[Vision2020] Spain

[Joan Opyr]

Pat Kraut writes:

>I wonder if the voters understood that this will not end the attacks from
>ETA or Al Quida. Actually, it could only make it much worse if they decide
>they can control them with violence. It will be most interesting to see how
>this plays out.

I think this is an over-simplified (not to say simplistic) view of the 
Spanish elections.  One of the problems Aznar's government had to contend 
with was the perception that it had lied to the Spanish people in the 
immediate aftermath of the bombings.  The government was quick to blame the 
Basque separatist group ETA and, had the bombings in fact been conducted by 
ETA, the government had every reason to suppose that this would increase 
Aznar's popularity.  (The Prime Minister was very hard on ETA during his 
time in office, and this part of his government's policy was popular.  What 
was unpopular was Aznar's support for George Bush and the war in Iraq.)  As 
the bombings do not seem to have been the work of ETA but were instead the 
work of Algerian and Moroccan jihadis who may or may not have ties to Al 
Qaeda, Aznar's blaming of ETA looked both disingenuous and opportunistic to 
many Spanish voters.

I've heard it said in some quarters that bin Laden won the Spanish 
elections; this is nonsense.  The Social Democrats opposed the war in Iraq, 
as did between 80 and 90% of the Spanish people, but that does not mean that 
they're in favor of Al Qaeda or terrorism.  It means that they will approach 
the problem differently than Aznar and George Bush.  And who's to say the 
Social Democrats' methods won't work better?  Clearly, removing Saddam 
Hussein from Iraq did not make Spain markedly safer from terrorist attack.  
Perhaps an internal crackdown on known jihadis and Al Qaeda sleeper cells 
would be a better way to spend Spanish security money; perhaps greater 
security on the nations railways, bus stations, power plants, etc., is in 
order.

The Spanish government has arrested more Al Qaeda suspects than any other 
European nation thus far, 69.  More, no doubt, will be flushed out of the 
woodwork.  Thanks to ETA, the Spanish have thirty years' worth of experience 
in dealing with terrorists.  For that reason alone, I think it's both 
arrogant and short-sighted for us to assume that they voted out of fear or 
in the mistaken belief that playing nice with terrorists will keep them 
safe.  The Aznar/Bush approach to terrorism is not the only one, nor even, 
quite possibly, the best one.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment

PS: Here's another interesting proposition to consider.  Lost in all the 
debate about France's opposition to the war in Iraq was the fact that the 
French Army has been and continues to be active in the war in Afghanistan 
and the hunt for bin Laden.  There were several reports this weekend that 
the French believe they've got bin Laden in a net in a mountainous area 
between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  What will be the American reaction if 
those cheese-eating surrender monkeys are the ones who catch bin Laden?

I expect George Bush will have more heartburn than if he'd eaten an entire 
basket of Freedom fries.

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