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NYT Editorial: Regime Change by AlQ = Healthy Democracy
If this was posted yesterday, please delete!EFL / Fair Use Change in Spain Published: March 16, 2004 The terrorist bombings in Madrid last week were undoubtedly the main factor in Sundayâs upset of the incumbent Popular Party, which supported the American invasion and occupation of Iraq. The victorious Socialists, like most Spaniards, did not. If Al Qaeda organized the bombings, as now seems to be the case, the outcome may be seen by some as a win for the terrorists. We disagree. Certainly, the events in Madrid have been a major blow to the Bush administrationâs strategy of inducing democratic governments to endorse its military operations even in the teeth of overwhelming opposition from their own people. But the war on terror will go on, perhaps stronger than ever. The Popular Party expected that its impressive economic achievements would cause the Spanish people to overlook Prime Minister José MarÃa Aznarâs unpopular decision to support the invasion of Iraq and send a symbolic detachment of Spanish troops to aid in the effort. Thursdayâs terrorist strike â Western Europeâs worst in more than half a century, with 200 dead and 1,500 wounded â scrambled the political calculus. Sundayâs vote became an expression of national pride and mourning. Spaniards who might not otherwise have voted turned out in large numbers and voted against a government that they opposed before the bombs went off. Others may have turned against the government over its early emphatic insistence that the bombings had been the work of Basque, rather than Islamic, terrorists. Either way, it was an exercise in healthy democracy, in which a change of government is simply that, and not a change of national character. ...more... The home of moral equivalency holds the line. Posted by: .com 2004-03-17 |
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