Right on, e-rocky-confidential. [A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Or How I Was Donald Rumsfelded Into Submission)] I tried to make the same point a few days ago over at AP, but backblog bugged out and I let it drop.
The speed with which "pundits" started asking whether Europe would now "get tough", and their condemnation of the subsequent election results, struck me as a rather cold and inconsiderate response to Spain's horror. For fuck's sake, I thought, let the nation grieve and save the tactical discussions till after the funeral.
Further, I'm of the view that the Spanish election was as much a reaction to being bullshitted by Aznar about the ETA, as it was any sort of "appeasement" of al-Qaeda. And, like Volokher Jacob Levy, I'm willing to see a bit of daylight between pulling your troops out of Iraq and outright folding in the fight against terrorism.
And now I will quit trying to sound like a real blogger and go back to FLOGging™. Thank you.
Posted by FLOG at March 18, 2004 7:13 AM | TrackBackSure, there's a difference between the two, but immediate withdrawal from Iraq is irresponsible; even if Spain's few troops are hardly crucial, it's the principle that matters. Further, it's essentially an announcement that Iraq is not part of the war against terrorism. Even those who think Saddam had no terrorist connections now acknowledge there are terrorists in Iraq now.
And though you may be right, Spaniards were also upset at the PP for initally ignoring the obvious and pinning it on ETA, there is still the fact that it will nevertheless be interpreted by terrorists as capitulation.
Posted by: Armed Prophet at March 19, 2004 3:13 AMI'm not saying the fallout from the Madrid bombings wasn't a bad thing -- I fully understand the point that it essentially says "bomb us and we'll change".
But the response from hawks and wonks seemed long on calculation and short on compassion. I saw little or no pause to consider the sheer awfulness of it, and a whole lot of immediate questioning of what Spain might do in response. I haven't seen such haste in jumping on a massacre to push an agenda since, oh, September 2001, from folks like Susan Sontag and Arundhati Roy. If that sounds like hyperbole, well . . . whiskey.
Posted by: FLOG™ at March 19, 2004 5:33 AMI can only speak for myself, of course, but I felt sick to my stomach about it. (This could also be because I ride the subway in DC twice daily or more.)
Then that bad feeling deepened late Sunday when the results of the election came back from Madrid. Yes, us pro-Iraq types see obvious political implications from this, and we've said so. So did the Sontags, of course. But I don't think I go too far out on a limb by saying my response on this is more rational than theirs on that.
I haven't seen any Iraq hawks be too short of compassion -- most everyone has noted the awfulness of the attack, unavoidable given the pictures that came out of it -- but I can imagine it might seem that way. But I assure you, we take these things on a human level as much as anyone, if not more so. Hence, our severe response.
Posted by: Armed Prophet at March 19, 2004 6:03 AM