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HAVANA - Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly criticized Latin America's socialist-leaning presidents for the first time on Sunday. Castro also praised Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his other revolutionary regional allies in a commentary carried by official Cuban media on the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. Nearly all 19 leaders who attended the summit were leftists, but there was debate over the region's future and the closing speeches on Saturday were marked by sharp exchanges..."I listened with great sorrow to the speeches pronounced from traditional left positions at the Ibero-American summit," Castro wrote. He was apparently referring to the...

Madrid - Former Spanish chief of state José Maria Aznar spoke with the King of Spain and with current prime minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero this afternoon to thank them for the support they expressed for him in the Iberoamerican meeting yesterday in Santiago de Chile after Aznar was criticized by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The conversation with Zapatero was brief, just 10 minutes, and took place after Zapatero placed a floral offering at the memorial to victims of the military dictatorship in Argentina...government sources have confirmed Zapatero responded to Aznar, saying, "I acted according to my principles and for...

SANTIAGO, Chile - The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Chavez, who called President Bush the "devil" on the floor of the United Nations last year, triggered the exchange by repeatedly referring to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist." Aznar, a conservative who was an ally of Bush as prime minister, "is a fascist," Chavez said in a speech at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. "Fascists are not human. A snake is more human."...

SADDAM Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, George Bush, the United States president, is said to have told José WMaria Aznar, the then prime minister of Spain, a month before the 2003 invasion. During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on 22 February, Mr Bush told Mr Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to a transcript of their talks published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. "The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if...

The left is jumping over a report out of Spain that they say affirms their belief that Bush was going to go into Iraq no matter what happens: According to a new report published today by El Pais, Spain’s largest daily newspaper, Bush told then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the time that he was going to invade Iraq no matter what happened. Spanish speakers can read the transcript of their discussion — I’m a little rusty — but E&P has a report on the revelations. El Pais, the highest-circulation daily in Spain, today published what it said was...

Bush thought Saddam was prepared to flee: report By Jason Webb 29 minutes ago Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, according to a transcript of talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and an ally, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday. During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003, Bush told former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to the transcript published in El Pais in Spanish. In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe...

THE US and its allies, including Australia, need to stay the course in Iraq because to withdraw would allow terrorism to flourish in all parts of the world, according to former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar. Speaking in Sydney last night, Mr Aznar, who led Spain from 1996 to 2004, said that the Western world was at the crossroads, and that to concede defeat in Iraq would have "very serious consequences" for global democracy. "It's a very bad idea. You shouldn't run out of Iraq," Mr Aznar said. "Exiting Iraq without achieving stability will leave Iraq at the mercy...

WASHINGTON, Oct 26, 2006 (AFP) - Multicultural policies in Europe have largely failed, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar said Thursday on the one-year anniversary of riots by ethnic minorities in France. "I believe that multiculturalism is a big failure," Aznar said, speaking at Georgetown University. "I'm against the idea of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism divides our societies, debilitates our societies, multiculturalism does not produce tolerance, nor integration." "And this is one of the reasons of the great failures in several European societies at this moment." Aznar, a pro-US conservative who led Spain from 1996 to 2004, emphasized that laws must...

Published: 09/25/2006 12:00 AM (UAE) ASGHAR KHAN/Gulf News Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish Prime Minister, says the West is constantly under attack from Muslims. Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish prime minister, defended Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about Islam, saying on Friday the pontiff had no need to apologise and asking why Muslims never did. the Spanish media said yesterday. “Why do we always have to say sorry and they never do?” Aznar told a conference in Washington on “global threats” on Friday. On Saturday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying that more European leaders should have...

Aznar defends Pope's remarks. Agencies Madrid: Jose Maria Aznar, former Spanish prime minister, defended Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about Islam, saying on Friday the pontiff had no need to apologise and asking why Muslims never did. the Spanish media said yesterday. “Why do we always have to say sorry and they never do?” Aznar told a conference in Washington on “global threats” on Friday.

FORMER SPANISH PRESIDENT Aznar:“Muslims should apologize for occupying Spain for 800 years” 09/23/2006 Bush and his war on terror, said the West is under attack from radical Islam and must defend itself. “It is them or it is us,” Aznar said. “There is no middle ground.” Jose Maria AznarMuslims should apologize for occupying Spain for 800 years and a U.N.-backed program to encourage dialogue between them and West is stupid, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar has said. Aznar made his comments Friday night in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a thinktank in Washington, D.C., as he discussed...

Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar called for far-reaching NATO reforms to combat Islamic extremism, including expansion of the alliance membership to include Israel, Japan and Australia. The appeal came in an article published Thursday. Writing for the Jerusalem Issue Brief series of the Jerusalem-based Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Aznar said "it is imperative to defend our values and way of life against a new threat: Islamic extremism and terrorism." The article was based on a presentation he made at the institute on March 16. To transform NATO from a military alliance against the now-extinct Eastern bloc into a...

In the immediate aftermath of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid a backpack was found. Inside the backpack was found an unexploded bomb. That backpack bomb was important in helping to link the Madrid bombings to al Qaeda, and subsequent arrests. Perhaps not surprisingly some people hint the backpack could have been planted.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, we are not living in the best of all possible worlds. We see violence, terror and fear nearly every day, thanks to 24-hour news coverage. We see poverty and hunger in too many places around the globe. We see acute crises sporadically breaking out between America and Europe. Moreover, we are seeing nature act up in ways unprecedented in modern times. But despite the Katrinas, Bin Ladens, and Atlantic tensions, I also have to say that we are not living in the worst of all possible worlds. In fact, I'm optimistic. Let me tell you...

On March 11, Spain suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history and one of the bloodiest the world has ever known. Terrorists planned their cowardly acts with the express purpose of killing as many people as possible, in order to sow terror and strike a mortal blow against our freedoms and rights. It was a day we felt an immense pain, pain we will never forget. But it was also a pain we must all learn from. Its lessons are simple. If we want to stop terrorists from murdering us and from dictating how we lead our lives, we...

European Snubs Europe Spain's former prime minister admitted that Europe is an unreliable mediator in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. "Europe likes appeasement very much; this is one of the most important differences between us and the States," Jose Maria Aznar told the Jerusalem Post last week. "In Europe, Israel is not very popular, not only this (Sharon) government, all governments," he said. "Most Europeans support the Palestinian cause." Aznar, who was ousted last year amid public opposition to his commitmnet of Spanish forces to help the U.S.-led war in Iraq, is in Israel to receive an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University....

Simon Wiesenthal Center Condemns Statements Made by Venezuelan President Which Banalize The Holocaust The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned statements made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who said, "Hitler was nothing compared to (former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria) Aznar." "Chavez' statements are an offense to the memory of millions of victims massacred by the Nazis," said Shimon Samuels (Director for International Liaison of the SWC) and Sergio Widder (Latin American Representative). "These kinds of comments are not the result of ignorance but an absolute contempt for the victims of the Nazi regime. Chavez' political culture, which allowed him to present...

MADRID — Spain's governing Socialists, in a report to be presented in Congress tomorrow, claim their conservative predecessors manipulated information after the Madrid train bombings for political gain. That is among the conclusions of Socialist deputies who served on the parliamentary inquiry created to probe the causes and consequence of the attacks, which took place under the premiership of centre-right Jose Maria Aznar of the Popular Party. The more-than-400-page document will be formally presented on Wednesday in the lower house of Parliament. Besides criticism of the former government, the top Socialist on the investigative commission told EFE that the report...

Spain's ex-PM to Israel: Ignore Europe Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 6, 2005 Israel need not pay much attention to Europe, which is using its Middle East policy to separate itself from the US, has a tendency toward appeasement and is largely pro-Palestinian, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar told The Jerusalem Post Monday. "Europe likes appeasement very much; this is one of the most important differences between us and the States," Aznar said in an interview on the Bar-Ilan University campus. "Europeans don't like any problems. They prefer appeasement." The strongly pro-American Aznar, who bucked public sentiment...

Israel need not pay much attention to Europe, which is using its Middle East policy to separate itself from the US, has a tendency toward appeasement and is largely pro-Palestinian, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar told The Jerusalem Post Monday. "Europe likes appeasement very much; this is one of the most important differences between us and the States," Aznar said in an interview on the Bar-Ilan University campus. "Europeans don't like any problems. They prefer appeasement." The strongly pro-American Aznar, who bucked public sentiment in Spain and backed US President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, served as...

