Spain's outgoing leader, Jose Maria Aznar, insisted on Friday that a plan by his successor to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq would be a huge blunder. "My view is that to remove Spanish troops from Iraq is a calamitous error for Spanish politics," Aznar told a news conference after attending his last EU summit as prime minister of Spain.
Socialist prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has vowed to pull Spain's 1,300 troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations is given far greater control of the US-led occupation by June 30.
Aznar said he had asked Zapatero for written instructions on what to do about rotating Spanish troops due out on April 21.
His outgoing government has said it would be a huge waste of money to go through with the rotation only to pull the troops out for good just 10 weeks later.
"This is a key decision. We have asked them (Socialists) for an answer in writing. I will do what they tell me - what I can't understand is why they haven't yet done so," he said.
"I am just the president of the transition government but I want to know the criteria," he said. "I want to facilitate things...but it's not a decision for me to take."
Zapatero is not expected to take office until late April so it will fall to Aznar to issue the formal order on the troops.