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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...