Spaniards Are Not Cowards

The people of Spain have spoken. But what message they intended to send has become the subject of intense international debate. In the months leading up to the March 15 election, polls showed a close but fluid contest between Prime Minister Jos Mara Aznar's Popular Party, which supported President Bush's Iraq policy, and the Socialists, who opposed it.

Although 90 percent of Spanish voters objected to their country's involvement in the U.S. led invasion and occupation of Iraq, they appeared willing to overlook that factor in view of recent economic progress under the Aznar government. On March 7, with the Socialists running a feeble campaign, an Opina poll showed the Popular Party pulling ahead with 42 percent, compared with 38 percent for the Socialists.

After the March 11 attack on commuter trains in Madrid, both parties initially expected that a sympathy vote and a show of national unity would widen the gap in favor of the ruling party. In the end, however, the Socialists won with 42 percent, compared to the Popular Party's 38 percent.

A rising chorus of naysayers in the Bush administration and segments of the U.S. media has condemned the Spanish vote as a cowardly capitulation to terror. These claims, however, are as disingenuous and cynical as Ann Coulter's recent spurious assertion that decorated Vietnam War veteran and former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia lost three limbs in a beer-drinking accident.

It is clear now that the considerable margin of voters who changed their positions, or who decided to vote at the last minute, were reacting to the Aznar government's clumsy handling of the investigation into the March 11 attacks. Aznar insisted on the culpability of the Basque separatist organization ETA, despite mounting evidence of Islamic militant involvement. Aznar feared that if Islamists were implicated, voters would view that as evidence that Spain was being punished for its role in Iraq. Spaniards all along the political spectrum were outraged by Aznar's duplicity at a time of profound national shock and mourning. An extraordinary 77 percent of the electorate showed up, including many first-time young voters, many to express their disgust at Aznar's opportunism.

A day after the Socialist victory, President Bush resorted to his habitual conflation of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden when he urged the newly elected government not to cave in to pressure from al-Qaida by withdrawing Spain's troops from Iraq. The Prime Minister elect Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero, while vowing to uphold his longstanding campaign promise to withdraw Spanish troops, has repeated his determination to stand firm against terrorism. For most Spaniards, the War on Iraq is not the frontline in a War on Terror, but a ghastly sideshow that subverts global cooperation and allows al-Qaida to draw the frontlines at their whim. It appears that this time they chose to bring the fight to Madrid (as they have already done in Bali, Nairobi, New York, Casablanca and elsewhere.)

From the 1930s until General Franco's death in 1975, the Spanish people endured the yoke of totalitarianism. They are rightly proud to have rid themselves of tyranny. To suggest that the election results are simply a capitulation to terrorist demands, and therefore set a precedent for future attacks, does a grave disservice to the Spanish people, who have achieved a stable and peaceful democratic process.

The people of Spain, far from being cowards, turned out in the millions after the March 11 bombings to demonstrate their courage and unity against the forces of terror. The results of the vote only serve to underscore that the majority of Spanish voters, like the rest of Europe, supports a resolute, multilateral approach to security, and that the continued occupation of Iraq by the U.S. led coalition with the aid of Spanish troops is counterproductive. Terrorists can claim victory when democratic processes are subverted in the name of fighting terrorism, not when a nation turns out in force to vote in a free and fair election.

Kevan Brown is a Boulder-based freelance writer. His territory included Madrid when he worked as a field systems engineer in Europe from 1998 to 2000.

© 2004 Boulder (Colorado) Daily Camera

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