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| Europe |
| Spain’s Churchill Speaks Out; Neville’s Not Listening |
| 2004-03-23 |
| Aznar Says Successor’s Iraq Plan Is a Big Mistake Spain’s outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Monday his successor was making a serious mistake by planning to withdraw troops from Iraq, portraying the move as a concession to terrorism. Neville Zapatero, call your office. In his first interview since his party’s stinging defeat in March 14 elections, held in the shadow of train bombings that killed 202 people, Aznar urged Spain not to give in to violence. Sorry, brave sir, the majority of them already did. "What the terrorists want is for us to throw in the towel. What I ask for, hope and wish is that we never throw in the towel," he said on Telecinco television. I fear Zappy and his cronies will give them the towel, and probably pay them to take it. Bet ETA’s watching and learning. Aznar, a close ally of President Bush, which makes him a traitor in the eyes of the Left supported the Iraq war and sent 1,300 Spanish troops there afterwards to help keep the peace. Incoming Socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has raised controversy with his pledge to withdraw the Spanish troops if the United Nations does not "take charge" there by June 30. The UN can’t "take charge" of finding their asses with both hands. They only thing they’re good at taking charge of is other people’s money. Aznar said withdrawing the troops "seems to me a very serious error." "A very serious error" - that describes Zappy to a T. "When you have such a brutal attack as Spain has suffered ... you have to carry out your responsibilities. of sticking your head in the sand, apparently. ’Course, the leftists forget what’s still exposed when they do that. The first thing that Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero has to know is what he wants to do with the Spanish troops in Iraq and secondly think what he wants the United Nations to do," he said. "But to think that you can beat terrorism with concessions seems bad to me. I think that weakening the international coalition fighting terrorism is a very serious error," he said. Bush and other leading U.S. politicians have urged Zapatero to rethink the move, which some analysts think could have a "domino" effect on other nations which have sent troops to Iraq. The Left, particularly in Europe, is terrified of a "domino effect" all right. They’re scared the Middle East thugocracies may "domino" into democracies. Aznar said he believed the rail attacks had "something to do" with the upset election result. Ya’ think? Polls before the attacks had shown Aznar’s conservative Popular Party consistently ahead. He said the government had always told the truth after the March 11 attacks, despite widespread anger over its handling of information on the investigation. Truth apparently doesn’t matter. So what’s new? The government initially insisted the armed Basque separatist group ETA was the most likely suspect even though later evidence pointed to Muslim militants. "I leave with my head held high and proud of the work I have done," Aznar said. As well you should, friend. I think history will show Aznar to be Spain’s modern-day Churchill (if you don’t know why, you don’t know much about pre-WWII European history). I just hope Spain survives to find out. |
| Posted by:Barbara Skolaut bskolaut@hotmail.com |
#5 Even if they had a Churchill the Spanish would cower and appease, he would be ignored.On that, we unfortunately agree completely. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-03-24 6:50:57 PM |
| #4 Barbara, that's exactly my point. When the war came to them the rest of Europe folded in WW2. The British never surrendered. That's why I said when the sh-t hits the fan. They tried to avoid war (our good friend Neville) up until it was impossible to avoid. Then the rest of Europe virtually gave up without a fight but the British were going to fight until the death. Could you ever imagine the nazi's occupying England, like they did the rest of Europe? Every british citizen would be fighting them day and night. The rest of Europe are cowards. Aznar may be a weak version of Churchill but the Spanish don't have 1/10th the heart the british do. Even if they had a Churchill the Spanish would cower and appease, he would be ignored. |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-3-23 10:31:26 PM |
| #3 "Bet ETA’s watching and learning." I think this is dead right. It was the scale that they'd been screwing up. No matter what AlQ officially does, henceforth ETA can threaten by simply saying they are collaborating with them - and that will be good enough, I'll wager. Sans backbone, the Spanish are targets. When the asshats find a hardened target, they wise up and move on. Someday I hope they'll backtrack on the election swing, but they've dug a hole now - and they have to face the tough step of reversing the error. They will be tested by boomers again either way. One way leads out of the hole - and the other leads to dhimmitude. |
| Posted by: .com 2004-3-23 10:04:27 PM |
| #2 Damn_Proud_American: Read about Churchill's unheeded warnings all through the 1930's. I agree that the British are great fighters, but they, like the Spanish today, turned a blind eye to the rising danger of Hitler and embraced appeasement. (Does Neville Chamberlain ring a bell?) As Churchill said to Chamberlain: "You had a choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor. You shall have war." (May not be an exact quote, but close enough.) That's what Aznar is saying to Yappy Zappy and the Spanish people. They've chosen appeasement (and therefore dishonor), but they'll still have war. And that's why I think history will consider him another (1930's, anyway) Churchill. When the war comes, if the Spanish are smart, they'll call on Aznar to lead them again. But I'm not making any bets. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-3-23 9:53:24 PM |
| #1 "I think history will show Aznar to be Spain’s modern-day Churchill (if you don’t know why, you don’t know much about pre-WWII European history)." No way. The Spanish are cowards at heart, the British aren't. When the sh-t hits the fan the British fight to the death, the Spanish and the vast majority of the rest of Europe have a history of folding in a week. |
| Posted by: Damn_Proud_American 2004-3-23 9:37:58 PM |