..... I wouldn't go so far as to say that the Spanish are immune from
the petty partisanship of patriotism (cleaning off the computer monitor) or
necessarily more democratically enlightened than Americans. I think that the
Spanish can be as adept at moral and logical acrobatics as we are, although it
most often plays out in a different arena. For instance, the entire European
response to immigration over the last decade or two has been more reminiscent
of S. Milosevic than MLK, and many of the roots of proliferating
groups of European neo-Nazis are derived from notions of patriotism and
national identity. The cat-and-mouse game with the ETA and the Basques have
also been an exercise in some pretty retrograde concepts of citizenship and
patriotism.

As a junior partner in this effort to stem terrorism (as poorly executed and
wrong-headed as it may be), it's easier for Spain to simply say "we're out"
than it is for us, as the "sponsor" of the initiative to accept less than
total devotion to our cause. Such is the price of being the "big dog", and to
be fair, Spain had a pretty sketchy record of enligtened foreign policy when
they were blatant imperialists 100+ years ago. I don't think that the Spanish
people have changed so much as the geopolitical landscape has.

I think that leadership requires a bond of trust, and the Administration now
sees the price of selective perception and spinning to an audience to which
they don't have direct, nearly unimpeded access. Whether that dichotomy will
register with an American electorate that sees the world as a giant football
game or not, I am not really sure. I kinda doubt it but I guess the
difference begins on this level, yes?

I admire the Spanish electorate's punishment of the scurrilous effort to pin
the attack on the ETA, but I worry about the larger, longer-term effect of
wanton and indiscriminate killing of noncombatants having such a palpable
effect on a democratic process. What happened in Spain is bad news for
Democrats, Republicans, Naderites - all democratically-oriented people alike.
This will happen again.

The Madrid attacks are unfortunately a brilliantly successful episode in an Al-
Quaeda strategy to divide the fragile transatlantic alliance. The Spanish
withdrawal from Iraq touches a nerve in most Americans for 2 reasons: 1) It
looks like our ally is leaving us in the lurch and betraying a sense of
loyalty, and 2)It looks like what Americans ham handedly call 'Appeasement"
(which is a very poor historical analogy to Chamberlain's strategy with Hitler
in the 30s - but it's a "Green highlit" passage in the history book of every
American and unfortunately most Americans' view of international affairs is
woefully naive and myopic).

This is all just raw politics, and there are few easy answers. But it is
certain that our failings and violence beget more failings and more violence.
A hotel just blew up in central Baghdad and Americans are once again readying
themselves to wash their hands of the situation - just like in Lebanon, only
this time with more dire implications. I have seen the mountain villages of
Lebanon that were bombed by the USS New Jersey, which lobbed shells the size
of Volkswagens blindly in an ill-advised effort to deter in a "display of
American strength". And I have met Marines who suffered and saw friends die
in the suicide bombings on US facilities that inspired our withdrawal. If we
fail that way this time it will be more than just a beatiful country that is
rent asunder. It will be the idea that democracy can take root in the region
at all, which I am not prepared to accept.

Why can't honesty and commitment to peaceful solutions triumph over self-
absorption and macho "us vs. them" political calculus - - from the West Wing
to the chambers of the Spanish parliament to the secret councils of Al-Quaeda?
Perhaps it has to do with the deadly combination of natural resources,
religion, heavily armed status quo elements and fanatically devoted insurgents.

I soapox, but I really think that we can do better than the present
Administration's semantic jujitsu. If enough people will hook onto that idea
and stop citing the over-filtered lessons of World War II and viewing the
world like a clique of insecure, egoless high schoolers, then we might see a
change. Sometimes I even catch myself praying.