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Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar announced in Madrid Tuesday that Spain would deploy 900 troops in Iraq to provide humanitarian support, but he ruled out sending Spanish combat troops to join a United States-led military attack on Iraq.
Spain "will not participate in attack missions," so there would be no Spanish combat personnel, the prime minister told parliament. His statement ended weeks of speculation as to whether Spain would back its support of the United States by putting troops into a war against Iraq.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said about 30 nations, including Spain, were willing to join with the United States in a war against Iraq, while 15 others said they were willing to take part in the war but preferred to be anonymous for the time being.
Noting that Spain would contribute to the international effort with a humanitarian support mission, Aznar said his government decided on Tuesday to deploy its Galicia hospital ship, plus two other vessels, to the Gulf region.
As part of this mission, other vehicles and ships would be deployed for the same purpose with the capacity to act as an emergency coordination center, he added.
Meanwhile, as part of Spain's commitment to assisting Turkey as a fellow NATO member, Aznar announced that Spain had put several vessels at the disposal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to defend Turkey in case it was attacked.
(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2003)
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