Posted on 03/17/2004 6:22:54 PM PST by quidnunc
'President Bush is totally familiar with the grave problem of global terrorism, and the free world is fortunate that he is occupying the White House," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told me last Friday at his farm in the northern Negev. The prime minister voiced these remarks after hearing the reports from Madrid of the terrible massacre perpetrated there the previous day by al-Qaida.
In response to my question, Sharon told me he was unaware of early alerts about a possible terrorist attack in Madrid but that there were warnings of a general nature. Only a few European leaders, he said, appreciate the dangers posed by Muslim extremism or the cruel Palestinian attacks on Israel.
Sharon mentioned several EU and UN representatives who had been sent to the region on peace-making missions. "None of them were capable of understanding or properly handling the problem."
Sharon's words came to mind when I heard the declarations of Spain's new Socialist leader Jos Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after his recent electoral victory about withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq. What a contrast to the policies of outgoing prime minister Jos Maria Aznar's conservatives, who courageously made a stand against terror, alongside President Bush and premiers Tony Blair and Silvio Barlosconi.
It won't take long for the new Spanish government to learn the hard way that rapid surrender to Muslim terror will only encourage additional attacks in Spain by al-Qaida.
Reports from Madrid also suggested that Miguel Moratinos is a candidate to become Spanish foreign minister. In fact, for many years Moratinos represented the EU in the region and was known as a pleasant person who had no idea of what he was doing. He shuttled constantly between Jerusalem and the Palestinians, and then continued to Damascus, Amman, and Cairo. The European Union wasted millions of euros on the journeys of Moratinos and his aides.
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(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
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