Terror in Spain - Don't Appease the Terrorists!

Fareed Zakaria has another thought-provoking article in this week's Newsweek:

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/032204.html

In this article, Zakaria notes that, for many terrorist organizations, violence is an end in and of itself. This certainly has seemed to be true for some suicide bombers and their terrorist organizations in the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. Zakaria argues that it is now true for al Qaeda and the Basque terrorists, ETA.

But the Spanish electorate, and the socialist government it elected in the initial days after the horrific bombings in Madrid this month, would seem to reward the terrorists by threatening to remove Spain's troops from Iraq. Zakaria points out, however, that "other recent targets of Islamic militants have been Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, not one of which supported the war or sent troops into Iraq in the afterwar. Al Qaeda's declaration of jihad had, as its first demand, the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden does not seem to have noticed, but the troops are gone—yet the jihad continues. The reasons come and go, the violence endures."

If Spain does, however, withdraw its troops from Iraq as a result of the recent terrorism in Madrid, it would send a dangerous message to al Qaeda, ETA, and other terrorists: western governments and their policies can be changed through the use of terrorism. Terrorism will, once again, be seen as an effective tool for small groups of radicals to force political change. Terrorism will likely increase, especially in these "weak" and "fragile" democratic societies, terrorists will conclude.

For decades, "We don't negotiate with terrorists!" was a mantra for western and other governments. We all understood that once you give in to the demands of terrorists, you only encourage more terrorism. Spain's new leaders should remember this lesson. They may have legitimate gripes with Spain's involvement in the war in Iraq. But surely they can understand that, once emotions subside a bit, Spain's national interests lie with combating the terrorists and creating a stable political and economic climate in Iraq, not caving in to monsters who kill innocents.