Tim Blair

Hopefully the Spaniards learned an important lesson last week. By supporting George W Bush's reckless and dangerous policies, the Aznar government has put Spaniards in danger. Spaniards going to the polls should realize it is much safer to oppose American fascist imperialism than the Religion of Peace.

311 was a day everyone became Spaniards, hopefully the voters will have learned a lesson and not squander the good will shown by the French, Palestinians, the UN, etc...

Time to come in for your bath and shave Michael.

At 15:00 participation was heavy. 5% above last election in 2000.

Pacifist groups, egged on by the Socialists according to some, staged demonstrations in front of the PP offices across Spain yesterday. A small PP office in Northwestern Spain was burned down. These demonstrations during the "day of reflection" prior to an election are probably illegal according to Spanish law, especially since they seemed hardly spontaneous. There will be complaints and suits filed by the PP but they will accomplish nothing, this being Spain.

The first hours of the election have gone without major incident, except for some heckling of PP politicians by the usual suspects.

Was it Bush's reckless and dangerous policies that caused the WTC bombing in 1993, the U.S.S. Cole, the African embassies, the brutalization of the Iraqi people, the oppression of women in the Middle East... the list goes on and on.

First, the possibility that Al-queda didn't pull off the attacks testifies to the fact that simply avoiding the Bush Administration is no gaurentee of safety. But more importantly, assuming that it is Al-queda, spain, as we all, must ask itself: do we want the peace of surrender and avoidance, or the hardship of fighting to confront and defeat those whose ultimate goal is the destruction of our civilization, the settling of scores from the Crusades, and the permanent contraction of human freedom.

We can leave the cycle of violence by defeat or by victory... abstention is not an option.

At 1pm GMT (balloting started at 8am, will end at 7pm) the turnout was 41% participation, aprox. 5% above 2000. It's impossible to know what does this mean for the result. It would always be, but it's even more so this time with the atrocity so recent and with the weird political climate (last night,anti-war rallies were held in front of Popular Party's headquarters blaming Aznar and 'his guys' for the bombs: "your war, our dead", "the bombs you dropped in Baghdad are exploding in Madrid", etc)

At 7pm GMT exit polls will be released. Official counting should finish 3/4 hours later, depending on how close is the race.

Sorry Fernando, I should have checked before posting my message above, as yours appeared while I was still writing.

All the usual sources are predicting that this will hurt Aznar's party, so under the rule of biased journalistic cluelessness, I expect an unusually strong showing for his side against the Socialists.

By tomorrow "Comical Ali" should be the spokesman for the Socialists, denying the reports of a rout...

What does 'prejudice' mean? It's Latin for 'pre-judgment'. And when a string of bombs goes off on a train without warning and slaughters huge numbers of innocents, you bet your life I pre-judge it as being Muslims that did it. My prejudice may subsequently turn out to be wrong, but it's a sensible starting point. If Muslims don't want a 'new wave of animosity towards them,' then stop fucking blowing us up. If they don't then one day they'll be wandering through the lava that used to be one of their cities, asking, 'why does the West hate us so?'

Never mind the prejudices of Muslims who blow up non-Muslims. Funny how it never occurs to liberal do-gooders that people from Muslim countries can be just as racist as white Westerners.

drinbon ... "just as racist as white Westerners" implies that "white" people are the most racist. That in itself is racist. I have found that "people of color" can be much more racist than "white" people. And frequently are.

Bruce, you and drinbon are saying the same thing. :) That is exactly what liberal do-gooders in the West (or at least in the major cities in the Northeastern US that I've lived in) would have us believe, that only whites can be racist.

As to the Spanish election, I haven't seen any figures yet but I have confidence that Aznar's party will do well.

When I was living in Spain (1999-2000), there were attacks on refugee camps in the south of the country. At that time I asked my Spanish friends what attitudes towards immigrants were like; they said that Spain hasn't seen the change in culture that France and the Netherlands have seen. This is because the country is still so homogenous; many immigrants are from South America and as such at least have the language skills. The statement "...relatively unused to immigrant residents until recently" is,IMHO, correct. I stress that I am not suggesting that the Spanish are going to start stringing up Muslims, only that they do not have the experience of visible and culturally different ethnic minorities that other European countries have.

btw I was at the PP headquarters the night of the general election of 2000 in Madrid and it was bloody fantastic as the results game in and the Pepe got up. Here's hoping that they get up again.

