‘Spain´s participation in war is an error:' Narcís Serra

FORMER Spanish defence minister Narcís Serra said in Palma yesterday that Spain's participation in the war against Iraq has been “an enormous error.” He said “Europe has increased its security by creating a superior legality, ceding sovereignty. Europe is the clearest example that multilateralism is the way towards security.” That is why Spain's participation in the war is an error, “not only for the victims it generates but also because it moves our country away from its true role in foreign policy.” Serra, also a former deputy Prime Minister, was speaking at a university master class in analysis and treatment of conflicts in society today, organised by the Balearic and Barcelona universities and held in Palma on Friday and yesterday. Commenting on the United Nations, he said it had been “divided, however, I prefer a broken Security Council than one subject to the unilateral interests of the United States.” Serra also had comments on US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and those surrounding President Bush, whom he described as “a group of extremists obsessed with declaring war on Iraq, even before the attack on the Twin Towers.” He said it was not “an invasion as Rumsfeld has wanted to make Bush believe, but a classic war, longer than what the American Administration thought it would be.” In fact, he said, Afghanistan could be a precedent of what may happen: “American troops can't leave Kabul, the war lords are in charge and cover expenses with the profits from drug trafficking, a business which is now ten times as important as before the start of the war.” And, what's more, he said, “the budget the US assigns to rebuilding Afghanistan is the equivalent of what the Pentagon spends in just six hours.” As to the Spanish government's attitude towards the peace demos, Serra said “it is ridiculous for the Popular Party to misrepresent the most important civic movement in Spain in the past 25 years because of a violent minority.” Serra is now chairman of the International Documentation Centre of Barcelona and political advisor to Latin American countries.