Now that everything is getting colder, I'm finding myself more prone to look at the "big picture"
First, I am in agreement with those who think that the outcome of spanish elections is a very, very dangerous precedent, and an amazing finding for terrorists all over the world. Whatever the moral grounds of socialist victory are, which I will discuss further on, the fact is that by terror bombing, a nation changed its vote. Dangerous message in dangerous times.
Withdrawal of our troops is, plain and simple, a mistake. A huge one and the last bit of the victory that the whole act for the terrorirsts was seeking and that is, ultimately, going to achieve.
Al-Qaeda has shown, yet again, that they are a bunch of soulless criminals, who have the guts to make whatever they deem positive for their cause. And, the sooner we realize it, the better, they are a very clever bunch of reptiles.
The timing of the bombings was absolutely perfect, not too soon, not too late, and I'm tempted to admit that they counted in advance with the fierce political use that certain sector of the spanish press (namely grupo Prisa) and certain political spectrum (In which I include Socialist Party, in an absolutely shaming way) did of the bombings. They could count also with the absolutely horrendous comunication skills of the now defeated Popular Party. From my point of view, they succeeded at changing the outcome of the elections, thus they won this battle. And this, which is only my opinion, makes the death of 201 innocents even more painful for me.
The outcome of the election is pure consequence of an emotional vote cleverly manipulated by leftists in our country for months, fueled by press of the kin. And, don't be so naive, given the right choice of time, deaths, press, and manipulation, this can happen to any nation.
It was absolutely vomitive to see how Socialists cried "alltogether now, this is not a political issue" at the very first moments of the blasts, when the most plausible hypothesis was ETA, to turn immediately when the Ministry of Interior said a van was found with arab tapes, and then call "liar, liar" to the government. Jeez, that was not a lie, but the most likely hypothesis with the information ANY spaniard had at that time. Or Rubalcaba (one notable Socialist member of the most corrupt government Spain has seen in democracy) intervention to say "Spain does not deserve a liar government". Shameful. Not so vomitive as some french media (Liberation, if my memory suits me well) stance on the defeated Popular Party, though.
Socialists' political program gives me the impression of a lot of promises never to see the light of the government. I was made under the assumption that they would never win. It was an "opposition" program. They even consider 145 seats to be a "wonderful" result, and their jumping platform for the next poll, in 4 years time. So our president-to-be promise to withdraw our troops has to be analized from that perspective. Now that he won, he needs to stick to his word as close as possible, especially at this very early stages. And preferably with such a sensitive and manipulated issue as Irak war.
About the "willing" of the government to make the people "think" it was ETA, sorry, but I don't buy it. It is the main artifact published by Socialist press in the immediate moments following the van finding. And they succeeded, too. How in the world can anyone with more than one functional brain cell expect that the government could hide any bit of substantial information for any amount of time? No, thanks, I don't believe it.
And the behaviour of Ministry of Interior shows that, whatever their willing was, they did not lie, and they did not hide or delay any findings. Of course, we, in Spain, are used to throw accusations without the need of the proof.
Well....I guess it's how it used to be for ages in my country. Leftists usually have a very hard time accepting defeat. They had them in 1.934, where they tried to overcome a legitimate Right wing victory by means of a Coup-d'etat (something not so frequently told, bot not less the truth), they did when they abandoned power in 1.996, where all kind of bad-style declarations were made, and they repeated now again, with spontaneous (and that's the sad part...it's on their nature, I guess) demonstrations in front of Popular Party headquarters the day before the voting....yep...very democratic. Of course, now they will say it was "the people"...yep...like they did in 1.930, 1.934 and 1.936. They are always "the people".
But such is democracy's greatness. The People has talked, and Mr. Zapatero will be my president in a couple of weeks. The poll was legal and valid, so I accept the results. And, on a positive reading, I think it's good to have a government change. It's only that this is not the right way to do it, in my humble opinion.
Of course, I'm counting that some of my fellow spaniards will come here to call me "fascist"...no big deal, it's been the usual place for the last 2 years. Anyone who cares to defend the ex-government in issues like Prestige spill or Irak war was automatically a fascist, no matter what their reasons could be, which, on the other hand, never were allowed to be heard.
