Socialist claim victory in Spain

[Alfonso]

Where is Giancarlo "Fez" now?

[Q Classic]

he's sent a pm saying that he's ashamed of spain and that he will not return.

or something to that effect.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Alfonso
Where is Giancarlo "Fez" now?

Too devastated to speak. Claims he will renounce his Spanish citizenship becuase of this.

[Arrian]

Like I said before, I find it difficult to believe that the country was really going to re-elect the party that took them into Iraq when ~80% of the population was against it. I mean, that's just a huge number.

Blair gambled (and may pay), but at least the numbers in Britain weren't quite so bad (what was it, 2/3 anti, 1/3 pro?). Bush had 60/40 pro here, and the major opposition party went along, thus hampering their ability to criticise. They can still say "they did it the wrong way" or "the intelligence data was misleading" or even "Bush lied! (and we believed him)" but cannot really run as an anti-war party.

Anyway, committing your country to a war 80% oppose seems dumb, especially if the hoped-for benificial outcome of said war depends on the U.S. government doing something right.

-Arrian

[Ned]

Originally posted by GePap


And if AQ succeeds, what does this say about the state of Homeland security under Bush?

Insufficient.

So, while we are at it, lets elect Kerry and repeal the Patriot Act to improve security.

Kerry, you can trust him to keep you safe.

[Giancarlo]

Not devastated. In fact I'm willing to accept this. If that banker guy from BBVA becomes the economy minister, cool with that. I'll support this government even but with great reluctance. Afterall, it was the PSOE that started the capitalist reforms. So you commies can stop boasting about it.

Like I said before, I find it difficult to believe that the country was really going to re-elect the party that took them into Iraq when ~80% of the population was against it. I mean, that's just a huge number.

Most polls said Spanish people were willing to forgive the ruling party and the PP had a lead of 5%. But that was before the attack.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
i don't know if it would lead to a kerry victory.

if anything, it would probably keep things just as contentious as they were, with bush pointing a finger at kerry and saying that with him in power, you're going to get more of this, while kerry will point at bush and say that with him in power, you're going to get more of this.

I don't know what effect it will have on the election. All I know is that al Qaeda will give its all to time a major attack just before the election.

[Arrian]

[Q Classic]

and you're already assuming that it's a given, and you're already responding with precisely what the bush camp will say.

and actually, you're responding with precisely what the kerry camp will say, except for the slight name change.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
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.

Are you aware that France is one of the staunchest allies of the US in the war on terror? That you can take part to the war on terror with police and secret services action?

Besides, the Spaniards have a strong experience with terrorism, with ETA scourging the country for more than 30 years. The PSOE was never weak toward the terrorists, but it did try to remove grounds for ETA activity: as such, Spain has become a federal country, and the Basque country is autonomous. This Basque autonomy is strongly enjoyed by the Basques themselves, most of them are now loathing the ETA, whose violent and mafia-like methods are now useless to further the agenda.
However, despite "giving in" to the terrorists (or rather, responding to the valid agenda that could only express itself through terrorism, thus making the terrorist methods void), the PSOE was never too weak on the ETA itself, at the contrary. There was a scandal a few years back about anti-ETA squadrons that were way too reminiscent of past death squadrons, and felipe Gonzales was the weakling supporting them

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Spiffor
There was a scandal a few years back about anti-ETA squadrons that were way too reminiscent of past death squadrons, and felipe Gonzales was the weakling supporting them

Hmm that seems like something I would support..

Gonzalez wasn't really a bad guy though... the capitalist reforms, the death squads... heh..

Anyways, I'll stick around a little while longer.

[Ned]

Spiffor, France will then be attacked until it stops supporting the war on terror.

[Q Classic]

japan, skorea, england, portugal, and tuvalu haven't been attacked yet.

[Q Classic]

terrorists will try to strike at anything.
they will only succeed where there is opportunity.

if another terrorist attack comes here to the states, it will not be because of a lack of effort on aq's part, but because of an unfortunate lapse in our vigilance. if france can defend itself with its secret police and what not, more power to them; if they are never attacked, they will have done their duty--and we will also never know how many times attempts were made.

[Ned]

I still find Kerry's silence on the Spanish elections to be deafening in its meaning.