"We all know the Spanish Army. Bunch of cowards. They cowardly joined the invasion of Iraq. But they were redeemed when politicians heroically withdrew them and took them back to were they belonged"

As Spaniard, I disagree. They were there following orders, not by their own initiative.

Politicians send them there (Actually ex-president Aznar sent them there, and yes, it was his personal decision, criticized by most of the people in his party, though not in public) and politicians (Not the same politicians who sent them in the first place) took them back after the electoral results.

Maybe it got lost in translation. I am well aware of Spanish politics. I was trying to be funny, that's it. I know the military follow orders (that is why, for example, it is hard to believe that the US tortures in Irak happened because of individuals). But since we are talking politics, I am not sure if I would say, as you do, that "took them back after the electoral results". Zapatero had announced his decision to withdrew the troops (if he was elected) well before the elections.
Anyway, I was just trying to make fun of some Americans who accused the Spaniards of being cowards for not following their murderous oil quests. That's it.

I say that they "took them back after the electoral results" because before them they were not able to take them back, since they were not in charge. I'm talking about the act of taking them back, not the decision of doing so, which, as you have mentioned, was previous to the elections.

"Anyway, I was just trying to make fun of some Americans who accused the Spaniards of being cowards for not following their murderous oil quests. That's it."

I've read people saying things many times dumber than what you wrote and they were serious about them, so you never know. I think the parody component was not clear enough. I guess in our "modern" world the parody component is never clear enough. Whenever George W. Bush talks, I always feel like watching some kind of parody. I guess my sense of reality is falling into pieces.

I fully agree, not kidding, with your comment about the spanish army are a bunch of cowards. Unfortunately, this is not derived from the elections, it was a consequence of the terrorist attack. It was the way they withdraw from Irak and Afterwards the President of these cowards Zapatero who asked other countries to leave alone the allies in Irak.