PEACE FOR LIFE BULLETIN

2004 March 19

A Message of Solidarity with the Peace-Loving People of Spain
and in Support of Spanish Pullback from Iraq:

After the Carnage, A Vote Against War

On March 11, 2004, extremist elements of the global jihad—historically provoked by the US government’s interventionist foreign policy and of late fueled by its war on terror—breached the bulwark of one of President Bush’s staunchest ally in its invasion of Iraq, claiming 201 innocent lives and injuring more than 1,750 largely working class citizens of Madrid.

We condemn the train bombings in Madrid as barbaric and inhuman. NO CAUSE CAN EVER JUSTIFY MASS MURDER. The perpetrators of this terrorist act must be brought to justice, not by violence, but by the rule of international law.

The attack—staged three days before national elections, almost a year since the onset of the US-led invasion of Iraq, and exactly two and a half years after September 11th—are seen as a calculated move to send a message of warning to states collaborating in Washington’s project to place the Arab world under the US Empire’s iron-fisted control.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Spain as they mourn the loss of their loved ones who have been and continue to be used as sacrificial lambs in an unjust war that has little to do with making the world a safer place to live—indeed the war cry of Bush and his coalition of invaders.

Under the conservative government of Jose Maria Aznar of Partido Popular, Spain—along with Britain—became a pillar of the pro-American group of nations in Western Europe. Spain’s diplomatic support to the US and UK over the use of military force in Iraq and participation in the occupation were rewarded by the inclusion of Batasuna, a radical Basque nationalist party linked to the armed ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Homeland and Liberty) separatist movement, on the US State Department’s list of international terrorist groups; and by the assurance of US Chamber of Commerce president Thomas Donohue that Spanish business leaders would get privileged treatment in bidding for reconstruction projects in Iraq.

Fearing public censure that the train attacks were staged in revenge for Spain’s connivance in the Iraq occupation, the Aznar regime swiftly laid culpability on Basque separatists, a lame propaganda that soon became apparent to the Spanish public, 90 percent of whom oppose the US-led invasion of Iraq and their government’s alignment with the anti-terrorist crusaders.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Spain who in vast numbers used the power of the ballot to rebuke the US-led invasion of Iraq and to unseat a government that places its people in the line of fire in favour of its own conservative interests and its main allies’ imperial ambitions.

In the words of a Spanish university student, the election—which drew a huge 77.2% voter turnout, including two million new young voters—“became a referendum on the war.”

Spain’s prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose Socialist Party was expected to lose handily to Prime Minister Aznar’s Popular Party, has promised to revive Spain’s traditional “pro-European” foreign policy: to bring back Spanish troops from Iraq to show the new government’s disapproval of a “unjustified” war; to call for a new “international alliance” against terrorism, based on the authority of the United Nations, not “unilateral actions” by the US and UK.

Spain has roughly 1,400 military personnel in Iraq—the fifth largest contingent of foreign troops—and hundreds of others in Afghanistan. Zapatero declared Spanish troops will withdraw from Iraq by the end of June 2004 unless the UN Security Council takes charge of the peacekeeping operation there, something Bush has long opposed.

We laud the progressive intentions of the newly-elected government in pursuing a path towards multipolarity in world affairs by severing the manipulative tentacles of US hegemony and call on the Spanish people to ensure that its government of choice live up to its promises.

The Madrid attacks and the resulting election upset have shaken the anti-terror coalition and point towards an altering of European power balance that is everywhere hoped to bring about an end to the Washington-controlled unipolar world.

Downplaying the threat of collapse of the anti-terror coalition, the US was quick to charge that Spain’s pullback from Iraq is tantamount to engaging in an appeasement of terrorism. But far from being a consequence of or a reaction to the March 11 attack, a possible troop withdrawal stems from long-standing opposition of the Spanish people to the US-led occupation. Indeed, the booting out of office of the Aznar regime and the September 2002’s unexpected reelection victory of anti-war German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are a glaring demonstration of the power of a people united in its stand for peace.

We call on all peace-loving people—especially in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan, Britain, Denmark, Italy, Poland and most of the other eastern European countries—to meet the challenge of the Spanish voters who stood for their country and for peace.

THE SECRETARIAT

People’s Forum on Peace for Life