Spain PM Has Much to Gain, Lose in Summit

Associated Press ^ | Friday, March 14, 2003 | DANIEL WOOLLS

[Dog Gone]

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The weekend summit on Iraq with President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will give Spain and its prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, a rare taste of prominence.

But Sunday's summit also could backfire for Aznar if he and Blair -- both in trouble politically at home for backing Bush -- fail to wrest concessions from a U.S. leader many Spaniards see as itching for battle.

Aznar has said the crisis over Iraq's banned weapons provides Spain with a unique chance to step forward and shed its image as a sleepy geopolitical nobody.

``We don't want to see Spain sitting in the corner of history, in the corner of the countries that don't matter, that don't serve any purpose, that don't decide,'' Aznar told members of his party March 4 as they prepared to vote on his policy in Parliament. In the end, there was no dissent.

A cartoon this week in the Spanish daily El Mundo shows Aznar standing at the foot of Mount Rushmore with his wife, Ana, and Aznar's mustachioed face carved into the rock along with those of U.S. presidents.

``OK, Ana, what do you say now?'' Aznar asks. ``Was my support of Bush worth it or not?''

But, like Blair, Aznar has come under scathing criticism at home over his support for Bush, with polls showing Spaniards overwhelmingly against war even if it has United Nations authorization.

On Friday, millions of Spaniards staged a 15-minute work stoppage to protest a possible war. An anti-war rally is scheduled for Saturday evening in Madrid, the eve of the summit in Portugal's Azores islands. The goal of the meeting is to discuss how to muster U.N. support for a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

And if Aznar comes home empty-handed -- say, without agreement from Bush to give diplomacy one last try -- the summit could turn into an acute embarrassment, said Charles Powell, a foreign affairs analyst with the Real Elcano Institute, a Madrid think tank. Likewise for Blair, he said.

``It may end up looking as though Bush simply agreed to meet them to tell them what the game plan is and give them, I suppose, a bit of advance warning before all hell is let loose,'' Powell said.

Aznar did not speaking publicly Friday about the summit. Before the summit announcement, he did stand firmly by Washington's efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein.

``Not acting to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction is neither politically nor morally acceptable,'' he said.

A Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said talk of actual military planning at the summit was unlikely.

Powell said the summit was probably instigated by Blair, who is facing a revolt in his Labor Party over his staunch support for Bush and his commitment of tens of thousands of British soldiers for the fighting.

``I think Blair in particular is going to make one last attempt to extract some kind of minor concession from Bush which he can sell to the Labor Party and to public opinion in Britain more generally as evidence of his overall attempt to sort of mediate and bring Bush down to earth,'' Powell said.

And while Aznar insists the hard line against Saddam is justified by previous U.N. resolutions and international law, Powell said, ``to give that any sort of credibility, he has to be seen to be trying to restrain Bush somehow.''

[Steven W.]

Aznar is a smart leader and has wisely joined the winning team.

[wretchard]

Spain's a funny country. It has a streak of fanaticism and irrationality in it a mile wide. It may be the only country on earth that will join you in a fight without thinking about whether it will survive the affray or not. It's a Spanish thing.

The roots of this bizzare psychology are probably rooted in its eight hundred year struggle to reclaim their land from Islam. The Arabs thought they were fanatical fighters until they met the Spaniards. Or perhaps the Spaniards, already known as the hard cases of the Roman Army, got even tougher in later history. We know that El Cid fought not only to the death, but after he was dead. Had his corpse lashed to a horse with a lance tied to his saddle.

Then there were the Conquistadores: men, who with little technical advantage (swords and primitive arquebuses against swords) took huge swathes of colonial terroritory on sheer grit. On buques de madera (wooden ships) these hombres de hierro (men of iron) swept the world, when sheer suicidal courage, and not common sense was the prime requirement.

Stories form the Spanish Civil war indicate that this Spanish madness was alive and well in the 1930s. Read Hemmingway; read Orwell. Don't read Malreaux, he was a fraud. One incident which captured even the imagination of the Spanish Republicans was the defense of the Alcazar by Colonel Moscardo. Surrounded on all sides by the Commies, the garrison was determined to hold out. The Reds got a hold of Colonel Moscardo's son and telephoned into the beseiged fortress. His son was forced to say that they would kill him unless he surrendered. Moscardo told his son how much he loved him and said, "you will understand when I say that you must now turn to those men and shout, Viva Espana! Viva Christo El Rey!. Adios mi amor."

[Milanese]

Where in this article is any statement from any official that the meeting is about restraining Bush or getting concessions? Hasn't Blair publicly gone beyond this after his contretemps with M. Chirac?

[Dog Gone]

The spin is all from the AP, and they have nothing to back it up. The interesting thing in the whole equation is Spain. Two weeks ago, I doubt most Freepers could name the Prime Minister.

Yet, he is poised to make the history books in just one day.

[marron]

I think if you check, Aznar is a believer. Like Bush, like Blair.

[billorites]

"Aznar has said the crisis over Iraq's banned weapons provides Spain with a unique chance to step forward and shed its image as a sleepy geopolitical nobody."

Spain is one of my all-time favorite countries.

The people are friendly, exceedingly polite, the food rocks and the women are "babe-licious."

Who cares about their geo-political status.

[Dog Gone]

The first time I visited Spain, I expected tacos. LOL.

[speekinout]

These are three guys who are willing to risk their political careers to leave the world in a better place than they found it. They are very different people, so I have to believe that there is a lot of truth to the dangers they see.
Who knows? Their names might become as well known as Stalin, Churchill and FDR.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

It should not be overlooked that for most of the past 1000 years, Spain and France have usually been enemies. They didn't even join NATO until after France dropped out (sorta) and Franco finally dropped dead, and so the past couple of decades or so have really been unusual. Being at odds with France is reverting to historical norms. And the truth of the matter is, an integrated Europe dominated by a Franco/German axis is not altogether in Spain's interests. Aznar saw through Chirac's posturing early -- probably earlier than either Blair or Bush -- and realized what the game was that Chirac was really playing. Aznar realized that standing with the US and UK against the Franco-German axis was probably Spain's last and only chance to be avoid being reduced to the status of a poor vassal of the Franco-German overlords.

[cookcounty]

When the liberated Iraqis are chanting in the Basra streets "Viva Espana," the streets of Madrid will become very friendly to the PM.

[wretchard]

"Aznar realized that standing with the US and UK against the Franco-German axis was probably Spain's last and only chance to be avoid being reduced to the status of a poor vassal of the Franco-German overlords."

Great analysis. I had forgotten the long history between France and Spain, but it comes back to me now. Anznar is a Socialist and there are still Spaniards alive today who remember how the French government refused to aid the sitting Republican government against the Franco insurgency. That was betrayal from the French Right. Later, the French Communist Party conspired with the Soviets to sell out the Spanish Communists to Franco after Stalin worked out a deal with Hitler. That was betrayal from the French Left.

France also has the irksome habit of referring to itself as the "mother of the Latin cultures". It is some kind of mother, I don't doubt, but not of the sort it purports to be.