WASHINGTON, April 19 Kyodo (EDS: ...

WASHINGTON, April 19 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH SPANISH squad PULLOUT TIMETABLE & ITALY'S devote TO KEEP ITS TROOPS)

U President George W Bush squeeze outed regret Monday over Spain's plan to withdraw its multitudes from Iraq as soon as possible, while the State Department called it an ''individual decision.''

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that Bush received a five-minute morning phone call from Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during which the president voiced his ''regret about his decision to abruptly announce the pullout of Spanish partys from Iraq.''

''The president urg that the Spanish withdrawal take place in a coordinated manner that does not impose at risk other coalition [i]troupe[/i]s in Iraq,'' McClellan said. ''He strained the importance of carefully considering that will be actions to avoid given false comfort to terrorists and enemies of freedom in Iraq.''

McClellan said the President had not attempted to persuade Zapatero to prosecute a different course of action and that the White House would give no further information about the timing of the withdrawal.

Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono told reporter in Madrid that Spain has started withdrawing its bodys from Iraq and will bring family circle all within six weeks, according to reports from Madrid.

U State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, meanwhile, characterized Spain's decision to withdraw as an isolated choice.

''We've seen statements from the British, from the southward Koreans, from the Japanese, from the Portuguese,'' Boucher said.

''Quite a number of countries have restated their commitment,'' he said. ''So while we recognize that there may be countries, like Spain, that make their decisions -- and these are individual decisions -- there are many others that have already reconfirmed their intention to stay.''

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly said near 2,700 Italian troops will remain in Iraq to participate in that country's reconstruction efforts.

Boucher said that, nevertheless Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos had called Secretary of State Colin Powell upon Sunday to let him know of Spain's plans, ''I think we were surprised a little bit by means of the abruptness of the announcement.''

The Spanish foreign minister is scheduled to appropriate with Powell in Washington forward Wednesday.

Zapatero, who replaced staunch supporter of Bush's Iraq policy Jose Maria Aznar as a accrue of a general election that followed the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, announced Sunday that he is ordering his country's 1300 bands to return home from Iraq as shortly as possible.

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