I’ve not mentioned Spain’s 3/11 tragedy here yet, and I intend not to discuss it much at all. It was a horrible, horrible thing and it only underscores, in my mind, the necessity of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the importance of disarming Lybia and North Korea, and the urgency of not allowing complacency and peaceniks to erode our support for the global war on terror.
Today in Spain, the terrorists won. The elections resulted in the ousting of the Popular Party to the benefit of the Socialist Party. Exit polls show that the bombing was a key source of changes in swing-voters, from what I can tell. Spain democratically chose a course of appeasement. The wording we use to describe the incident, however, is important, as Willow so astutely points out:
we need to stop thinking that Al-Queda “punished” Spain for their involvement in the WoT coalition, nee, for their mere association with Washington and the ever-vilified George W. Bush. Let me be clear:
Parents ‘punish’ children for misbehaving. Teachers ‘punish’ students for misbehaving. In short, authority figures ‘punish’ their charges for misbehaving in order to bring them into line.
Al-Queda attacked innocent, unsuspecting civilians as is their MO. What happened in Spain with the election happened because people were confused about that — they perceived they were being punished, so they snapped right into line. Just. Like. Those. Fucking. Bastards. Wanted them to.
[ed. note: all emphasis in original]
Well said indeed. Read the rest. It’s good.
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