WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The United States and Spain share "a bond made in blood" and are together in the fight against terror, the State Department said Wednesday.
"We and Spain are partners in the war on terror. We share a common goal and we share common objectives. And we are ... united in working together to pursue that goal and those objectives," said deputy spokesman Adam Ereli.
He was commenting on a statement by Spain's newly elected prime minister, Socialist Party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who said he will withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30.
Zapatero, whose Socialist Party won the parliamentary elections earlier this week, also said the war on terrorism cannot be won by missiles and bombings.
Ereli, however, said America's relationship with Spain will be "guided by (our) shared commitment" to fight terrorism."
"And I don't see anything being said by Spanish officials to cast doubt on that perspective," he added.
The United States, he said, had a historical and abiding partnership with Spain, "a NATO ally that shares with us the pain and loss of terrorist attacks, and a bond made in blood."
