This Was a Vote for Surrender ("Display of naked terror")

The Scotsman ^ | March 16, 2003 | Editorial

[quidnunc]

Consider this question carefully: has the Spanish election result made the world any safer? The answer must be an unequivocal no. Of course, few can fail to understand or sympathise with the trauma and fear on the streets of Madrid. Nor can one fail to appreciate the human desire of ordinary Spaniards to be excused from dealing with the messy, murderous complexities of what one British prime minister, in another context, famously referred to as "a faraway country of which we know little". And certainly, the rush by the outgoing Popular Party government to pin the blame for the Madrid bombings on ETA, for its own electoral reasons, led to a predictable backlash by the voters. Yet, even when all this is taken into account, the Spanish vote has handed al-Qaeda a major propaganda victory which will only encourage that organisation to strike again in the hope of winning more concessions. And very probably, the next target will be in Britain.

Many in this country, especially those who opposed the invasion of Iraq, will conclude differently. They will sympathise with the Spanish voters’ decision as a punishment on the outgoing Aznar administration for going against the majority, anti-war opinion in Spain. But to take such a stance is politically naive. First, withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq, as the new government in Madrid now proposes, is to add to the instability in that country, not create the conditions for peace. Remnants of the fascist Baath Party, in alliance with foreign Islamic terrorists linked to al-Qaeda, are desperately trying to thwart the introduction of democracy in Iraq. They were the ones responsible for the recent terrible massacre of Shiite pilgrims and for the targeted assassination of prominent Iraqi women.

How can anyone reason that withdrawing troops and abandoning ordinary Iraqis to this fate is a sensible policy at this moment in time, regardless of what position one took on the overthrow of Saddam? To counsel leaving democratic Iraq — its women, the Kurdish minority, the Marsh Arabs at last returning to their ancient villages, the oppressed Shiites — to their fate is not discretion, it is moral cowardice. To be frank, it is the same moral cowardice and appeasement that led people to abandon Czechoslovakia to Hitler — the original "faraway country" quoted above.

Display of naked terror

But the Spanish vote is dangerous on a second count. As with Hitler, it will not appease al-Qaeda or the Islamist terror groups. For, like Hitler, these are not engaged in some rational political exercise with limited aims that is amenable to negotiation or bargaining. Above all, it is not an enemy that considers the cost of civilian deaths — quite the opposite. For what al-Qaeda has discovered in Madrid is that if you kill enough ordinary commuters and schoolchildren coming into town from a poor working-class district, and you do it just before a general election, you can determine the outcome of that election through a display of naked terror. In other words, you can change unfriendly governments, force a retreat from Iraq or anywhere else you fancy, and cow democracies into retreat.

For the first time in modern history, a democracy has put up its hands in front of terrorists and said: "We surrender." Can any thinking person — including the Spanish, when they come to their senses — imagine that having tasted such success, al-Qaeda will abandon its murderous tactics?

-snip-

[Unam Sanctam]

I hope this viewpoint will at least be represented in the press in Europe, at least as one of different competing views.

[Uncle Sausage]

And very probably, the next target will be in Britain.

I wonder. Easter is on 4/11 and Rome has been listed by al-Qaida as one of their targets.

[Boot Hill]

The courage of the Spanish people was tested Sunday and found wanting. By their actions, they have empowered these beasts. The blood of the next terrorist attack on a coalition partner will be on their hands.

--Boot Hill

[KingNo155]

Spain part of the UE?

[KingNo155]

EU?

[lilylangtree]

The answer is a big fat NO to the election results. Also, heard on the radio news today that the Spanish Socialists are planning to nationalize all social services resulting in huge tax increases on the Spanish people. The beginnings of another Zimbabwe all over. In a couple of years after Spain sinks into a recession and people are starving, the Socialists will be begging for handouts from the UN, US, Britain, just about anyone they can put the pinch on. But never will they look at the govt control over everything that got them in the terrible shape they'll be in. The cowards deserve everything that the Socialists can do plus the islamics bomb them to extinction.

[quidnunc]

KingNo155 wrote: Spain part of the EU?

Yes, it is.

[expatpat]

...one British prime minister, in another context, famously referred to as "a faraway country of which we know little".

For those who didn't catch this reference: it was Neville Chamberlain, referring (IIRC) to Czekoslovakia, i.e., a subtle reference to appeasement.

[Viking2002]

Spain should be left to reap the harvest of what they have sown, no matter how bitter it tastes domestically. Maybe it will be a wake-up call for them, assuming that it's not too late.

[JasonC]

"the rush by the outgoing Popular Party government to pin the blame for the Madrid bombings on ETA, for its own electoral reasons"

For the love of ... They think we can't remember things that happened right in front of our eyes in the last week. It is a complete and utter lie. The government told the people exactly what it knew as soon as it knew it. The government arrested several Moroccans. They did not beat the bushes for ETA members, they did not delay anything, they did not hide anything. The instant a tape with Koran verses was found in a van, the entire world knew it.

The left simply lied, straight to our face, as loud as possible, slandering the ruling party to exploit the terrorist attack.