text: Alexander Downer said the threat by a group calling itself Islamic Tawhid Group, which claims to be an al-Qaeda branch in Europe, was a direct result of Manila and Madrid’s withdrawal from Iraq, singling out the two countries by name.
  “Its very important we send a strong message that we will not be threatened by terrorist groups,” Downer told Channel Nine. “You have to stand up to these people, because if you don’t, you empower them.”
  THE Spanish Government today brushed aside criticism from Australia and denied it had given in to terrorists by withdrawing its troops from Iraq.
  Socialist party spokeswoman Trinidad Jimenez said the pullout simply fulfilled an election campaign pledge based on long-standing opposition to the US-led war in Iraq.
  [...] Ms Jimenez, Spain's spokeswoman for international affairs, called Mr Downer's remarks "totally unacceptable".
  "Spain's troop withdrawal is part of an electoral promise and a firm conviction that from the beginning it was an unjust and illegal war."
  Trini, even if one considered that the was was illegal at the beginning (which it wasn't), it isn't anymore under your own party's standards (no hope that you'll admit it, though); it has been sanctioned by several UNSC resolutions. Last one, no. 1546 which fulfilled the conditions Zapatero stated during the campaign as acceptable to remain in Iraq. Of course, he advanced the withdrawal because he said there was no chance in hell that such a resolution could pass. No Nostradamus, he.