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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (39808)	3/18/2004 12:38:30 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Spain's Vote Opposite of Surrender Devon Canode In recent days, all over the news media, news-anchors, talking heads, and the GOP have been demonizing Spain's vote, which ousted the ruling Popular Party in favor of the Socialists, as a surrender and a reward to Terrorism. With simultaneous glee and PTSD [editors, PTSD is Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder], Bush-backers have pointed out that pre-bombing polls had the incumbent PP ahead (though not leagues ahead) and expected to win their reaffirmation. So, the critics reason, the only possible explanation is that the Spanish people have folded and, in their irresponsible grief following the Madrid bombings, taken vengeance on their government and effectively become agents of the Terrorists by weakening the U.S. led coalition's unity while demonstrating Terror's power to influence world affairs. A broader view reveals, however, that Spaniards should not be blamed for taking control in a situation which until now has been out of their control. With any reasonable degree of foresight, the Bush administration should have known that its headlong blitz into toppling Baghdad would leave sociopolitical residue everywhere which could potentially ferment to great potency. The residue is the skeptical view which the pan-European public has had, shown clearly in poll upon poll, regarding the Terror War's deletrious effect on global security, and regarding Bush's agenda ever since he began grim-facedly putting prices on people's heads and squeezing democratic Western governments to ignore the will of their people and join his personal crusade. The residue is also the sum of the string of fallacies which Bush's administration has put forward, from WMD, to Saddham's purported relationship with Al Quaeda, to terrorism's supposed equal global distribution of targets, in efforts to justify their terror war policies and actions. In short, because an indignant Bush blew off the misgivings of all of Europe, both governments and publics, and failed both before and after the occupation to produce adequate rational or empirical justifications for his 'most-aggressive-scenario' Iraq posture, Europeans feel pushed around and are increasingly shrinking from America's heavy shadow. A rational look at what transpired in Spain underscores the likelihood that Bush is exaggerating when he insists that terror is an equal threat to everyone. Nevermind that Osama Bin Laden declared his war on the U.S., and not Europe; it is difficult to imagine that the Madrid bombings would have taken place had Spain's leaders listened to their constituents and told America to play power politics by herself. The events in Spain represent Spaniards reacting justifiably to the realization of their worst fears with regard to joining Bush's brand of War On Terror. Could not many of the 90% of Spanish voters who originally opposed the war and Spain's troops' deployment in Iraq have foreseen the possibility that Spain would become a terrorist target in the event of Spain's war participation? To a Spaniard, this turn of events makes perfect sense. Nevermind what election result the terrorists wanted. The crucial point is that the Spanish people had their own cause. They evidently felt they needed to punish and depose a regime in their own country which had dismissed their highly unified and loudly vocal rejection of the idea of Spanish warriors in Iraq. Just as Bush and Spain's Popular Party dismissed the Spanish people's concerns before the war, so, in a ruthless act of democracy, the Spanish people dismissed Bush and the Popular Party from exercising power over their country's future. This is the lesson for the Bush administration: Even in the hypothetical event that there were solid reasons for invading Iraq, these are never self-explanatory to those outside the loop, such as the people of Europe. If you want friendship and loyalty from other democracies, you have to talk with their people equally as well as you talk with their ever-changing leaders. The War On Terror, history's newest greatest global upheaval, was undertaken by Bush's administration in a spirit of diplomatic monologue, of bombast, of bugging UN offices, when it should have been a full-faith dialog among honorable partners in the democracies of the West. opinioneditorials.com lurqer