Socialist claim victory in Spain

[Drake Tungsten]

Turkey hasn't done anything like that.

Turkey isn't an Arab country.

This was demonstrably FALSE.

No it isn't. We have no idea how Spanish involvement in Iraq affected Spanish security and no idea what the long-term effects of a new government in Iraq will have on Islamic fundamentalist movements.

[The Templar]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
A victory for terrorists. They are now aware that Spain's populace will negotiate with them.

Riiiiiiight!

So if terrorists attack, one should vote for the party in power to send a message to the terrorists? Isn't that just letting the terrorists run the election?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
A victory for terrorists. They are now aware that Spain's populace will negotiate with them.

Oh, of course, next they will ask for all Christian to leave Spain, and those cowardly Spaniards will run...

[Solly]

"So if terrorists attack, one should vote for the party in power to send a message to the terrorists? Isn't that just letting the terrorists run the election?"

You should make your decisions in the full knowledge of what they will look like.

And Spain's election looks like a concession of defeat to AL Qaeda.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Turkey hasn't done anything like that.

Turkey isn't an Arab country.

No, it is a muslim country. Of course, Most Iraqis are Shia, not Sunni, and one assumed the Kurds won;'t break of and form a state of their own, but certainly a state that is 85% Arab, most of them from a minority Islamic sect will be a greate xmaple to those sunni Arab states.

[DanS]

Jeez, the incoming Spanish government isn't even considering the consequences of what it's saying. Now AQ claiming that they chased a Western country from Islamic lands is reinforced. Bunch of freaking idiots.

[Sava]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Socialist claim victory in Spain

Originally posted by PLATO


The point is that the majority polled differently before the attack. The nearness to the elections of the attack allowed no time for public opinion to stabilize. This was clearly a reactionary vote. If you had put Bush up for re-election a week after 9/11 then he would have gotten 90% of the vote. Upon further reflection, it doesn't appear that will be the result, now does it?

So Al Qaeda wins if Bush get's re-elected...

I like your line of reasoning.

I don't know much about Spanish politics. It was clear the war was unpopular in Spain. Yes, the terrorist action influenced the vote. But only because the party in power could not do it's job and protect its people (JUST LIKE DOPEY DUBYA).

I don't think Al Qaeda wanted to influence elections. There isn't a single party friendly to them. They hate and they want to kill. It's as simple as that. It's clear the timing of the bombings was more a symbolic gesture (911 days after 9-11 and on 3-11). I think the timing of the elections is coincidence.

BTW, you have to be criminally retarded to think Al Qaeda "wins" because the incumbent party got kicked out.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

So much for a vote for security.

Typical appeasement and predictable response from the aggressor.

[Drake Tungsten]

BTW, you have to be criminally retarded to think Al Qaeda "wins" because the incumbent party got kicked out.

Spoken by the acknowledged master of being criminally retarded...

[Sava]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

BTW, you have to be criminally retarded to think Al Qaeda "wins" because the incumbent party got kicked out.

Spoken by the acknowledged master of being criminally retarded...

I know my own.

[Bereta_Eder]

Spain's Socialist Party prime minister-elect says he will pull troops out of Iraq - unless the UN takes charge.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said: "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster."

He called for a grand international alliance against terror and an end to "unilateral wars".

The Socialists won a shock poll victory after voters appeared to turn on the government over its handling of the Madrid bombings that killed 200 people.


Spain, with more than 1,300 troops in Iraq, supported the US-led war on Iraq despite much domestic opposition.

Police are quizzing five men over the Madrid bombings, amid reports that one of them has links to a group blamed for attacks in Casablanca last May that killed 45 people.

Iraq pull-out

At a news conference in Madrid, Mr Zapatero said his priority will be a "systematic fight against terrorism of all kinds".

He again reiterated his opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, but said his government would maintain what he described as "cordial relations" with Washington.

However Mr Zapatero said President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair needed to "engage in some self-criticism" over their decision to invade Iraq.

He made clear that he would withdraw Spanish troops in Iraq if the United Nations did not take charge of running the country.

[Shi Huangdi]

"So if terrorists attack, one should vote for the party in power to send a message to the terrorists? Isn't that just letting the terrorists run the election?"

That's what happened. People were set to re-elect the PP, but the terrorist act changed their minds. They did send a message out to the terrorist with their vote, that message being "Please don't hurt us"


"The PP claimed that going into Iraq, even against a supermayority of Spanish public opinion was the correct thing to do becuase it would help keep Spain safe."

I suppose it's correct that that for a western country to support the USA does not make it safer and makes it more likely for terrorists to target their country. The terrorits probably won't be striking Switzerland or Portugal anytime soon. So yes, for the west, standing up for their ally the USA does come with risks, that if they fight the war on terror alongside us they might also become a target of the terrorists. Spain in the face of these risks has chosen the path of retreat.

Of course, not supporting the USA making you safer only works for the short term. If in the long term Al Qaeda does defeat the USA, if America is ever scared into isolationism and withdrawing from trying to fight Islamic fundamentalism, who knows where the jihadists will strike next? All we do know is they are bent on spreading Islamic Fundamentalist rule wherever they can and that they will kill whomever they feel they need to in order to accomplish their aims.

[DanS]

He made clear that he would withdraw Spanish troops in Iraq if the United Nations did not take charge of running the country.

This guy is a goddamn idiot. The possibility of this happening is zero (sovereignty is going back to the Iraqis in June, after all ), so he's just grandstanding and giving AQ more fodder. Spain can pull it's troops out, but doing it this way is handing a victory to AQ.

[Sava]

That's what happened. People were set to re-elect the PP, but the terrorist act changed their minds. They did send a message out to the terrorist with their vote, that message being "Please don't hurt us"

YES, BECAUSE THE PARTY IN POWER COULDN'T PROTECT ITS PEOPLE. IT WAS IN DERELICTION OF DUTY JUST LIKE BUSH LEADING UP TO 9-11.

Oh wait, but the socialist party loves Al Qaeda right?

give me a ****ing break... you guys are smarter than this... some of you...

[Shi Huangdi]

"Turkey hasn't done anything like that. What makes you think a sucsessful Iraq would do anything like that?"

I have to go to class now and I'll adress that later, but I will point out that even it is true Iraq would not be a good model, my point still stands about that if the insurgents are sucsessfull or if the government we attempt to set up in Iraq fails, there is a strong possibility that what comes into power would either be pro-terrorist if not Islamist itself.