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Aznar And Old Europe
Randa Takieddine Al-Hayat 2004/03/17
When the defeated Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar favored the ranch of American President George W. Bush over old Europe that opposed war on Iraq, did he realize that his visit to the American presidential ranch represented his political death? At the time, Bush expressed his irritation from President Jacques Chirac, due to his position from the war on Iraq, by saying that he will not invite him to the ranch.
Aznar lied twice to his people. The first time was when he justified the Iraqi war and his army's participation in it, putting it in the framework of containing the weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) threat to the world. As it turns out, such weapons do not exist. The second lie ended the authority of his Spanish Popular Party after he had accused the Basque separatists soon after the Madrid bombings, at a time when no European intelligence agency noticed that the method used to carry out the attack was the ETA style. Aznar, his foreign minister, and the minister of interior were mistaken when they concealed the truth and postponed its announcement until after the elections. Maneuvering and manipulating the facts led to his Party's defeat in the elections in which his victory was assured, were it not for the bombs.
The death of 200 civilians and the injury of more than 1000 is a vile terrorist action and a shameful insult to Islam. All the religious Muslim people in the world should renounce this action and condemn it because it is the work of terrorist "mafias," whose mission is killing and abusing Islam and the Arab World. Unfortunately, these mafias find fertile ground to recruit the desperate youths, especially among those who oppose the American administration's policy and its war on Iraq.
The neo-conservatives in America, who made the decision of going to war, contributed in infiltrating Europe and reinforcing divisions within it. The invitation to the presidential American ranch was in honor of Aznar and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, at a time when Chirac was punished by not being invited, which turned out to be a bad omen for the Spanish PM.
Let us recall the words of French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin who warned in the Security Council that such intervention (use of force) today might exacerbate divisions between societies, cultures, peoples; divisions that nurture terrorism. At the time, he wondered whether the goal of the war on Iraq was to fight terrorism, pointing out that the war will only reinforce it. He said that nothing confirms that there are links between the Iraqi regime and Al Qaeda or asserts that the world would be more secure after the military intervention in Iraq, "my country's conviction is that it won't."
The world today is actually no safer than it was before the war on Iraq. On the contrary, all the countries are threatened, including the countries that opposed the war.
However, some policies are more rational and wiser than others in the West are. The decision of the socialist Spanish leader Jose Luis Zapatero of pulling out his country's troops from Iraq is not a submission to the terrorists, but an execution of a wise and strategic policy, which he has been following since he was in the opposition. In addition to Zapatero, there is an experienced diplomat in the Middle East, Miguel Angel Moratinos who is expected to become a minister of foreign affairs.
Moratinos, who was the special European envoy to the Middle East, is aware of the conflicts in the region and he believes in a united and strong Europe, because its divisions hindered the missions, which he was in charge of concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Over and above, Moratinos is close to France, which supported him in his mission, and he is aware of the importance of united European action. Certainly, what happened is a transformation in the Spanish political reality that can bring Spain closer to France and Germany. It also means that "Old Europe" was right when it anticipated more terrorism because of the war on Iraq.
No matter how much Saddam Hussein's regime was repressive and hostile, it had no relation with the terrorism represented by Al Qaeda. As for today, after the allied forces had entered Iraq and due to insecurity, Al Qaeda's members entered this country. They are working on recruiting the youths in the angry, poor, and unemployed classes, as they are doing in many Islamic countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Aznar's defeat in Spain is a new slap to Bush's policy. Bush might face the same destiny of his Spanish friend if the American people were aware of their interests.
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