Regarding Nigel Stark's "Terrorism won this time":
How Spain voted is a direct result of the terrorist attacks. The conservative party was on track to hold the prime minister position and remain in control of the Spanish equivalent of the U.S. Congress. Therefore, because there was such an obvious and unexpected voting shift, the Spanish did, in fact, allow the terrorists to dictate the vote.
If there wasn't a terrorist attack, the conservative (Popular) party would have remained in power. What the Spanish should have done is not only keep those with realistic views on terrorism in power, but they should have voted for more conservatives so that there would have been a greater contingent of leaders in Spain who could resolutely decry acts of terrorism instead of withdrawing from their troops from Iraq.
What will this do for Spain? It will take 1,300 lives out of harms way, that's true, and maybe it will even make Spain a less likely terrorist target since they seem to have gotten the not-so-subtle message from al Qaeda.
But in the long run, what will this do to the international community (including Spain)? It will set a precedent for how to effectively use terrorism to--well, terrorize. And if it works in Spain, why not Britain and other countries?
You can see where this is going. At the risk of sounding too rah-rah "go get the bad guys," I have to point out the obvious fact: you can't defeat terrorism by ignoring it.
Written by Chris Collins of NEXT
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