Spanish Ambassador to UK: Information over WMD in Iraq neither correct nor complete

Federico Trillo, the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom, has said that information over supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq ahead of the Iraq war of 2003 was "neither complete nor true".

Trillo, who was the Spanish Minister of Defense in the government of Jose Maria Aznar when the Iraq war began in 2003, spoke to Spanish radio station Onda Cero on Thursday in the wake of the publication of the Chilcot Report, which criticized the then UK government of Tony Blair for many failings, such as starting the conflict before "everything possible had been done to avoid war."

The former Spanish defense minister insisted that "the weapons (of mass destruction) were there, but they were not in Iraq," which he insisted, "is where they told us they were."

"The Russian minister, who everyone knows was not in favor of the war in Iraq, said to me later, 'I don't understand the debate there is now: they didn't find the weapons, but they did exist," said Trillo, who also denied that Spain had taken part "as a combatant" in the Iraq war.

The declaration comes despite the fact that 1,300 Spanish troops spent 10 months in Iraq and suffered 11 deaths, while two Spanish journalists Julio Anguita and Jose Couso lost their lives in the conflict: the last of the two when a U.S. tank fired a shell into the Bagdad hotel where he was staying.

Meanwhile Spain's El Pais newspaper also published images of Spanish soldiers supposedly mistreating Iraqi prisoners in their base of Diwaniya.

Former Spanish prime minister Aznar was a prime mover for the war along with Bush and Blair and took part of a three-way meeting in the Azores on March 16 2003, just four days before the invasion of Iraq began.

The Chilcot report shows Aznar to have been close to Bush, while also working to persuade Chile and Mexico, UN Security Council seat holders at the time, to support the war, adding that Aznar and Blair worked on a communications strategy to show they were doing everything possible to avoid a conflict.

Trillo insisted Spain had only "given humanitarian aid" and support to the allies.

"We didn't fire a shot and neither did we do anything behind Parliament's back," said Trillo.

The Spanish Congress, which in 2003 was controlled by a majority government of Aznar and Trillo's People's Party, voted to support Aznar's position over the war with the opposition of every other party and with public opinion in Spain firmly against the conflict.

"Spain decided not to be a combatant but it did decide to give aid to its allies," said Trillo, who admitted the conflict had produced "very serious direct, but not collateral damage." Endit