Spain Took Back Its Democracy

[Mrs. Venation]

"Bring 'em on."

If anyone still doubts the foolishness of the remark by our president last July, they haven't been paying attention to Spain, where the people voted out their prime minister on Sunday, three days after terrorists' bombs killed and wounded hundreds of rail commuters. Bring 'em on. The remark represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the way terrorists operate. Did Bush think they would confine their activities to Iraq?

Those who believe the war in Iraq was based on lies look at recent events in Spain and see a population that was overwhelmingly against the war seizing back control of their country, not only from outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar but from those who misled Aznar into joining the Iraqi war.

"Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush must do some reflection - you can't organize a war with lies," Spain's new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said following his election. It's a statement Bush should ponder as he plans for November. Spin, exaggeration and lies can backfire. So can subverting democracies in other nations.

That's what Bush did when pulling together his "coalition of the willing." In order to make a show of international support for invading Iraq, Bush risked unleashing violence on friendly countries and undermining leaders who supported his war against the wishes of their own people. One such leader was Aznar.

Amid much fanfare, including a celebrated trip by Aznar to Washington, Bush depicted Spain as one of the good guys, unlike France and Germany, in Bush's black and white universe. But events in Spain demonstrate what should have been obvious to anyone willing to look past our own patriotic bunting. The "coalition of the willing" was just one more loud exaggeration if not an outright lie.

Reasonable people can disagree about whether we should have invaded Iraq. There is a case to be made for it, but we never had that honest debate. The way Bush sold his war to America and the world was misleading and despicable, given the many lives in the balance.

I'm amazed at talking heads on TV and newspaper columnists who call the Spanish people appeasers and trumpet the Bush line that the "coalition of the willing" represented strong international support for the war. How do such partisans square their loud love of democracy and human rights with the reality that the clear majority of people in most every country dragged into the "coalition of the willing" were against the war?

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/opinion_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_364_2741191,00.html