Report: Spanish troops were not authorized to use force in Iraq

Spanish troops dispatched to Iraq from August 2003 to May 2004 were ordered to "avoid or minimize collateral damage" and required to obtain authorization from the Defense Ministry to use letal force, documents obtained by El País reflect. The contextual nature of an internal memorandum published Tuesday by the newspaper shows that the previous conservative government of José María Aznar limited Spain´s role in Iraq and didn´t give full cooperation to the coalition led by the United States and Great Britain as he otherwise portrayed.

Aznar´s party the Partido Popular continually criticizes the current Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for withdrawing the troops, which was one of the prime minister´s 2004 campaign promises. The pull out also strained relations between Bush and Zapatero.

In his recently published memoir, former U.S. Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer criticized Spain for what he considered the country´s "passive" approach in the war against Iraqi insurgents. "It's unworthy. They're sitting on their tanks....without doing anything. This is what I call the 'Coalition of the Absolutely Unwilling,'" Bremer wrote.

The published memo supports Bremer´s observation but explains what the rules the Spanish troops had to follow. It stated that "the use of force, when authorized, will always be governed by the principle of the minimum... including that of lethal force..."