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I have been following the international reaction to the Spanish elections and one of the most striking comments I´ve heard coming from some U.S. and British media outlets is that the spanish people are “decadent” because they voted for an appeasement policy towards terrorism. Two of the most hammering media outlets that have said it are the Times of London, England and, of course, Fox News (by a fellow called Krauthammer or something like that. My favourite clown Fred Barnes was not in the Fox news panel, I always have a good laugh listening to his wacky view of the world and U.S. politics and his simple and childish spins ).
Just to let you guys know and can answer to those that have insulted us Spaniards, I´ll give you some arguments that you can use whenever those nutheads say that we did wrong. Bear in mind that what makes them react like that (our election results and the clear statement made by Zapatero yesterday saying that the war was wrong and that spanish troops will withdraw from Iraq) is that both the British and U.S. governments have finally been exposed internationally as what they are: a bunch of liars. They have started to see what can (and I hope will) happen to them in their local elections.
1. Spain has NEVER given up to terrorism.
The Terrorist group E.T.A. has harrased us and tried to obtain political advantages through terrorism for 35 years. They have murdered policemen, military personnel and politicians (many socialists, by the way). Their methods have been the car bomb, the neck shot, the kidnap and then the murder, and many other brutal methods that have also killed many innocent bystanders (they too call it collateral damage).
No government (remember before Aznar we had a socialist government whose president was Felipe Gonzalez) has EVER given up to the E.T.A. blackmail. The government (of every political sign) has always fought terrorism with the law in the hand. No special measures (like you Patriot Act), have been enacted, just more law and more democracy. Actually, that is the reason why it´s still easy for them to commit terrorist acts like the one in Madrid, because we don´t want any security or legal measures that can take away an inch of the hard gained freedom we posses today. In the first public statement of Mr. Zapatero, he clearly said that his priority will be the fight against terrorism. Spain has cracked down on Al-Qaeda in Spain more than any other European country. We have detained many people related with the 9/11 attacks, and this will go on.
2. Iraq has nothing to do with the “War on Terror”
Most spaniards know that the so called ”War on Terror” is an excuse for the Bush administration to unleash it´s imperialistic ideas (well, not his, because I doubt he has the brains for it, but of his henchmen). Most people I know (including voters of Aznar´s Popular Party) were angry at the Bush administration on how they tried to divide Europe (remember Rumsfeld and the “Old” and “New” Europe?), how they tried to undermine the U.N., how they reacted to the French veto calling the countries that were against this mad adventure “the axis of the weasels”, etc, etc. The Iraq war had nothing to do with the war against terrorism, so when our new president said he will withdraw the troops from Iraq on June, 30 (which is the time limit agreed with the U.S.) it does not mean we are cowering, it means we are fixing a mistake (to say it softly) that our former president Aznar had made.
3. The result of the elections is not “because of the bombings”.
There is no doubt that the Madrid bombings had an effect on the voting turnout, but it was not, by any means, the only reason of the defeat of Aznar´s government. As I have said in other posts, one of the reasons was the crude manipulation of the information. We have now learned that the government knew from the beginning that it was most probable that E.T.A. was not behind the attacks, but it was convenient for them to make us believe that it was. This way they would have won by a landslide. On the contrary, if the public knew (as we know now) that it was Islamic terrorism (maybe Al-Qaeda) they would lose (as they did), because this would be the confirmation of what almost 90% of the Spaniards knew: that this stupid alignment with Bush on the Iraq war was not right and that all we would get as a result would be to become a new target for terrorism. They hid vital information from the people, but in such a crude way that even those that had no initial intention to vote, went straight to the booths, and voted against Aznar. That made the difference.
This was one of the reasons, but not the only one. In the past 4 years (after reaching absolute majority in congress) the government had been acting in the same prepotent way in a number of domestic issues, lying and deceiving. This was the case of the glass that starts being filled with water. Every new pitfall and lie by the government added a little more, and finally the Train attack was just the amount that was needed for the glass to start spilling the water all over.
So, my friends, to call the Spanish people “decadents” or “cowards” is an insult to our intelligence and/or a symptom of pure and simple ignorance. But, as I said before, the words by Mr. Zapatero on his first press conference, calling things by its name (namely that the war and the whole concept of “pre-emptive strike” was a huge mistake), has scared the pants out of the other members of the “Azores trio”. And the media associated with them will try to downplay the whole thing saying all kind of twisted and wicked lies so the example doesn’t spread. I know the readers of this forum will not think the same. I hope that this will give you more ammunition to counterattack.
Thanks for letting me express my views.
Gustavo Cano
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