BRUSSELS, July 11 (UPI) -- The Spanish government aksed the United States to speed its invasion of Iraq to lessen any impact on its electoral chances.
In February 2003, Spanish officials approached their counterparts in Washington to ask that the invasion date be brought forward to avoid damaging the chances of the ruling Popular Party in local elections scheduled for May, Raphael Bardaji, a senior advisor to then-Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar told a transatlantic homeland security conference here.
"I asked high-ranking officials at the White House and the Pentagon," he said, declining to give further details.
"They took note, but I don't think it affected their decision."
Bardaji also said that, after recieving a drubbing in the May poll, the Aznar government basically gave up on any effort to win over the Spanish public -- more than three quarters of whom opposed the war.
"I was told not to mention Iraq in any public debate," he told the opening night dinner of the German Marshall Fund conference.
