Well, it looks like the Socialists in Spain have upset the ruling center-right Popular Party. The Spanish public is clearly mad at the Popular Party after last Thursday's attacks in Madrid. Andrew Sullivan is yelping that Spaniards are appeasers in the war on terror since the Socialists vow to take Spain out of Iraq. I beg to differ. Being a conservative, I would prefer the Popular Party in power, but in many ways they deserved it. They harped on ETA being the cause quite early without wondering if just maybe Al Queda has something to do with it. Maybe if they had been more honest they would still be in power. Also, as I have said many times before, Iraq and Saddam had nothing, nada, zip, to do with binLaden and his ilk. I don't know what Sullivan is smoking these days when there is no evidence at all about this supposed link. The ruling party took a gamble on Iraq and lost. Spain had its own 9/11 not because Al Queda sought to get appeasers in power, but because they got involed in this silly adventure which inflamed Islamic radicals.
My fear with the Socialists is that they may not take the real threat of terrorism from Al Queda seriously. The prime minister to be seems to realize that they must be vigilant. I hope he can follow through.
I do wonder what this says for Bush. He has staked his presidency on linking 9/11 to Saddam and we are reaping the whirlwind for it. What will be the result? Could Bush go the way of Aznar?
Posted by Dennis at March 15, 2004 12:51 AM