Spain plans quick pull out of Iraq
西班牙计划尽快从伊拉克撤军

☆ pull out 离开

By CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman Sunday, April 18, 2004 Posted: 2208 GMT (0608 HKT)

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain's 1,400 troops in Iraq will be withdrawn "in the shortest possible time," the country's new prime minister said Sunday.
西班牙，马德里----西班牙新首相于周六宣布，1400从组成的驻伊西班牙布军队将在尽可能短的时间内从伊撤出。

☆ withdraw 撤退

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his defense minister-designate, Jose Bono, was ordered to make the arrangements as soon as he had been sworn into office with the rest of the new Cabinet on Sunday.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero(新首相)说，新任命的国防部长Jose Bono接到命令，在其一上任即将着手安排撤军事宜。Jose Bono将于周日和新内阁的其他成员一起宣誓就职。

☆ designate 指定，任命
     cabinet 内阁

Zapatero had previously said that he would bring Spanish troops home by June 30 unless the United Nations assumed political and military control in Iraq.
先前，Zapatero宣称，他将在7月30日前撤出西班牙军队，除非联合国在伊拉克政治及军事事务中具有主导权。

☆ assume  承担

Zapatero said there were "no apparent indications" that there would be a U.N. resolution meeting his requirements by the end of June.
Zapatero称，没有明显迹象显示，到7月底，能有象他所说的召开以联合国为主导的解决会议。

☆ indication 迹象

The announcement came a day after Zapatero assumed office from Jose Maria Aznar, who supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year.
该声明是Zapatero接替Jose Maria Aznar后作出的。Jose Maria Aznar政府支持由美国领导的入侵伊拉克行动。

☆ assume office 就职

"I gave the order to do everything necessary to bring the Spanish troops stationed in Iraq home in the shortest time possible and with the greatest security guarantees," Zapatero said Sunday in a statement broadcast on national television.

The Spanish contingent is based near the Iraqi city of Najaf, where an uprising led by Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr began two weeks ago. They are part of a Polish-led multinational brigade based in southern Iraq.

The decision to pull them out of the country was Zapatero's first since taking power, having won an upset victory over Aznar's conservative Popular Party in last month's parliamentary elections.

It is an abrupt reversal of Aznar's policy, which had been to stand firmly by the Bush administration in the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The 43-year-old prime minister was elected just three days after the deadly March 11 Madrid train bombings that killed 190 people and wounded 1,800 -- attacks blamed on Islamic terrorists.