Honduras to Withdraw Troops From Iraq

[Aidoneus]

Honduras to Withdraw Troops From Iraq
By Freddy Cuevas
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
"The Associated Press"

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Honduras, following the lead of Spain, will withdraw its 370 troops from a Spanish-led humanitarian and peacekeeping brigade in Iraq by the end of June, Defense Secretary Federico Breve said Tuesday.

The decision marked an about-face from a day earlier when President Ricardo Maduro said the forces would stay.

Tuesday's announcement "coincides with the decision of the prime minister-elect of the Spanish government," Breve said.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the socialist candidate who won Spain's elections Sunday, has called the Iraq invasion an error, and said he would recall Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30 unless the United Nations assumes control of multinational military operations there.

As suspicion mounted that al-Qaida was behind Thursday's terror attacks in Madrid that killed 201 people and wounded 1,600, there was mounting criticism of outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for being to closely allied to the United States and making Spain a terrorist target.

Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua all have sent soldiers to the Spanish-led Plus Ultra Brigade to do humanitarian and peacekeeping work.

--snip--

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5868.htm

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Wednesday March 17, 2:19 AM
Castro calls on S. American troops to quit Iraq

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro says 1,000 Latin American troops are "cannon fodder" in Iraq and calls for them to withdraw along with the Spanish unit they are serving in.

Castro, a fierce critic of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, applauded Spanish Prime Minister- elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for his decision to withdraw Spain's contingent of 1,300 troops by the June 30.

In a message published on Tuesday by the ruling Communist Party daily Granma, Castro said "more than 1,000 young men from small and impoverished Latin American countries were sent to Iraq as cannon fodder under the command of the Spanish Legion."

"The death of any of those youths is thus the responsibility of the Spanish state," he said. "The Latin American people have the right to expect the immediate return of those young men."

--snip--

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040316/3/3itdn.html

GRANMA's original English version:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/marzo/mar16/mensaje.html

[bluestateguy]

1. Ha-HA

Picture of Nelson Muntz omitted due to copyright concerns.

[xray s]

2. Oh man...Vanuatu will be the next to drop out

The coalition is breaking apart.