Spain's Presence In Iraq Panned

Criticism of Spain's mission in Iraq mounted on Monday as mourners filed past coffins holding the remains of seven intelligence agents killed in the deadliest attack on Spanish forces in Iraq.

A day after the remains of the Spaniards killed Saturday in an ambush south of Baghdad were flown into Madrid, seven separate wakes were held at a defense ministry hospital.

Each coffin was draped with the red-and-yellow Spanish flag, reflecting the victims' membership in the military.

Defense Minister Federico Trillo and ruling Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy were among ministers and leading officials who attended.

Funeral services were planned for Tuesday at the headquarters of the National Intelligence Center -- the Spanish CIA-equivalent that deployed the agents to Iraq.

Tuesday was to be a day of national mourning and Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was to appear before the Congress of Deputies to discuss the attack and debate Spain's presence in Iraq.

Opposition parties complained it was in poor taste to schedule this on the same day as the funeral. They pushed in vain to reschedule for another day.

United Left leader Gaspar Llamazares said Aznar's insistence on appearing Tuesday could lead people to think "the government is trying to hide the political debate and the shame of the war behind the pain, the black sashes and the mourning of all the Spanish people."

Aznar's party said the prime minister was not trying to hide anything and simply wanted to appear quickly because that's what Spaniards want.

Eight agents Spain's National Intelligence Center were attacked Saturday. The only survivor returned home Sunday with the bodies of his comrades on the flight from Kuwait, accompanied by Trillo.

The victims, aged 36 to 49, were identified as: Alberto Martinez Gonzalez, Jose Merino Olivera, Jose Carlos Rodriguez Perez, Jose Lucas Egea, Alfonso Vega Calvo, Luis Ignacio Zanon Tarazona and Carlos Baro Ollero.

Shock over the slayings and subsequent jubilation by Iraqis continued to dominate Spanish media.

The incident hiked the toll of Spanish deaths to 10 since mid-August.

While the media mostly supported Aznar for not retreating from Iraq, criticism continued.

In a front-page editorial, the daily El Mundo said insurgent attacks in Iraq could no longer be qualified as terrorism but as an expression of the wishes of the Iraqi people.

"We believe the Spanish presence in Iraq in its current form with troops more focused on self-defense than on any other task makes increasingly little sense. Only the United Nations can channel a process of transferring power with any sense of legitimacy."

Spanish radio queried whether Aznar had misplaced his trust in the United States by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

In an interview with independent radio station SER, party leader Rajoy faced questions on whether the roughly 1,300 Spanish troops, initially sent to Iraq on a humanitarian mission, were equipped to cope with a situation of war.