First exit polls show a virtual tie between People's Party and Socialist Party. It may change significantly when the give data based on actual vote count. I think a lot of people who voted PP hasn't told the pollsters.

Official partial results here.

43.29% votes recounted:
--------------
PSOE 164 seats
PP 135
CiU 10
ERC 8
PNV 7
IU 5
BNG 2
ChA 1
EA 1
Na-Bai 1
-----------

We have surrendered.

Bienvenue.

http://www.ville-vichy.com/indexen.html

Indeed, Marzo. What a sad day for this country.

I am out of here.

My condolences.

I really really hope that Zapatero behaves more responsibly than what he has done until now. If not, this are going to be very difficult times.

Where, Golan... from now on, the bad guys know they can win, and how to do it. That's everywhere. No safe heaven from now on. Our country has surrendered for the whole West.

I am ashamed.

You can get the word out that the US military and intelligence services would be happy to accept Spanish applicants if you really do give up.

Sadly, if the results hold up, the Spanish electorate has virtually guaranteed the death of many, many more Europeans and, perhaps, Americans. The message they have sent is: Terrorism works!

I'm afraid you're right. If we do not provide a swift and powerful demonstration of resolve, we will see many more deaths by al Quaeda and others.

AP is reporting that anger at the government manipulating the investigation for political gain was a key factor in its likely defeat.

It seems to me that any government that is not prepared to deal honestly with its people about something as serious as terrorism is likely to be defeated ... and deserves to be.

Mark-- Since the Socialist Party in Spain was leaping the conclusions about lying and manipulating the bombing and investigation for political gain as soon as it happens, they don't deserve to be the government of Spain.

If the PP were truly manipulating the investigation, they wouldn't have arrested 5 men yesterday apparently linked to Islamic groups, plus continually broadcasted and publicized each piece of new information that seems to point towards Islamic groups. And they have certainly done that.

The group manipulating and lying, and not prepared to deal honestly is the PSOE, not the PP.

Even if Al Qaeda was not directly involved in this attack, they are unlikely not to pick up on the lesson to be learned.

We can expect an attack of this sort in America, in late October.

Mork, the opposition was irresponsibly demanding 100% information from the very 1st moment even if it meant they were jeopardizing an ongoing investigation on a matter of the utmost importance. The very first hours are crucial and there's need of a minimum of discretion. Not secrecy or hiding anything, but being prudent.

It was 6 hours after the attacks that the administration officials had already announced the Islamic connection, even though the evidence was, and still is extremely flimsy and could have been planted by the real authors to divert attention. Not longer, they arrested the guys. Everything was announced in press conference every 3-4 hours.

John: some extracts from the cover story of todays Australian newspaper:

[the arrests and AQ's claim of responsibility] undermined the Spanish Government's insistence since Thursday's blasts that the prime suspect was home-grown separatist group ETA.

Late last night, Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said Madrid was looking into the possibility ETA and al-Qa'ida collaborated in the attack.

It was also reported yesterday that just hours after Thursday's attacks, Foreign Minister Ana Palacio ordered all Spanish ambassadors to "take every opportunity to confirm ETA's responsibility in these brutal attacks".

But, obviously, I'm a long way from the action.

I think the judgment of the Spanish voters is the best indication.

After the socialists victory, expect France to drop its headscarf ban along with an act of contrition (more money to the PLO?)

Bye, bye civilization; at least in Europe.

Mork-- they've been holding press conferences and announcing every piece of news as they got it. Yes, they assumed it was ETA in the beginning (as did the UN Security Council, which voted to blame the ETA) but that's actually reasonable.

You're relying on Australian coverage in daily newspapers, which is frankly not only far from the scene but also unable to keep up with this situation, where there has been new evidence and announcements every few hours.

If the PP really wanted to conceal things for the election, they wouldn't have arrested the 5 guys, and they wouldn't have broadcast the tape after they found it, following terrorist instructions.

John - I didn't say anything about concealing things - nor did the pieces I quoted. But it does seem like there were a number of people in the government who tried very hard to blame ETA in the absence of any particular evidence.

I assume it's obvious to everyone why the government would rather that ETA be responsible than Al Qaeda.

What I quoted from the Australian is hardly unique: pretty much all the major newspapers and wire services have reported more or less the same thing.

For example: AP's current story on the election reads as follows:

But the disaster, which the government initially blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA, threw the election wide open. The attack was followed by emotional rallies across the country.