In a mocking echo of the “Deck of Death” that the US military used to track down Saddam Hussein’s regime leftovers after the liberation of Iraq, a March 2004 cover of The Economist laid out four “ace cards”: Britain’s Tony Blair, Australia’s John Howard, America’s George W. Bush and Spain’s Jose Maria Aznar. The freshly ousted Aznar had a red X emblazoned across his face. The stark, chilling headline asked, “One down, three to go?” At the time, it was perhaps a fair question. Recall that Spain had just been bombed and bullied into making a separate peace with terror....

It has long been understood that the Spanish socialists shamelessly exploited the March 11, 2004, terrorist attacks in Madrid’s train station for political advantage. They did so with palpable disregard for a frightening fact: The far-reaching geostrategic repercussions of that incident...gave those seeking similar results elsewhere every incentive to engage in violence against other democracies’ electoral processes. But what if the perpetrators were neither Islamofacists, as the winning socialists immediately asserted, nor the Basque terrorist organization known as ETA, as the government of José Maria Aznar initially (and fatally) assumed? On May 16, the Madrid daily El Mundo published a...

Former Spanish leader blasts his nation's coziness with Cuba, Venezuela Former Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar said Wednesday that his country's government was practicing ''irresponsible'' foreign policy, citing the coziness Spain is fostering with Cuba and Venezuela. Aznar said that under his administration, Spain stood proudly with the two strongest democracies in the world, the United States and Great Britain. And now, he said, Spain stands with Cuba and Venezuela, countries he called bedfellows in exporting trouble throughout Latin America. Aznar made his statements in a meeting with the Herald's editorial board Wednesday morning. ''I was in Mexico last week,...

It's been almost a full year since Spanish voters rejected the chosen successor of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Aznar had cultivated a warm relationship with President Bush and committed troops to Iraq - and Spain went to the polls just days after a vicious terrorist strike. But Aznar's having no second thoughts about his policies or America's dominant role in the world. On the contrary, in a recent visit to The New York Post, Aznar said he sees American power as more important than ever, especially considering the independent, "soft power" foreign-policy agenda being pushed by Europe's dominant powers,...

The world is currently facing a number of very important challenges. Fighting terrorism and bringing democracy to the Middle East are priorities on the international agenda, whilst re-establishing strong and healthy relations between America and Europe -- and enhancing their ability to deter rogue regimes -- constitutes a no less urgent and essential task. It is evident that we must also support the forces of democracy against pre-dictatorial populism in Latin America. Finally, we must find an effective role for the United Nations, an organization that so far has proved itself incapable of reflecting upon its own actions and its...

Troubles deepened for Lady Thatcher's disgraced son last night when a self-confessed coup plotter surfaced to accuse him of direct involvement in the attempt to overthrow the regime in Equatorial Guinea. Crause Steyl, the mercenary pilot who was to have been the star witness against Mark Thatcher had his trial in South Africa gone ahead, told Channel 4 News that Sir Mark's role had been kept secret, because "his mother was the previous prime minister of England". Mr Steyl described meeting Sir Mark to select a helicopter on which a gun could be mounted. He also alleged that the Spanish...

MADRID- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero blamed Islamic radicals linked to Al-Qaeda for the March 11 attacks that killed 191 people in Madrid and called for a cross-party pact against international terrorism. The socialist leader also hit out at the previous right-wing government of Jose Maria Aznar for trying to pin responsibility on the Basque separatist group ETA and wiping out evidence of its actions at the time of the attacks. And he slammed the United States for suggesting the outrage had cowed the Spanish people into ousting Aznar, Washington's strong ally in the war in Iraq, at...

MADRID (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Islamic militants tried to use the Madrid train bombings to oust the pro-U.S. ruling party from power in Spain, but not because of its support for the Iraq (news - web sites) war "These attacks were being prepared long before the Iraq war. They were not the result of the Iraq war even though many people said so," Aznar said during 11 hours of combative testimony on Monday to a parliamentary commission probing the attacks. The March 11 bombings aboard four packed commuter trains killed 191 people and wounded 1,900...

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush (news - web sites) welcomed Spain's king, Juan Carlos, to his Texas ranch Wednesday with a show of warm feelings in marked contrast to the chill in relations toward the prime minister of Spain. The king and his wife, Queen Sofia, arrived by helicopter at Bush's ranch in central Texas. The president drove his white pickup truck to the landing site, accompanied by his wife, Laura, and his father, former President George H.W. Bush. "Hola," the president said in greetings to journalists. Bush gave the king a hearty handshake and escorted him to the truck,...

