Word: zapatero
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...certain to coast to victory. The handpicked successor of outgoing Prime Minister José María Aznar, Rajoy ran on a strong antiterrorism platform; but after the recent bombings in Madrid, fear and suspicion gripped the country and Spaniards swept Socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero into victory. If we didn’t know it before, this weekend’s election in Spain provided a valuable, if horrifying, lesson: Terrorism works. Just ask Rajoy...
...bombings took place three days prior to the general elections in Madrid which resulted in the ouster of the conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in favor of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of the Socialist Party...
...bombings in retaliation for Spain’s involvement in the Iraqi invasion and ongoing occupation. Before the attacks, Prime Minister Azanar’s Popular party enjoyed a comfortable lead in the polls. On Sunday they were ousted by incoming Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his Socialist party. Conservative pundits, like New York Times columnist David Brooks, have been quick to denounce the Spaniards for appeasing Al Qaeda. Their arguments are not without merit, but they are overly crude and mistakenly conflate the fight against Islamic terrorism with the war against Iraq...
...appeasement charge also implies that Spaniards have chosen to elect a new government less tough on terror than the old. But when, on Monday, Zapatero declared that his “most immediate priority will be to fight terrorism,” I saw no reason to doubt his sincerity. Unfortunately, conservatives suffer from a proclivity to conflate “toughness” on Iraq with “toughness” on terror—an equation that is patently flawed...
...Spanish result is an even sharper setback for the Bush administration, however. Washington had showcased Aznar's backing for the war as evidence of European support, hoping to isolate France and Germany as the odd men out on the continent. Instead, Zapatero has been mandated by voters to fulfill his promise of moving Spain far closer to France and Germany - and further away from Washington - in the conduct of foreign policy. The loss of 1,300 Spanish garrison troops in Iraq won't be militarily significant to the Coalition. Poland has already indicated its willingness to continue the command responsibility...