Critics accused the government, which had trumpeted its crackdown on ETA, of manipulating the investigation for political gain. That struck a chord with voters.

If the terrorists can knock Blair out politically, the coalition crumbles.

The next attack will be against Britain.

Our case is not heard in Europe except somewhat from Blair, Aznar, etc.

The American conservative & lib-hawk movement & its foreign allies must go into a new mode. This is serious, this is war, & it’s time to get a move on.

Opinion Journal, National Review, Weekly Standard, American Spectator, etc., need to be translated, every day, every article, online, in Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, etc.. Free. The national & international sections of the Washington Times & New York Sun as well.

Mork,

Do you seriously believe that it is manipulation that they might have thought it was ETA when they just arrested ETA members with explosives in Madrid at Christmas time.

Six hours after the incident they were leaning to the Islamic link. I think it is you who is manipulating the situation.

Were you watching the press briefings the day it happened?

The people themselves lean to the criticism of Aznar government spin. They lean to it as an EXCUSE to vote out the PP. That’s how it works everywhere in the world. People look for an excuse.

Spain, because of its people’s general opposition to the Iraq war, has been weak link in the alliance from the start, & Al Qaeda has probably planned this for a long time to take place right before a Spanish election.

There are hundreds of millions of dollars in the combined conservative lib-hawk movement. We have got to make our case daily to Europe in its own languages if we are to avoid the nightmare scenario whose avoidance our effort has been about.

The nightmare scenario: Terrorist destruction of one or more cities AND our mass-destructive response.

Despite what some of the over-impatient among us sometimes say about “getting it over with,” it is in part in order to AVOID nuking Syria, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, etc., that we are doing what we are doing now. That’s what Europe doesn’t understand or believe as a possible scenario.

¡Qué días! Qué días y noches de revulsión, terror, agonía, y rabia esperan el mundo. Brutales, caóticos, ocultos, rompiendo en piezas. Viejo refrán español duro: muerte mañana. Deseeles suerte a Europa, van a necesitarla.

What days! What days & nights of loathing, terror, agony, & rage await the world. Brutal, chaotic, blind, shattering. Tough old Spanish saying—death tomorrow. Wish Europe luck, they’re going to need it.

It isn’t wrong to fear. Fear is there to warn you. What’s anti-American, & anti-civilization, is to give in to fear, to let the sign alone decide the final meaning.

These terrorists are very "smart". They knew back in the mid 90's Bush would get elected and wage war on Iraq:

Authorities have been tracking Islamic extremist activity in Spain since the mid-1990s and say it was an important staging ground, along with Germany, for the Sept. 11 attacks.

And this guy only went to Spain in response to the Iraq war, too:

A Sept. 17, 2003 indictment calls Jamal Zougam, 30, a "follower" of Imad Yarkas, the alleged leader of Spain's al-Qaida cell who was jailed for allegedly helping plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Zougam has been arrested in the Madrid bombings.

Seems 43% of them must have missed this quote from one claiming responsibility:

You love life and we love death," said the man on the tape, who wore Arab dress and spoke Arabic with a Moroccan accent.

Yes, I am sure the Iraq war caused that sentiment.

Pity the poor Spaniards. One disaster after another. Two hundred innocents murdered, and they elect a quisling government straight afterwards! I thought Spaniards were tough, but maybe they lost their balls after doing the West's business back in 1492. Will the Anglo-Saxons hold the line, or will the slimy socialist scum that we harbour in our midst undermine our resolve too?

Carlos the Jackal, the commie Islamist-convert terrorist & best-selling author in France, laughs in his cell. Sayyid Qutb, Islamism’s scholarly poetic Hitler/Marx, laughs from beyond his death by hanging & keeps on singing his love of grinding Islamocratic tyranny into the ears of Muslims worldwide, including Pakistani physicists who know well how to build nuclear bombs.

You love life, we love death, these bastards sing. The noose tightens & the nightmare scenario slouches toward reality.

Damn.

Spain, we are still there for you. But -

Damn.

No matter who they voted for, I don't think we can doubt Spain's united desire to bring the terrorists to justice.

Sortelli - thank god someone was prepared to say that!

Sortelli,

To me the question is "WHO" will Spain unite against in their desire to bring to justice?

The cell that actually did the murdering in Madrid or the "Organization" that supports it.

That is atleast my question for the new Spanish government.

