David warren: Rotten Europe ("…Al Qaeda will forget about Spain, so we will be less frightened.")

The Ottawa Citizen ^ | March 16, 2003 | David Warren

[quidnunc]

Three days after the worst terror attack in continental Europe since World War II, Spain voted to capitulate. In compliance with the demands made in an Al Qaeda videotape, the Socialist prime minister elect, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, announced yesterday that Spain would withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq -- unless, of course, the U.S. turns over the whole operation to the incompetent United Nations. We have seen the spectacle of nine million Spaniards, demonstrating their grief in the streets, their hands raised and painted white in a poignant gesture of mass surrender.

This quotation, to a New York Times correspondent in Madrid by "David", a 26-year-old window frame maker who would not give his surname, tells the whole story. He explained why, at the last minute, he had changed his vote from Popular to Socialist: "Maybe the Socialists will get our troops out of Iraq, and Al Qaeda will forget about Spain, so we will be less frightened."

It should be juxtaposed with this quotation from Mark Steyn, in Britain's Daily Telegraph: "So the choice for pluralist democracies is simple: You can join Bush in taking the war to the terrorists, to their redoubts and sponsoring regimes. … Or you can stick your head in the sand and paint a burqa on your butt. But they'll blow it up anyway."

For Al Qaeda, it is a huge victory after 30 months of continuous setbacks. They have tried a new tactic, and it works. They have shown that by massacring large numbers of innocents on the eve of a Western election, they may persuade the survivors to vote as they wish. Count on it: they will not now abandon this tactic. And they are likely to try it in the United States as well, to defeat President Bush in November, thanks to that Spanish capitulation.

-snip-

One must not, under the present circumstances, sound an uncertain trumpet. All men of goodwill, regardless of nation, are fighting the Jihadists in Afghanistan and Iraq, as we fought the Nazis in Italy and France; and if the Americans must fight them alone, so be it. Then as now we made a lot of blather about "democracy". But screw democracy, we are fighting an enemy of civilization, an embodiment of real evil. There is no compromise with such an enemy, no capitulation to him, no way to avoid casualties, no easy way out. We defeat him, or he defeats us.

We do not retreat because our allies are cowards. We continue to fight, for ourselves, for our children, and for their children.

-snip-

[Criminal Number 18F]

A brilliant article. Amazing that they let him and Steyn publish in Canuckistan.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[BfloGuy]

If you list the source as the Ottawa Citizen then please link to the Ottawa Citizen.

[alnitak]

We will not cave. There are 3 parties in Britain:

Labour - for the war, apart from the lefter-wing.
Conservatives - even more for the war
Liberal Democrats - pseudo-communists, against the war.

Only Labour or Conservatives have a chance of winning an election.

[BraveMan]

Have pity on Spain. They've made a pact with the devil . . .

[NZerFromHK]

Don't worry: your country had been without real allies for a long time. It survived the period, and why not next? Besides, Britain and Australia will probably hang on to the pressures.

[Allan]

Amazing that they let him and Steyn publish in Canuckistan.

Steyn does not publish in Canada. The National Post has dropped his column.

[driftless]

Believe me there are plenty of Americans more than willing to do like the Spaniards: stick their heads in the sand, expose their nether regions to the Islamo-fascists, and beg for mercy. A number of my coworkers are far more concerned about the upcoming NCAA b-ball tourney than they are about terrorism. Terrorism is scarcely if ever mentioned. These same people will all be voting for Kerry and appeasement. And there's millions more ignorant Americans just like them who think that 9/11 was a one-shot deal. The ignorati castigate Bush and shun reality at America's peril. Expect a terrorist attack in the U.S. shortly before Nov.2.

[Arpege92]

"Let's find something about Spain to boycott."

Why? Spain is going to learn a lesson the hard way and the best thing we can do is just stand back and let them learn it. No need to boycott anything from Spain.....now France, that's a different story all together.

[tapatio]

The worst part about the elections in Spain is the fact they believe that by removing their troops it will make them safe from the terrorist.

Spain and Europe have neglected to remember how history played that mindset out during the 30's and 40's.

[Kozak]

I've said since this war began. We can't win it in less then a generation, but we can lose it in a day.

[Kozak]

The Spanish shoud expect more attacks from al-qaida

Al Queda will not be satisified till the lost Moorish land of Andalusia submits to the will of Allah. To the Mohamedans once part of the Dar al Islam, always a part.

[quidnunc]

BfloGuy wrote: If you list the source as the Ottawa Citizen then please link to the Ottawa Citizen.

Why?

[cwb]

"The Spanish should expect more attacks from al-qaida..."

Thanks to the Spanish, we "all" should expect more attacks from AQ. They bartered their 200 lives for the lives of thousands of others. Cowards!

[Starrgaizr]

...Speaking before a group of Oklahoma City firefighters, Kerry complained that the Bush administration "doesn't understand the war on terror."

Under a Kerry administration, he said, the fight against terrorism "will involve the military now and then," but it will be "primarily an intelligence-gathering, law enforcement operation."

"It's a great big manhunt," Kerry explained. "[The Bush] administration has translated that legitimate threat into a completely wrongheaded kind of full-fledged military response."
____________________

Vote for Kerry = capitulation

[albertabound]

He has been picked up by The Western Standard so we can now re-claim him again.

[Tolik]

David Warren - Clear-thinking Canadian -  BUMP  [please freepmail me if you want or don't want to be pinged to David Warren articles]

If you want to bookmark his articles discussed at FR: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/k-davidwarren/browse

His own website: http://www.davidwarrenonline.com

His page at the Ottawa Citizen:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/columnists/davidwarren.html

[Travis McGee]

and if the Americans must fight them alone, so be it.

[headsonpikes]

Wasn't it Joe Kennedy who called it 'Churchill's War'?

[PhilDragoo]

Bravo David Warren.

When the going gets tough, Spain goes squish.

[SAMWolf]

"Maybe the Socialists will get our troops out of Iraq, and Al Qaeda will forget about Spain, so we will be less frightened."

You're dreaming mister. Islam wants Spain back.

Hope you enjoy life on your knees praying to Mecca three times a day.