The Socialist Workers’ Party has pulled an upset in Sunday’s Spanish elections. Normally this would please me enormously, but the reasons for this victory trouble me more than a little. The message of large numbers of voters seems to be that the atrocity in Madrid is the fault of the government for siding with the US in the invasion of Iraq. That is, if only Spain had done nothing to upset the Islamists, maybe al-Qaeda would have left the Spanish people alone– at least for now. (Of course we know their ultimate goal.)
I’m really afraid Islamists will read the vote in Spain as a message of weakness and defeatism. I hope the new Socialist government realizes the importance of countering that impression.
Update: Bush seems to be reacting level-headedly to the Spanish elections results.
