Bombs shake up war on terror
By Paul Reynolds
BBC News Online world affairs correspondent
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3512894.stm
The Madrid bombs have done more than shake up Spanish
politics.
They have shaken the coalition in the war on terror declared by
President Bush.
And they have done so because Spanish voters moved into line with
the French and German view that the war on terror has nothing to do
with the war in Iraq.
Indeed the new mood in Spain is that the war in Iraq is a
distraction and is making things worse.
Call for
self-criticism
The Spanish socialist leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has
already attacked the Americans and British.
"Mr Blair and Mr Bush must do some reflection and self-criticism.
You can't bomb a people, you can't organise a war with lies," he
said.
Almost exactly a year after Jose Maria Aznar stood shoulder to
shoulder with President Bush and Mr Blair in the Azores on the eve
of the war against Iraq, his party has been removed from power
partly because of the unpopularity of that war.
If al-Qaeda was behind the Madrid bombings, it could be said that
this was a significant strike by the terror group. It has forced a
change of government in one of Mr Bush's leading allies.
Not that Spanish voters support al-Qaeda, but nor do they support
the policy in Iraq.
And, like the French and Germans, they want a rethink. In
particular, they want a separation of the war on terror from the
war in Iraq, which Mr Bush has said is the "front line" in the war
on terror.
Balance of power in EU
The arrival of the Spanish socialists back on the European scene
will also shift the balance of opinion on Iraq within the European
Union. Mr Blair has lost a close ally and may have to turn further
east to the new members joining on 1 May to reinforce his
position.
Mr Bush and Mr Blair have themselves suffered what must be seen as
a rebuke by the Spanish people.
Whether they suffer rebukes from their own voters in due course
remains to be determined.
It is not at all a foregone conclusion that they will. It is worth
noting that on the same day that Mr Aznar's party lost power in
Spain, the single minded Vladimir Putin was returned to power
without trouble in Russia.
His hallmark has been a ruthless approach to the issue of Chechnya,
Russia's own war.
Mr Bush is arguing strongly in his re-election campaign that his
leadership and determination are key assets and ones which his
Democratic Party opponent John Kerry cannot match. Equally, Senator
Kerry will argue that the doubts in Spain over Iraq match those of
the American voters.
And the immediate reaction of the British Government has been to
stand firm and to declare that there will be no change in policy.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected the argument that countries
which softened their approach would be safer:
"Nobody, nobody should believe that somehow we can opt out of the
war against Islamic terrorism.
"The idea that somehow there is some exemption certificate for this
war against terrorism is utter nonsense," he told the BBC.
New effort in
Iraq
One result of the Spanish election will be to reinforce the British
and American efforts to get Iraq back in the hands of Iraqis. In
that way, they hope to reduce the impact of Iraq on the wider
campaign against al-Qaeda.
They will press for a new UN Security Council resolution in May to
give approval to the handover of power to an interim Iraqi
government by the end of June.
However, large numbers of foreign troops will stay, and under an
American general, so they could still present a target and a reason
for attacks.
The new Spanish Government will want to bring its troops home. But
the Socialist Party has in the past left the door open by saying
that they might remain if there was an UN mandate for them. Whether
that remains the position in view of the strong feelings in Spain
is a matter of debate.
Either way, the doubt over their future in Iraq opens up yet
another unwelcome issue for President Bush.