WASHINGTON — The White House has put out word daily of calls flooding in from around the world to congratulate President Bush on his re-election victory. But somehow, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero just hasn't been able to get his call past the switchboard. Zapatero phoned Bush not long after his Nov. 2 win, but wasn't put through to the president. Now, more than a week after the voting, the two leaders still have not hooked up. The White House explanation signaled something of a cold shoulder toward the Spanish leader, who angered the administration by withdrawing troops...

...Mr. Bush's international strategy includes an active policy in favor of peace throughout the most dangerous region on Earth: the Middle East. He has promoted greater political openness and economic liberalization, not to mention values such as religious respect and tolerance. The status quo of a region that has become a hotbed for terrorists and fanatics is no longer acceptable.... I believe that Mr. Bush's re-election ushers in a period of hope for the international community. Leaders all around the world can also play their part in defending our democracies and way of life. We have another four years before...

20 October 2004 13:37 Putin greets former Spanish PM in Moscow The foundations of Russian-Spanish relations which were laid years ago are opening prospects for their further development. This was the main theme of a meeting between [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. He occupied this post for eight years. The meeting took place in the Kremlin's Fireplace Hall. This was more of a private affair. Aznar has arrived in Moscow on a private visit. The president and the Spanish politician shook hands and embraced. They spoke English for a few minutes and then,...

...Australians go to the polls next week to choose a new parliament and perhaps a new prime minister. John Howard, the current prime minister, is a staunch U.S. ally, one of the first national leaders, along with Britain's Tony Blair and Spain's José María Aznar, to send troops to fight alongside the Americans in Iraq. Mr. Howard's principal opponent, Labor's Mark Latham, has chosen to make Australia's participation in the multinational coalition in Iraq the main issue in his campaign. Following the lead of Spain's José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who defeated Mr. Aznar's party last spring after the terrible terrorist...

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Dozens of political prisoners in Cuba should be freed, former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar said Friday at an international conference examining ways to support resistance to Fidel Castro's regime. Aznar said he was "not going to remain silent," while "in Cuba people are held prisoner simply because they have a different opinion from the official line." He addressed the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba, which opened a three-day meeting here Friday. The group aims to unite opponents of Castro's regime. Participants highlighted the case of Raúl Rivero, a jailed Cuban dissident journalist and...

In the old military city of Badajoz the sound of drums and trumpets that welcomed Spanish troops home from Iraq had given way yesterday to a discontented silence among men who feel they have let down their allies. Senior army officers are guarded in their response to the decision of the socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to withdraw soldiers from Iraq. But as a small contingent of Spanish troops prepares to remove the last vestiges of the country's 1,300-strong presence, there are whisperings of discontent from those now returned. The previous prime minister, José María Aznar, contrary to...

The decision by the new Socialist government to pull out Spanish troops from Iraq is lawful. But it is also gravely irresponsible. It raises Spain's risks and worsens our foreign relations. It alienates us from our partners and allies and does not contribute to the foreign policy consensus that had been promised to us by the new government. It suggests also a lack of solidarity with the Iraqi people and is the best news possible for those who attacked Spain on March 11. Many of us in Spain feel ashamed about the withdrawal of our troops. And many more of...

<p>Spain's former prime minister, whose party lost an election days after a terrorist bombing in Madrid, warned yesterday of a terrorist attack this fall before the U.S. presidential election, a possibility that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said the White House is taking seriously.</p>

The Talk Shows Sunday, April 18th, 2004 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): National security adviser Condoleezza Rice; outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. John Kerry, Democratic presidential candidate. FACE THE NATION (CBS): National security adviser Condoleezza Rice. THIS WEEK (ABC): British Prime Minister Tony Blair; national security adviser Condoleezza Rice; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader; Sept. 11 commission...

<p>CHRIS WALLACE, HOST, FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Jose Maria Aznar stepped down this week as prime minister of Spain. He was retiring after two terms in office. But his final days were controversial, with his decision to send 1,300 Spanish troops to Iraq and then the brutal terrorist attack of 3/11.</p>

Spanish President Aznar will be auxiliar proffesor in Georgetown about European policies and Transatlantic relations. He received the Golden Medal of Georgetown in January. His courses will be held two times every six months.

