"It's Folly to Think They Struck Us Simply for Iraq"

I have held my tongue on the Madrid news for the last several weeks. It' a complicated issue, and while I am deeply disappointed by the results of the election, I didn't share the immediate reaction of some that this is unmitigated appeasement. On reflection, though, I do think that the Socialists, like some politicians in America, just don't get it on the war on terror. They seem not to understand that al Queda and its associated groups are not political entities that can be satisfied - they simply want to bomb the world back to the 6th century.

But the Progressive Party did get it. Gustavo de Arístegui, a Spanish legislator and parliamentary spokesman for the Popular Party, has an op-ed in the Post today that shows they do:

Already, I sense a worrying confusion between the excuses that terrorism offers to justify itself and what people believe to be the causes of terrorism. Even as terrorist violence tore through Baghdad, Fallujah and other Iraqi cities last week, it became clear that some in Europe believe that if you feed the beast and satisfy its apparent demands, you will calm it. But the beast feeds on surrender and appeasement; it only feels sated if it obtains totalitarian power.

Exactly.
- posted by Anonymous @ 9:12 AM