My Spanish Relatives Upset By Terrorism: Wish For the Good Old Days of Gen. Francisco Franco

3-12-04 | Pinochet

[niteowl77]

Francisco Franco was nobody's fool; he was one of the few European leaders that tweaked Adolf Hitler's nose and got away with it. Supposedly, when Hitler left Spain after an unsuccessful (for him) meeting with Generalissimo Franco, a furious Fuehrer remarked to people on the train that he'd rather have his teeth pulled than try to bargain with Franco again. Like Marshal Mannerheim of Finland, Franco has had over fifty years of horrible PR courtesy of the "progressive" press.

Today's bombings were truly horrific, and my heart goes out to the Spanish people. My sincere hope is that Spain will find the perpetrators of this atrocity quickly, and deal with them summarily.

[OldFriend]

I actually heard that talking head make the comment that if Mary Jo were alive, Ted Kennedy would have done so much for her and her generation.

[TaMoDee]

You forgot to mention the Goode Olde Franco allowed the Germans to practice dive bombing tactics on the Basques

[Verginius Rufus]

In the movie The Great Escape, the escaped POWs who make it to the Spanish border (I forget how many made it there, whether one or more) are safe from the Germans.

[B-Chan]

Gen. Francisco Franco is a hero of the Third World War. Thanks to him, Spain was prevented from becoming a Mediterranean version of Warsaw-Pact Poland.

The fact that he is near-universally hated today is proof that he was a great man and a great friend of the West.

The Generalissimo knew how to deal with enemies of la Patria.

¡Viva Cristo Rey! Arriba España!

[TaMoDee]

Swiss Border maybe?

[Kenny Bunk]

Death does not prevent many Democrats from voting. Their party knows the meaning of loyalty.

[Snuffington]

That's almost a pretty good synopsis of European politics. Give them democracy, and they love the largesse available from the public funds. But they can't provide any security. Eventually, they turn to a dictator. Now and then there's a revolution or war and the cycle begins again.

If only they'd seriously study American Republican conservativism, they'd realize they can have both a republic and security. But that seems to be beyond them. That's why many of our ancestors left the place to come here.

[Verginius Rufus]

I think it's the POW played by Steve McQueen who goes to the Swiss border (don't remember if he was able to get in), but there is definitely a scene in the Pyrenees where someone (or more than one escapee) is being guided to safety in Spain.

[GOP_1900AD]

Arriba! Y venceremos contra terrorismo y communismo!

[nkycincinnatikid]

I am just going by memory here but I think that the condor legion air wing loaned by Germany to the nationalists was very much under Francos direct command. After the western press outrage over the destruction of Guernica it was convienient for Franco to spread his hands and say " who? me? "