Month: March 2004

I was reading Jim Henley last night when I came across this—

The Socialists have apparently won the Spanish elections. So! How many of those who were falling all over themselves with solidarity and compassion yesterday will suddenly discover, and unburden themselves on, deep weaknesses in the national character of our Spanish brethren? I haven’t felt savage enough to start looking yet. Maybe it’s already begun.

—and I immediately thought “Instapundit!” Sure enough, District Attorney Reynolds was already building the prosecution’s case, replete with all the obligatory amicus briefs from Jeff Jarvis, Andrew Sullivan, Mark Steyn, Tacitus, etc. And from National Review, here’s Denis Boyles and Canadian David Frum. The most hysterical–and strangely exultant– comment I’ve come across so far is this passage from the American Spectator:

The people of Europe are determined not to learn a thing. Spain was targeted by Al Qaeda long before the Madrid bombings, long before Iraq, indeed, long before 9/11. (See the many statements of Osama bin Laden.) The Islamic thugs still smart from the Ottoman expulsion from Grenada in 1492. Negotiation and appeasement will not change a thing, if Europe doesn’t realize it’s time to go kill those people.

…

[W]e had better visit Europe soon, and imprint on our minds and eyes and hearts the images of those gorgeous cathedrals and museums and public works of art, so vulnerable in a civilization that will not defend itself. The whole fabulous mosaic of Western civilization has moved a step closer to the fate of the Bamiyan Buddhas. These 1500-year-old giant statues, carved into a mountain in Afghanistan, were dynamited by the Taliban — in March, 2001.

There’s more than a little anticipatory schadenfreude in that, no? Continue reading “Spain: The New France”

Tonight on the Simpson’s, Homer is looking through the attic for something, but all he can find is a copy of Newsweek from 1986 with the cover story: “Why America Loves Saddam Hussein.”

I was reading Jim Henley last night when I came across this—

The Socialists have apparently won the Spanish elections. So! How many of those who were falling all over themselves with solidarity and compassion yesterday will suddenly discover, and unburden themselves on, deep weaknesses in the national character of our Spanish brethren? I haven't felt savage enough to start looking yet. Maybe it's already begun.

—and I immediately thought “Instapundit!” Sure enough, District Attorney Reyonolds was already building the prosecution’s case, replete with all the obligatory amicus briefs from Jeff Jarvis, Andrew Sullivan, Mark Steyn, Tacitus, etc. And from National Review, here’s Denis Boyles and Canadian David Frum. The most hysterical–and strangely exultant– comment I’ve come across so far is this passage from the American Spectator:

[W]e had better visit Europe soon, and imprint on our minds and eyes and hearts the images of those gorgeous cathedrals and museums and public works of art, so vulnerable in a civilization that will not defend itself. The whole fabulous mosaic of Western civilization has moved a step closer to the fate of the Bamiyan Buddhas. These 1500-year-old giant statues, carved into a mountain in Afghanistan, were dynamited by the Taliban -- in March, 2001.

Continue reading “Spain: The New France”

Canadians overwhelmingly believe US President George W. Bush lied to justify the Iraq war and their own government was wise to stay out of the conflict, according to a new poll published Monday.

The poll, conducted by Ipsos-Reid for the newspaper the Globe and Mail and Canadian Television (CTV),showed that 67 percent of adult Canadians agreed with the statement that Bush “knowingly lied to the world to justify his war with Iraq” a year ago.

Moreover, 74 percent of the poll respondents said the Canadian government made the right decision by not joining the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq.

The poll suggests that most Canadians are pessimistic about the chances of democracy ever taking root in the Middle East.

The poll conducted last week shows a sharp increase in the percentage of Canadians who think the United States made a mistake in going to war. Sixty three percent now say the United States blundered, compared with 47 percent who felt that way when polled last December.

People in countries that stayed out of Bush’s illegal, immoral invasion feel far more secure than those who live in , as Billmon put it, the Coalition of the Progressively Less Willing.

What ever happened to the fly-paper theory of invading Iraq? I was wondering about that before the Madrid bombing, but it seems an even more pertinent question now.

“The surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans,” Bush said. “We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities.”

“This is what I would call a terrorist magnet where America, being present here in Iraq, creates a target of opportunity if you will,” General Sanchez told CNN.

“But this is exactly where we want to fight them; we want to fight them here, we prepared for them,” Lt. Gen. Sanchez said. “And this will prevent the American people from having to go through other attacks back in the United States.”

Mr. Bremer avoided answering whether the Bush administration set Iraq as a deliberate trap to capture terrorists, although he previously has stated that it is “better to fight it here than to fight it somewhere else, like the United States.”

Would any WarBots like to explain why the “terrorist magnet” in Iraq failed in the case of the Madrid bombings? The Spanish government apparently relied on your assurances that invading and occupying Iraq would assure them that they wouldn’t have to “fight the terrorists” at home. So, is that working, or what? Is Iraq the “main front in the War on Terror” still? If “fighting terrorists in Iraq” was such a brilliant idea, why are so many warfloggers writing things like this:

When the next bomb goes off–perhaps this time in Poland–the families of the dead should blame the people in Spain who voted to run from terrorists and cower before them instead of standing strong against them.
[…]
Let there be no mistake or misunderstanding about this – the vote in Spain absolutely guarantees there will be a major attack, here, in the States, prior to the November election.

Not only will Islamic fundamentalists run wild all over Europe killing and creating mayhem, they will activate groups here and their attacks will be specifically carried out to alter the outcome of the election. They want George W. Bush out of office. He is their biggest threat. Perhaps, he is their only threat.

The pattern is now set in stone. The machine is in motion and it is unlikely anything can stop it. There will be a massive attack here, somewhere, with many casualties and the opposition will blame President Bush for the attack. Count on it.

“The surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans…….” Spain?

Just asking. I really don’t expect the neocons and hawks in the US government to break their perfect record of stonewalling every question and never admitting they were wrong about anything.

Alan at SoutherlyBuster has added up the gains and losses by each party:

1. PSOE +39
2. PP -35
3. CiU (Catalan centre-right) 10 -5
4. ERC (Catalan leftists) 8 +7
5. EAJ-PNV (Basque moderates) 7 deputies, -0
6. IU (left-socialist) 5 deputies -4
7. CC (Canarian centrists, would have entered a coalition with the PP) 3 -1
8. BNG (Galician socialists) 2 deputies -1
9. CHA (Aragonese regionalists) 1 deputy, -0
10. EA (Basque separatists) 1 deputy -0
11. Na-Bai, 1 deputy -0

All parties, except ERC, EAJ-PNV and the single-member groups, have lost deputies to the PSOE. This is a very broad victory.

That is confirmed when you look at the regions. The PSOE won a majority of deputies in 3 regions, half the deputies in another 7, and minorities in 8. The 8 regions where the PSOE has a minority include the tiny exclaves of Melilla and Ceuta with only 1 seat each.

See this Hesiod post for a survey of the WarBlogger reactions.