News from Spain

Here are some excerpts from a Reuters article from yesterday:

World leaders have been flooding President Bush with congratulatory calls since his reelection victory, but at least one --Spain's Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero--appears to be having trouble getting through.

Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero, who angered Bush by pulling Spain's troops out of Iraq earlier this year, "has tried to reach out" to the U.S. president since last week's election, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters on Wednesday.

But Bush has yet to return the call. "Calls are scheduled at times that are mutually convenient. Some calls are able to be scheduled quicker than others," McClellan explained.

A senior Bush administration official denied any snub over the Spanish withdrawal, which Bush warned had emboldened the terrorists.


The official said Bush had received "numerous congratulatory calls from world leaders (and) is in the process of returning those calls."

Other world leaders have also tried to reach Bush since the election but have yet to get through.

Bush was a close ally of Spain's conservative prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, before Zapatero swept to power.

While Bush has yet to take Zapatero's call, the White House said he had a "private meeting" with Aznar at the White House on Tuesday.

(emphasis added). The denials of a snub are dubious at best, especially given that Bush had a private meeting with Aznar instead of calling Zapatero, but that is not what I want to examine. Instead, look at the other emphasized excerpts. Bush was highly critical of Zapatero for withdrawing Spanish troops, and Bush did say that such a move would embolden the terrorists. My sister received this email reaction to this article from one of her best friends in Spain:

The American people should know that since Mr. Zapatero has become president, we have not had one single terrorist attack. The Zapatero government is capturing and imprisoning more Islamic terrorists and ETA terrorists than happened in all 8 years of Aznar’s government.

Gee whiz...a president of a foreign country who is critical of Bush has done a better job of fighting terrorism than his predecessor, who has always been a Bush lackey. Damn that Zapatero! Damn him! (That is extreme sarcasm, folks.)