanish-French-German initiative would probably unfold in the U.N. Security Council -- all three are members -- though the source said the form it might take had not been decided.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos has mentioned the possibility of sending Arab forces into Iraq, and of a future international presence that would not include soldiers from countries which have been a part of the U.S.-led coalition. |