Sortelli - thank god someone was prepared to ....defend the Spaniards for selling out to terrorism. Thank you Spain for your gutless response to people who come to your country to murder your women and children. Thank you Spain for ensuring that mass-murder becomes part of every election campaign in the free world. Just what we need, another gutless European ally, we already have the French, the Swedes, the Germans and the Canuckleheads (who are wannabe French).

Marty, I truly hope that you don't become a gutless country yourselves, for instance by electing Kerry. And, by the way, remember that you were spared a President Gore by the skin of your teeth.

And to think ...two days ago you guys were all falling over yourselves to express solidarity with the Spanish people.

And now they're all cowards and terrorist sympathisers?

I still feel bad for them. But the swing voters wussed out. From now on, the run-up to any major election anywhere in the world is—Al Qaeda Time.

Well I guess we can't disagree all the time, Mork. :)

Guys, we just watched millions march in outrage against the attacks. I think they made the wrong choice in the election, but their outrage is real and it's still there. They don't want to pander and appease right now, they want justice, so even if it means their new government is going to change course on Iraq the Spainiards will want to see some Al Qaeda heads rolling. We'll still have a common ground to work on with them on that.

Sortelli/Mork,

Ignore the idiot who made the post about Spain as was already pointed out we almost elected Gore and who knows what will happen in 2004.

I just felt the need to point out that Arty said an idiotic thing.

What good is outrage if you aren't going to do anything about it? Millions marched and then proceeded to vote out the party that is committed to fighting them. There is a big difference between saying you hate terrorism and actually putting your nation on the line to fight it. You say they aren't going to pander and appease, and yet from what I can tell they voted against Aznar's party because Aznar was not a panderer or appeaser.

It wasn't a landslide though. There's still going to be Spainards who want to fight the terrorists even if they didn't want to do it Anzar's way.

As far as the terrorists feeling that they can influence elections now, that's a BIG problem. But the election is over, we can't piss and moan and treat the Spanish like cheese-eating surrender monkeys to make it better. We need to make sure we don't lose our own resolve.

And thank you, Odysseus :)

Remember folks, it took us in the US nearly two decades of islamic terrorist attacks to finally get the gumption up to attack back. And yes, we nearly voted in Gore, who would have surrendered by Nov '91 when all Democrats claimed it wasn't possible for the US to win in "fortress Afghanistan" in the winter against the mighty, war-hardened Taliban.
We can, and we will, win this war. Even on our own. But we still have some very strong and steadfast allies. If al queda can figure anything at all out, it's that they need to keep from attacking any EU nations currently crawling on their bellies in hopes of staying out of the line of fire. That includes France and Germany. Though not strategically the smartest bunch, they would be making a huge mistake attacking any country currently cowering in fear. They would also make a huge mistake attacking the US prior to our upcoming election, as it would ensure the election of Bush, instead of "book 'em Danno" Kerry. It's Australia and Great Britain, who have joined in this fight, but who also harbor a very strong (perhaps even majority) appeasement populace, where the strikes would be most effective.
I will pray to God for all our countries. I will keep the picture of my two daughters and my son in my Kevlar helmet as a reminder that what I fight for is worth more than my life.
And I will return to this god-forsaken middle-east as often as I need to, to help ensure that they never have to.

"No matter who they voted for, I don't think we can doubt Spain's united desire to bring the terrorists to justice."

Yes. They will treat it as a police matter: they'll try to catch the four or five guys who actually did it, then step very lightly and pray OBL dosn't require too many other things from them.

As for actively seeking to tangle with AQ?--I think not. Obedience is the only thing that can keep them safe. And obey they will.

As John Stuart Mill observed: "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

"No matter who they voted for, I don't think we can doubt Spain's united desire to bring the terrorists to justice."

Yes. They will treat it as a police matter: they'll try to catch the four or five guys who actually did it, then step very lightly and pray OBL dosn't require too many other things from them.

As for actively seeking to tangle with AQ?--I think not. Obedience is the only thing that can keep them safe. And obey they will.

As John Stuart Mill observed: "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

Black day for Spain indeed, I feel really sick, terrorism won yesterday and not on Thursday...I desperately hope I am totally wrong about ZP and for once all the electoral promises were lies but I'm afraid he'll prove as spineless as he promises to be...

