Spain's Socialist government – which vehemently opposes the war in Iraq and withdrew troops sent there by its predecessor – allowed a Spanish Navy frigate to join a U.S. battle group operating in the Persian Gulf, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The newspaper El Mundo reported that the frigate was attached to that specific naval unit in early November when planes aboard the Roosevelt took part in an American offensive against suspected Al-Qaida militants along Iraq's border with Syria. The Spanish warship's deployment, which ended Dec. 3, appeared to be at odds with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's utter disapproval of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
The conservative opposition leader, Mariano Rajoy, criticized the "clamorous shame" that stained the Government of Rodríguez Zapatero, when it refused to give explanations about the "deception for the Spanish people" arising from the participation of the Spanish frigate ‘Álvaro de Bazán’ in military operations in Iraq. According to Rajoy, "this frigate's presence in the Persian Gulf – a fact that was not duly acknowledged by the Spanish authorities – is unjustifiable since the vessel formed part of a combat group, specifically integrated within a North American naval battle mission devoted to acts of war," and he insisted that " the Government must account for it."
Another very controversial figure at present is the Minister of Defense, José Bono, who repeatedly appears in the news because of the continuous scandals in which he is involved. In August 2005, 17 Spanish military men lost their lives when a helicopter crashed for reasons that the minister has so far failed to explain satisfactorily. The same year, Bono signed a contract involving the sale of weapons to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, which Washington defined as a gesture that might “destabilize the region." Finally, last week it emerged that Bono used a Spanish Air Force Hercules C-130 to pick up 23 civilian waiters in Zaragoza and airlift them to Madrid for a commemorative reception at the Army’s headquarters on the day of its patroness, Our Lady of Loreto, in a “mission” that cost 10,000 Euros.
The prestigious institution Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos (GEES) has warned that "Bono is Defense Minister by accident because his boss (Zapatero) believes such a portfolio to be the most convenient instrument to erode his potential rival's political assets. And for Bono, the job is just as good as any other means to continue on his race toward the Moncloa Palace and eventually attain the top governmental position. Anyone interested in probing the military's views and opinions about José Bono would quickly find out how little regard they have for him."
Bono admitted to have made “some beginner's mistakes” at the start of his term as minister with regard to the relations with the USA, but he also underlined that "the friendship between both countries is above any discrepancies or lack of experience." However, this new scandal provides evidence that there is no such “friendship” and that Rodriguez Zapatero suffers from a serious inferiority complex in his relationship with the USA.
On the one hand, through the media, he tries to portray his visceral anti-Americanism by supporting the Hugo Chávez–Fidel Castro populist axis in Latin America. But on the other, he stealthily tries to improve his calamitous ties with the USA through such deeds as his military backing of the American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, which definitely contradict his “pacifist” speeches that brought him to power in 2004.
If Zapatero had already lost some credibility in the past by secretly reinforcing the Spanish military presence in Afghanistan, we also now know that by sending this warship to Iraq and failing to report the initiative to the public opinion and to Parliament, the “accidental Government of 14-M” has broken its word and betrayed the Spanish electorate. There has been no transparency of information regarding the affair whatsoever. On the contrary, it was an act of concealment at best, and if Zapatero’s administration does not clarify the matter, there will be considerable disappointment amongst the Spanish people. The mission was a clear case of double-dealing that reveals sheer navet and a foreign policy devoid of meaningful strategy.
A few questions remain to be answered. What is Zapatero doing in Iraq? Is it a maneuver devised to please the USA and create the impression that bilateral links with the Americans have not been damaged by the Spanish Prime Minister's erratic foreign policy? What was Spain doing in Afghanistan? In any way, the socialist Government is trying to draw Washington's attention by engaging in actions disguised as humanitarian aid missions in those trouble spots where the United States of George W. Bush are fighting against Al Qaeda. However, the goals of both men are entirely different. While Bush is dealing with Islamic terrorism, Zapatero simply wishes to have his pictures taken, come out in tomorrow's headline news, and continue to eagerly search for additional protagonism at large.
January 11, 2006
