José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the election took place, winner George W. Bush did not return Zapatero's congratulation phone call, though the White House firmly denied that Bush's intention was to snub the Spanish prime minister. Meanwhile, Zapatero repeatedly insisted that Spain's relations with the United States were good. In spite of that, Zapatero acknowledged years after that the phone conversation held with President George W. Bush was "unforgettable" and that when told that the Spanish troops were leaving Iraq, the American president had told him "I am very disappointed in you" and that the conversation ended in a "very cold" manner. Zapatero later told
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero other hand, defended the theory that the anger of the two Socialist AMs was caused by Zapatero's broken promise about the referred distribution of power within the Madrid section of the Socialist Party. That promise would have been made some months before the crisis in exchange of support for one of his more immediate collaborators (Trinidad Jiménez), who wanted to become the Socialist candidate for mayor of Madrid (the Spanish capital). Zapatero's team had entered into contact with José Luis Balbás through Enrique Martínez and Jesús Caldera (then Minister of Labor) In April 2000, Zapatero, Caldera and José Blanco had