Zapatero After Winning Presidency in 2004

This article was originally written in June 2004 about the Madrid Bombings and about how Zapatero was still in campaign mode even after winning his presidential elections. This is because he wanted the party to win a victory for Spanish socialists in the European Parliament elections in order to show that his presidency was not a fluke. Possibly because this wikileak is an extract from a longer article, I was unable to find out who this was from and who it was sent to but I think it’s safe to assume the United States sent it since it talks a lot about Spain and United States Relations. Anyway, the reason I’m mentioning this is because the extract when on to say that, since Zapatero really wants the Socialist party to win in the Parliament elections, foreign policy was being put on hold. In essence, Zapatero was waiting until after June 13 to talk about whether or not Spain would send more troops to Iraq or not. He also seemed too afraid to lead the Spanish people and would most likely follow.

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2004/06/04MADRID2136.html#