Spain's newly elected Socialist leader seeks not only to bring Spanish troops home from Iraq but to transform the war on terrorism from a battle fought with soldiers to one fought with spies.
| "Yeah, that's it, we'll spy on them, heh-heh." |
Accused by the Bush administration of caving in to terrorists, Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero told Spain's leading daily newspaper that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a "great error" that has aggravated the terrorist threat. Good intelligence, not military action, is the key to success, Zapatero told El Pais.
| Ummm... What do you do with the good intel when you've got it? Or is he talking about using secret agents with licenses to kill hunting the Bad Guys down and eliminating them one by one? I kinda doubt it. That's not intel, by the way; it's special operations, even though Jaime Bondo would be described by Rooters as a "spy." |
"War is the last recourse, and in all cases, it is only an instrument of containment between countries, but never can it be an effective method for eliminating or fighting fanatic, radical or criminal groups," he said.
"I trust that the U.S. administration will listen and understand that what has happened in Iraq is proof that this is not the way, that this path is mistaken."
| What's that saying, war has never solved anything, other than slavery, fascism, communism, imperialism ... |
Zapatero's position directly challenges the Bush administration's military-intensive approach to the war on terrorism. The emerging disagreements with Spain represent Washington's deepest rift with a European ally since France took the lead in opposing Bush's Iraq policy last year. Alluding to Zapatero's determination to withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq, Bush told diplomatic leaders Friday, "Any sign of weakness or retreat simply validates terrorist violence."
Zapatero's remarks came on the eve of a European Union conference of security ministers in Madrid to discuss strategies for combating terrorism and three days before a memorial service in Madrid to be attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The newspaper El Mundo reported that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac would also attend. Zapatero's incoming Socialist government on Sunday rejected an offer for talks from the Basque separatist group ETA. The rebel group praised Zapatero's plan to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq and said he should also drastically change policy on the issue of Basque autonomy.
| Wait til ETA sets off a really big bomb, see what Zappie says then. |
Although the devastating bombing of four crowded commuter trains was immediately dubbed "Europe's Sept. 11," there were key differences in the method of attack and the reaction. After Sept. 11, Bush outlined a five-front war on terrorism, but his key action was military: the dispatch of troops to Afghanistan.
| The writer obviously doesn't pay much attention to diplonews... |
In Spain, the operative word since the bombings has been paz, or surrender peace, placed on signs at demonstrations and in notes left at the train station near where the explosions occurred. The key action, stated by Zapatero immediately after his election victory, was not the deployment of troops but the decision to bring them home.
| Sorta says it all, doesn't it? |
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