As Barack Obama tries to persuade American voters thatconverting the U.S. military into an extension of the Peace Corps is a bold demonstration of moral strength, in many ways Spain offers some foreshadowing of what can happen to a country that allows itself to be swept away by the post-modern pacifist rhetoric of its political class.
Since taking office in 2004, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has worked assiduously to craft his own public persona as a “convinced pacifist.” His first official act as pacifist-in-chief was, famously, to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, a decision that was not only wildly popular with Spanish voters, but also cemented Zapatero’s pacifist credentials on the world stage.
A few months later, facing a barrage of criticism from non-pacifists at home and abroad that his Iraq policy amounted to appeasing Islamic terrorists, Zapatero reluctantly deployed extra troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. But just in case the deployment might cast doubt on his commitment to pacifistic ideals, Zapatero dictated strict rules of engagement that forbid Spanish troops in Afghanistan from using lethal force, a “caveat” that today essentially renders useless their presence in the country.
Later that same year, in his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Zapatero shed some light on his pacifist vision for achieving world peace. Using the flowery post-modern verbiage for which he is now famous, Zapatero declared: “Culture is always peace.” He then went on to argue that Islamic terrorists are misunderstood and can only be defeated by sitting down with them in dialogue.
Zapatero has been careful to appoint only pacifists as Spanish ministers of defense. Zapatero’s first defense minister, the controversial José Bono Martínez, proclaimed: “I am a minister of defense and I would rather be killed than to kill.” He then issued orders prohibiting Spanish troops in Afghanistan from using lethal force on Taliban fighters.
6 comments:
I think that worst than Bono is the Defense Minister we have now: Carme Chacón.
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/10/01/espana/1222826024.html
Chacón stated that “a better coordination between ISAF and Enduring Freedom is essential, so the political or strategic goals of one operation are not undermined by what’s going on in the battle camp“.
She actually considered that USA was undermining because of Iraq intervention, Spanish work in Afghanistan. Which is none, as they have actually forbidden Spanish military to use ANY kind of lethal force in the country.
D-I-S-A-S-T-R-O-U-S.
I only hope that if THAT is going to be the attitude in a new admin, they have the balls to say it, just as they have with their outright socialist attitudes
Pastorius,
pacifists live in a dream world.
They live in a world where there are no consequences and no bad people.
Like children.
Pastorius,
my sentiments exactly. They maybe good people, but the world where pacifism would not lead to our own extinction is not the real world. Jihadists don't see genuine pacifists as good, well meaning people who want to be their friends, they see them as weaklings and they still regard them as infidels and thus unworthy of life. We have to remember that evil people can not be reasoned with.
Pastorius,
Tammy Bruce has an interesting post on pacifism, and it makes a few good points. You may want to check it out. What do we know about the pre World War 2 peace movement?
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