SPAIN: PRIME MINISTER JOSE MARIA AZNAR AND ARGENTINIAN PRESIDENT EDUARDO DUHALDE, MADRID PRESS CONFERENCE / PARLIAMENT JOURNALISTS PROTEST AT DEATH OF JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ.

Record ID: 645927

  • Title: SPAIN: PRIME MINISTER JOSE MARIA AZNAR AND ARGENTINIAN PRESIDENT EDUARDO DUHALDE, MADRID PRESS CONFERENCE / PARLIAMENT JOURNALISTS PROTEST AT DEATH OF JOURNALISTS IN IRAQ.
  • Date: 9th April 2003
  • Summary: (W8) MADRID, SPAIN (APRIL 9, 2003) (REUTERS) MV/ZOOM OUT/MLV: SPANISH PRESIDENT JOSE MARIA AZNAR AND ARGENTINEAN PRESIDENT EDUARDO DUHALDE SHAKING HANDS IN FRONT OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE AND THEN WALKING INSIDE. MV: OF AZNAR AND DUHALDE SEATED. SCU: AZNAR. SCU: DUHALDE. TRACK/WS: AZNAR AND DUHALDE ARRIVE FOR NEWS CONFERENCE AND STAND AT PODIUMS. (2 SHOTS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) AZNAR SAYING "Today we have lived an historic moment, we can say the Baghdad wall has fallen. I want to express my congratulations to the Iraqi people because they have got rid of this tyranny. I also want to express my gratitude to the coalition forces that had made this possible in only three weeks. Saddam Hussein has tried to repeat in Baghdad the same that Hitler did in Berlin. He had confined his people in the capital and try to do in Baghdad, like in Berlin in 1945. Hopefully it has been Berlin in 1989 and as the Berlin wall fell, so did the Baghdad one." SCU: JOURNALIST WRITING. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) AZNAR SAYING "The best news is that Saddam Hussein's regime is falling and the best news is that that is a very important step towards the end of the conflict. We hope it finishes as soon as possible and we hope there are no more victims." WS/PAN: JOURNALISTS LISTENING NEWS CONFERENCE. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (spanish) AZNAR SAYING "I want to express my condolences to the families of the two Spanish journalists who lost their lives performing their duty. A kind of duty that they themselves had chosen, being there and assuming all the risks. We feel deeply sorry that they have lost their lives doing so." MV: DUHALDE AND AZNAR DURING PRESSER. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARGENTINE PRESIDENT EDUARDO DUHALDE SAYING "We have decided to withdraw all these quasi-currencies, and we will do so without the need to refer to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SCU: JOURNALISTS LISTENING. MLV: AZNAR AND DUHALDE AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE.
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MADRID, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9TMJWRM43L706BKYCTO8D5H9A
  • Story Text: Spanish Prime Minister Jose MAria Aznar has said the fall of Baghdad was an historical moment and good news for the world at a joint news conference with Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde in Madrid.
    During the joint news conference with Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde, Spanish president Jose Maria Aznar said history had been made on Wednesday (April 9) in Baghdad.
    "Today we have lived an historic moment, we can say the Baghdad wall has fallen. I want to express my congratulations to the Iraqi people because they have got rid of this tyranny.
    I also want to express my gratitude to the coalition forces that had made this possible in only three weeks. Saddam Hussein has tried to repeat in Baghdad the same that Hitler did in Berlin. He had confined his people in the capital and try to do in Baghdad, like in Berlin in 1945. Hopefully it has been Berlin in 1989 and as the Berlin wall fell, so did the Baghdad one," he said at the joint news conference.
    The Spanish president also expressed his condolences to the families of the two Spanish journalists killed in Iraq in the last two days.
    "I want to express my condolences to the families of the two Spanish journalists who lost their lives performing their duty. A kind of duty that they themselves had chosen, being there and assuming all the risks. We feel deeply sorry that they have lost their lives doing so," Aznar said.
    Spanish Television Telecinco cameraman Jose Couso was killed on Tuesday (April 8) when a U.S. tank fired on a Baghdad hotel that served as the main base for dozens of foreign journalists covering the conflict and Julio Parrado Anguita, journalist from El Mundo newspaper was killed on Monday (April 7) when a Iraq missile hit him.
    Earlier in the day, Spanish journalists piled up cameras, tape recorders and notepads during a speech of Aznar in Spanish Parliament. Reporters in Madrid also walked out of a news conference with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
    Duhalde said at the joint conference his government did not need to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over plans to soak up provincial currencies, which could bend agreed-upon financial targets.
    "We have decided to withdraw all these quasi-currencies, and we will do so without the need to refer to the International Monetary Fund," he said.
    GULF WAR 3
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