<p>On March 11, Spain suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history and one of the bloodiest the world has ever known. Terrorists planned their cowardly acts with the express purpose of killing as many people as possible, in order to sow terror and strike a mortal blow against our freedoms and rights. It was a day we felt an immense pain, pain we will never forget. But it was also a pain we must all learn from.</p>

Outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has urged his country to not withdraw its troops from Iraq as the country prepared to hold a state funeral on Wednesday for 190 victims of the Madrid train bombings. "This is not the moment to think about withdrawals of troops," Aznar wrote in Wednesday's edition of The Wall Street Journal. "And much less when the terrorists, with their message of death and destruction, have demanded that we surrender." Aznar's Popular Party lost the general election just three days after the March 11 bombings, and Socialist Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has...

<p>On March 11, Spain suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history and one of the bloodiest the world has ever known. Terrorists planned their cowardly acts with the express purpose of killing as many people as possible, in order to sow terror and strike a mortal blow against our freedoms and rights. It was a day we felt an immense pain, pain we will never forget. But it was also a pain we must all learn from.</p>

<p>MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Defiant despite a crushing election defeat, outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Monday he does not regret supporting the war in Iraq and criticized his successor's plan to withdraw Spanish troops.</p> <p>Aznar's remarks were his first in public since the March 14 general election in which his conservative Popular Party crashed to surprise defeat amid charges that he had provoked the Madrid rail bombings three days earlier by backing the war. The attack killed 202 people and wounded more than 1,800.</p>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terrorists Topple Their First European State VIEW FROM THE RIGHT Adam Sparks, Special to SF Gate Monday, March 22, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin Apparently, Spain has chosen appeasement. And, proving old Ben's wise dictum, Spaniards now deserve neither liberty or safety, and they'll most certainly get what they deserve. The upset election of the socialists in Spain speaks volumes about the Spanish people. They now gleefully join much of Old Europe, which had already capitulated to the Islamo-fascists who are...

Are the Spanish cowards? Or do they simply not grasp the nature of the war on terror? The answer to the first question is decidedly "No." Spain has endured 40 years of Basque terrorism, carried out by separatists who follow an ideology almost as weird as al Qaeda's — a mixture of radical leftism and nationalism — yet nobody has ever talked of capitulating to the terrorists and granting independence to that region. Meanwhile, the small and underfunded Spanish Army has been stretched to its limits by going to patrol Kabul. Last May, 62 soldiers were killed when the plane...

Spain's prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has demanded a "radical change" in the post-war strategy in Iraq otherwise he would withdraw Spanish troops from the country. In an interview published in Sunday's El Pais, Mr Zapatero warned that there must be change in the post-war strategy. "Either there is a deep, radical change in the strategy being pursued in Iraq, a hand over to the United Nations including a modification in the command of occupation forces, or Spanish troops will be repatriated," he said. Calling the war a "big mistake" and "the management of the occupation a disaster",...

'Aznar called it right,' Italian leader asserts ROME As investigations into the deadly bombings in Madrid continued to point Wednesday toward Islamic extremists, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy roundly accused the Basque separatist movement ETA of involvement. "I am convinced that Aznar called it right," said Berlusconi, a staunch ally of the outgoing prime minister of Spain, José María Aznar, whose party was trounced in the general election last Sunday. Spanish public opinion turned against Aznar's government after it appeared to rush to blame ETA for the attacks despite evidence pointing to the involvement of Islamic extremists intent on...

MADRID.- About 2000 or 3000 PP supporters have demonstrated in front of the party headquarter at Calle de Genova in Madrid, saying "Viva Aznar", "Gracias, Aznar" or "Zapatero Presidente de Al Qaeda".

<p>MADRID -- Spain will have a new government now: it is Socialist, as we know, and vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq. The prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is an old-fashioned European man of the left: pacifist in his "distaste" for war, and deeply anti-American in his posturing and rhetoric, to say nothing of his innermost instincts. If one were, as a laboratory experiment, to manufacture precisely the sort of Spanish leader the U.S. would find most uncooperative at this juncture in history, he would resemble Mr. Zapatero almost exactly.</p>