Jose Maria Aznar discusses the truth about 3/11

He gets it. Too bad the PM-elect does not – or most of Europe, for that matter.

Its lessons are simple. If we want to stop terrorists from murdering us and from dictating how we lead our lives, we must confront them. Some think the solution is to sue for peace, to negotiate with terrorists so that they might go and kill elsewhere. But that way is unacceptable to me and to millions of Spaniards. Terrorism deserves only to be defeated. This is the debt we owe to the victims of the attacks, and to the society that mourns them.*snip article*

ETA or al Qaeda–the difference is important, to be sure, but the response to what has happened should be the same: firmness, political unity and international cooperation. Each and every democrat in the world was on those trains in Madrid. It has been an attack against all of us, against everything we believe in, and against everything we have built.

It is precisely for this reason that we must not send out confusing messages, messages that induce people to believe that we have to make concessions to those demanding that we kneel before bombs. This is not the moment to think about withdrawals of troops. And much less when the terrorists, with their message of death and destruction, have demanded that we surrender. To yield now would set a dangerous precedent that would allow our attackers to believe that they have imposed their conditions on us. It would allow our attackers to believe that they have won.

It can’t be said enough: We thank you for all of yours and Spain’s help in the aftermath of 9-11, Prime Minister. History will judge you, PM Blair, PM Howard, and of course President Bush, to be on the right side of this fight to rid the world of these terrorist thugs.

The Coalition of the Willing should be admired and respected. The Coalition of the Bitching, however, deserves not much of either.