Why the Spanish left Iraq

According to Juan Cole, they were asked by the Americans to bring in Moqtada al-Sadr "dead or alive". Being familiar with conditions on the ground in Najaf, and having some inkling of the shitstorm it would provoke (and the number of Spaniards who would die as a result), they wisely refused.

It's an illuminating insight into how American commanders see the rest of the "coalition of the willing" - as disposable auxilliaries, to be given all the dirty and risky jobs and die in the place of Americans. No wonder the Spanish wanted nothing to do with it.

More details here.