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| Europe |
| Aznar faces 91% opposition to war |
| 2003-03-29 |
| The Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, the third man on the international stage beside George Bush and Tony Blair in the run-up to war, was staring at political disaster yesterday as anti-war demonstrations spread and opinion polls revealed 91% of Spaniards against the war. Madrid, Barcelona and other cities resounded to the noise of people beating pots and pans out of their windows on Thursday night in the latest of a series of anti-war demonstrations that have also seen violence between police and protesters. The Alhambra Palace in Granada, symbol of Spain's Islamic past, switched off its lights during Thursday night's protest and, in Barcelona, firefighters sounded their sirens in support. The scale of opposition to war has forced the People's party government on to the defensive. Mr Aznar has not dared to back his pro-Bush stance before the war with combat troops. Even the sending of 900 troops for "humanitarian work" has provoked the fury of the anti-war camp. The most recently published opinion poll on attitudes to war, by the state's own official pollsters, showed 91% opposition. Recent polls of voting intention show that, over two months, the People's party has gone from running neck-and-neck with the anti-war socialists to trailing them by six points. A clear majority of people now expect the socialists to win next year's election. The government has responded by saying it is thinking "not of future elections but of future generations." Mr Aznar's one-time political mentor, Felix Pastor, a former party president who still sits on its ruling committee, yesterday broke ranks to This sounds like trouble. We have to find ways to help Aznar. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 Perhaps the Spaniards were are waiting for the Basque Sepratists to unleash some Iraqi black market munitions before they decide to get on the band wagon? "Liberating" Iraq is not the best idea in the world - but when are these third rate European powers going to realize that shutting down Iraq's Nuke/Bio/Chem programs is more for thier benefit than ours?!? |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-03-30 01:12:15 |
| #11 Al-guardian? Who took the poll, Fiskie? You want to help him? Win. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-29 23:04:44 |
| #10 A lot of honorable political figures are willing to hang their political futures on this war. And as a whole I really do not believe they wanted a war. If several nations had shown some resolve rather than "Diplomacy" perhaps the troops the US and Britian had in the Gulf would not be engaged right now. Most rational people in the world recongnize that Saddam has got to go along with his regime. Yet just how would of inspections etal of accomplished this? |
| Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire 2003-03-29 19:39:57 |
| #9 Opposition to this war is all about penis envy. Those countries complaining the most tend to be those whose members have shrunk the most in recent decades. Simple as that. I defy anybody to show me an exception to the rule that: the greater the opposition to war in Iraq, the greater the sense of diminished influence in global affairs. It seems most if not all of Western Europe was popularly against this conflict, only some countries were fortunate enough to have leaders and governments with sufficient wisdom to defy the emotional heart of their nation and rule with the head. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-03-29 13:25:30 |
| #8 The Spanish have forgotten their recent history. It wasn't that long ago they were ruled by a brutal fascist dictatorship. You would think they would empathize with the Iraqi people and support their liberation. |
| Posted by: Thane of Cawdor 2003-03-29 12:58:26 |
| #7 Somebody find an email address for some of the Spanish government offices, and let's bombard them with "thank you" notes for Spain's support. May not help, but it couldn't hurt. Also do the same for Spanish newspapers throughout the country. IF you find them, I'll post them on my website for everyone to use. Let's do that for ALL the countries involved. I don't have the language skills, but I do have the webspace. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-03-29 12:01:13 |
| #6 Anytime I see a poll that shows a public opinion on any subject where the results are greater than 75%, I am very suspect of the results. I dont think you can get 91% of human beings to agree on the color of the sky at any given time, much less complicated political issues. "The Media" and peoples relationship to it are not the same in the rest of the world as they are here in the states. |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2003-03-29 17:21:27 |
| #5 The latest poll is just the last of several going back several months indicating widespread opposition to the idea of liberating the Iraqis, fueled in large part by a concerted campaign by the media, which absolutely revels in its anti-Americanism, to portray Aznar as Bush's lackey. The media here in Spain hasn't said an honest thing about the situation in Iraq, or US justifications or intentions, since 911. They are totally depraved and only shed crocodile tears over the victims of inhumanity despite Spain's own suffering as a result of homegrown terrorism and under Franco (twos sides of the same fascist coin). |
| Posted by: Henry Cybulski 2003-03-29 16:34:16 |
| #4 Give the Oil for Food program to a Spanish company and out of the hands of the French company. |
| Posted by: Don 2003-03-29 08:16:53 |
| #3 Opposition to this war is all about penis envy. Those countries complaining the most tend to be those whose members have shrunk the most in recent decades. Simple as that. I defy anybody to show me an exception to the rule that: the greater the opposition to war in Iraq, the greater the sense of diminished influence in global affairs. It seems most if not all of Western Europe was popularly against this conflict, only some countries were fortunate enough to have leaders and governments with sufficient wisdom to defy the emotional heart of their nation and rule with the head. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 3/29/2003 1:25:30 PM |
| #2 "next year's election" A year is infinity in election cycles. One good thing is that steady drip of resignations. Should opinions change after Iraq is liberated all that dead wood will be gone. |
| Posted by: anonymous 2003-03-29 07:19:42 |
| #1 This is insane. Completely insane. Aznar is a very honourable man, and has already announced that he will not seek re-election, so he is doing the right thing for the right reason, no matter how insane 30+ million Spaniards may be. Will these people apologize to the liberated Iraqi people when it's over? |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2003-03-29 02:43:41 |