SIGNS OF HOPE FROM THE TORIES (via Robert Duquette):

Jihadists keen to repeat Spanish effect (The Australian, 24 March 2004)

The legacy from Spain is that political parties, in government or opposition, must decide whether to lead or merely to follow public opinion as the war on terrorism penetrates the political culture of Western democracies.

One of the first responses has come from Britain's Conservative Party leader Michael Howard, who chose defiance.

Howard's message is that terrorists cannot manipulate Britain to repeat the "Spanish effect", whereby an opposition won by seeking to separate itself from the US – in effect, to procure a better deal from the terrorists.

"If the terrorists hope they can gain their ends by perpetrating in Britain a similar outrage to that in Spain, their wickedness will be in vain," Howard told a News Corporation conference in Mexico. His comments reflect an unspoken reality – that toppling Tony Blair via a massive strike on Britain would be the prize for the jihadists.

"Whatever my disagreements with Tony Blair, any government that I lead will not flinch in its determination to win the war against terror where it has to be fought," Howard said. "It would be a terrible thing indeed if last week's murders in Madrid led the terrorists to conclude that attacking America results in retribution but attacking Europe results in victory. We cannot buy ourselves immunity by changing our foreign policy."

Howard confronted the issue at the heart of Europe's agony – that the war on terror has to be won side by side with the US. There is no other way. A separate peace would never work and it is folly to think that it would (as many Europeans do). Appeasement would usher in a new dark age.

If we had an effective intelligence service, they could blow up the Eiffel Tower and pin it on al Qaeda, making it look like appeasement doesn't work.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 24, 2004 11:04 PM