Supporters desert Aznar as Spaniards reject conflict
Giles Tremlett in Madrid Tuesday February 18, 2003 The Guardian
Spain's prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, was coming to terms yesterday with the fact that his unswerving support for George Bush on Iraq had inflicted heavy political damage that could cost his conservative People's party its hold on power. Ministers admitted that the government's position was "causing significant electoral damage" and Mr Aznar's wife, Ana Botella, was quoted as saying his party was going through "one of the worst moments in its history".
Between 2 million and 3 million people took to the streets of Spanish cities to protest at the weekend in what was said to the biggest overall turnout in the world. As many as one in 15 Spaniards marched.
More significantly for Mr Aznar, opinion polls have shown that, for the first time since securing a clear victory in elections three years ago, the Socialists have overtaken the People's party in voting intentions.
Mr Aznar also faced embarrassment yesterday when it was revealed that in 1997 he had offered to pay Baghdad in "aid" if it gave oil contracts to the Spanish-owned Repsol company. The government was ready to make a "donation" if Repsol was given a concession in the Nasiriya field, despite the fact that the UN had just issued a series of resolutions condemning Iraq's continued blocking of inspections, according to El Mundo newspaper, which quoted official documents.
The amount of money involved was described as "a sum to be set later". But Repsol never managed to close the deal.
More than any other political leader in Europe, with the exception of Tony Blair, Mr Aznar is flying in the face of popular opinion. An El Pais newspaper poll two weeks ago showed 69% of Spaniards were against even a UN-backed war. Nearly two-thirds of the People's party's own voters opposed war.
The Socialist opposition has called him to vote against war at Nato and the UN security council.
Mr Aznar's personal conviction that Saddam Hussein still possesses chemical or biological weapons appears to remain unshaken. This, government officials said, was partly due to the private conversations he has had with Mr Bush and top US officials, who see him as one of their most important diplomatic allies.
He has also argued that for a government that has made domestic terrorism its No 1 priority, the alleged relationship between President Saddam and international terrorism cannot be ignored.
Few observers expect him to change his opinion. Far from backing down, Mr Aznar explained his position in leaflets inserted into daily newspapers at the weekend. Illustrated with pictures of the blazing twin towers, they said only that the government considered a new UN resolution as "possible and desirable", rather than a prerequisite to invasion.
The extent of Mr Aznar's commitment to a possible war against Iraq was underlined yesterday with the publication of photographs showing the construction of accommodation for 600 new military personnel at a US base in southern Spain.
Protesters in Madrid taunted the prime minister on Saturday with chants of "Mr Aznar, send your own sons". Yet, despite his stance as a leading European hawk, Spain is unlikely to play a significant military role in a war. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20030217/d581d1e0/attachment.htm>