Spain Turned Down U.S. Request to Capture or Kill Iraqi Religious Leader

Spain Says It Turned Down U.S. Request to Capture or Kill Iraqi Religious Leader

MADRID, Spain (AP) - U.S. commanders in Iraq asked Spanish forces to help hunt down or kill a religious leader, but Spain refused, saying its mission was humanitarian, the defense minister said Monday.

Minister Jose Bono did not specify if he was referring to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has led an insurgency against the U.S.-led occupation and is wanted by coalition forces, or say when the request was made.

"Occupying countries can wage offensive actions," Bono told a news conference. He said, however, that Spain - as part of the U.S.-led coalition - was not an occupying force.

For that reason, he said, +Madrid could not "take part in offensive actions and therefore we said flat-out that we were not willing to hand in, as we were asked at one point, alive or dead, a certain religious leader."

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