The Warning in Spain's Election - Ivo Daalder

The Warning in Spain's Election

Did terrorists succeed in toppling the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of the Bush administration's staunchest allies in the Iraq War? A surprising number of commentators appear to believe just that. By voting for the Socialist opposition, which promised to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30, many appear to believe that a majority of Spaniards in last Sunday's elections acted as unwitting accomplices in the terrorists' cause.

It is true that the governing Popular Party led in the polls until days before the elections, and it would likely have been reelected but for the horrific train bombings in Madrid that occurred just 72 hours before the voting started. But that does not mean voters turned against the government out of fear of the terrorists. The reality is more complicated.

Those who believe the Spanish electorate was cowed by the bombings assume Aznar's support for the Iraq War represented a principled stance in support of the U.S.-led war on terror. It is a view shared by President George W. Bush and many in his administration, who would surely have hailed a victory of Aznar's Popular Party as proof that those who stand up for what is right are likely to be rewarded. Indeed, just two days before the elections, Bush sang Aznar's praises, telling Spanish television, "He is a man that understands the war on terror, clearly knows the stakes and knows that we must never give an inch to the terrorists." In other words, a vote for Aznar's party is a vote against the terrorists.

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The Warning in Spain's Election

The Freepers and neo-Con do forget that most of the world, outside the US, believed teh Iraq invasion was stupid, ill-planned, and just plain illegal. I think we need to begin reminding them at every turn that this was, and still is, the case.

I believe this is going to be relevant in the coming months...