Spain’s Former Leader Visits L.A.

The former prime minister of Spain, visiting Los Angeles on Friday, said his country’s withdrawal of troops from Iraq was tantamount to declaring a terrorist victory.

Jose Maria Aznar, in an interview at the Beverly Hills Hotel, said the only way to end the escalating violence, such as the decapitation of businessman Nicholas Berg, was for Spain and other countries to stand behind the U.S.

“If I was president of the government, prime minister in Spain, the troops would still be fulfilling their duties,” Aznar said.

This is the first time Aznar has left Spain since his Popular Party was ousted in elections held after the March 11 train bombings in Madrid that killed 201. He is in California to receive an award from Chapman University in Orange.

Many Spaniards blamed the train bombings on Aznar’s support of the war in Iraq. He attributed his party’s failure at the polls to the bombings.

Aznar, 51, had not been seeking reelection, but the Popular Party candidate was thought to have been a shoo-in.

“The electoral results would have been different if these terrorist attacks had not been carried out,” Aznar said. “We all know that.”

The former tax inspector ended more than a decade of socialist rule in Spain when he was elected prime minister in 1996.

Aznar distinguished himself as a hard-liner against the armed Basque separatist group ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom.

“I only hope that in this fight against terrorism, the Americans know that they have to persevere, that they look for allies in this struggle, because there are people willing to work with them in this fight,” he said.

Asked about the scandal over prisoner abuse at a U.S.-run facility in Iraq, Aznar said, “In democracy, any mistakes that are made can be corrected and should be corrected.”

He reiterated his support for President Bush, saying only, “He is a friend of mine.” And he cautioned Americans that, as in Spain, “the terrorists will do everything within their reach ... to affect U.S. elections.”

Today, Aznar will be presented with the university’s Global Citizen award for his achievements in the world political arena.

In September, Aznar will teach seminars at Georgetown University in Washington and continue his work as the director of a think tank that espouses expanding democracy, free markets and solidarity.

“It seems that there are some places in the world interested in listening to me,” he said.