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REGION RECONSIDERS TROOPS IN IRAQ AFTER SPANISH ELECTION.

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Signaling the prospect of further diminution of the coalition of the willing, Honduras will follow Spain's lead in withdrawing its troops from Iraq. Honduran Defense Minister Federico Breve, who made the announcement, said the decision "coincides with the decision of the prime minister-elect of the Spanish government."

Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, who will become prime minister as a result of the parliamentary victory of his Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE) over the right-wing Partido Popular (PP) of Jose Maria Aznar, had said earlier of the Iraq war, "The participation of our country was an error.

I believe that, in itself, the war in Iraq was also a political mistake. You can't bomb a country 'just in case.'"

Zapatero added, "The war and the occupation have been a disaster."

Honduras just last month sent a contingent of 370 soldiers to Iraq, replacing a force of equal size sent last August. The announcement said that the Hondurans would leave Iraq at the end of June, but they had been committed for one year.

Two days prior to the announced withdrawal, government spokesmen had told reporters that Honduran troops were in Iraq to stay, but this was in the context of a mini-panic in which the director of population and...

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