Do give us a break, we didn't all vote for him and we have to live with this

I haven't quite shaken the impression that the Socialist Party would get run out on a rail if they didn't try to engage AQ with something more than kisses and hugs. They may have won the election, but they've got millions of pissed off Spainards to satisfy and an opposition party to hound them.

Damn.

This is bad.

My commiserations to all Spaniards who are not cowards. I'm thinking what it would be like if we elected a quisling government like that. Bad for those who haven't given up, bad for those who would be willing to do the right thing.

Of course, we may get to find out in the next Australian federal elections. The Americans are likely to be tested out too, now that this tactic is a proven winner. And the Brits.

This is bad.

Diggs: thanks.

Is the majority of the people really so silly: Schröder won in Germany with his "No German soldiers in Iraq" and now the people discover too late that this is not enough to rule a country. The same happened now in Spain. The terrorists are very successful in dividing the democratic world. But who of us is supporting them? Our left media. The German media are full of complains about Aznar, that he lied to the people about the ETA and that the people did not vote for him because of that. That is the level of journalism in Germany. Where are serious newspapers, news agencies? Is it really a fact that Aznar told ambassadors and chief journalists that they have to report, it was the ETA no matter if it is the truth? I don't believe it. No journalist would do so. I think this is the next big media lie to make politics. It is dangerous. The media lie and tell the people the politician do. And this helps the terrorists. We should get up louder and louder against our media.

Break a leg Diggs. I pray for you and your kids.

Marzo, I'm sure the only reason you "truly hope" we don't become a gutless country ourselves is because there'll be no one to defend spain and your europuke neighbors.

Do you really think the American public would look twice at Al Gore right now? As for Kerry? if he doesn't start talking convincingly about national security and terrorism before election day, he won't stand a chance.

Sorry if I've offended the Spanish delegation but this is a clear cut case of voting with your feet. Don't worry El Cid, you've shown the bad terrorists what kind of democracy you are and now we know what kind of ally you are. By doing the terrorist's bidding you've desecrated those 200 people who were murdered.

You can move your money to foreign markets to avoid further drops this week. You can always stop by an Aussie, Brit, Jap, Pole, or US consulate/embassy.

can anyone verify the authenticity of this quote? I've checked on the net and found nothing. Would be interested to know one way or the other.

The Guardian 1940: "There can be no doubt
that the recent blitz on London is a result
of Churchill declaring war on Germany without
examining the underlying root causes".

The Spanish are COWARDS. Why? Because a terrorist group just KILLED over 200 of their people and instead of taking on this terrorist group and making them pay for their crimes, they start pointing fingers at their government and saying "ohhh, you shouldn't have gotten us involved in the first place!". That's a COWARDLY RESPONSE. How did the United States respond when Osama hit us on 9/11? The U.S. went in and wiped out the Al Queda and their sympathsizers in Afganistan. On 3/11, when the terrorists struck Spain, how did the Spanish government respond? They voted out their current government and put in a new government that vowed to take their petty 1,300 peacekeeping force out. The next thing the Spanish Goverment will probably do is issue a public apology to Al Queda and beg their forgiveness so that the terrorists will leave Spain alone in the future. You know what...DREAM ON. This sign of weakness by Spain and its people will make it the prime target of terrorism everywhere.

Here's a good analogy of Spain's reaction to their 3/11 crisis. Al-Queda punches Spain, and instead of punching that person back, it cries foul and points a finger at its Government and say "Oh it's all YOUR fault...you caused it all!" and take their troops out in prays that they won't get punched by Al-Queda again (good luck!!!). On 9/11, when someone hit the U.S., the response was an all-out-war on Al-Queda and the US gave them a good beating.

I'm not racist -- I'm just telling it like it is...The Spanish voters clearly showed they are cowards and run away from danger. They think Terrorism applies only to the U.S. and that somehow, it is ONLY the US's problem, not theirs. They responded to terrorism by GIVING INTO IT -- by withdrawing their troops shows their sign of weakness and their wavering stance on terrorism. They respond to terrorism by electing a government that has a WEAK stance against terrorism. They respond to terrorism by pointing the finger AWAY from the murderers of their 200 people -- the Al-Queda -- and instead, they choose to punish their ruling party which fought hard against terrorism in the world. They are weak because they place the blame of the terrorist attack on their government and on their involvement in Iraq rather than the terrorists themselves. They are not angry at the terrorists -- they are angry at their government for the murders of their 200 people. WEAK WEAK WEAK -- THE SPANISH ARE ALL COWARDS.