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Maybe a trip to Mars isn't such a bad idea

Today's one of those days where I feel like killing someone -- any motherfucker with an extremist's bent and the audacity to act on it. (And yeah, Mel Gibson, aesthetic carnage doesn't let you off the hook, although your bigoted ass is admittedly far down the list from Al Quaeda, Ariel Sharon, et al.) Perhaps today's attack will make people who were quick to suggest that Americans had brought it upon ourselves reconsider. Sure, Aznar's got troops in Iraq alongside the US battalions, but that isn't the fault of average Spaniards, most of whom are whole-heartedly against the war. Step to me with a jock-in-a-date-rape-trial "they were asking for it" excuse and I'll clock you too.

I'm also worried that the Bushies will use this as election fodder: proof that the world is still unsafe from "terror," and therefore proof that we still need our father figure. All right-thinking Americans (by which I mean, left-thinking Americans), though, should be raising this question now, and shouting it from the rooftops: if this bombing turns out to have been the work of Islamic militants, and not the ETA (as the BBC and NYT are beginning to suggest), isn't this just proof that America's adventure in Iraq is even foolhardier than we thought? Instead of finishing what we started in Afghanistan, instead of wiping out Al Quaeda, we were following the ideological obsessions of a few hard-righters with no grasp on reality and invading Iraq -- indeed, creating photo ops for every new Al Quaeda recruitment poster. Perhaps, just perhaps, had we not been wasting our time (and our middle-class taxpayers' money) fucking up Iraq and turning worldwide opinion against us, we (eg, the CIA, Pentagon, NATO, the alleged "global alliance" against "terror") just might have stopped the fuckers that wreaked havoc in Spain today. A sorry day for all of us.

Comments

Peace.

Make sure all your readers go out and vote, that is the best we can do right now.

I totally agree with you Philip. One of the main issues in spain that was a fuel for that sad bombing was the fact that Spains arm pit conservative government won't let that part of Spain (mainly French) separate. I mean, what has Spain got to lose? If these people want to become independant, they should have every right to be independant. But ohh no, since the conservatives want to keep them part of the big box of facists, these loopy violent people start to take frivolous action and terrible things happen, thus proving, conservative governing systems do not provide good to anyone (accept the rich fat cats who suck in all of the tax payers money and waste it on weapons). Even though I am Canadian, I still think that people should vote Bush out in the US. He's done no good for the US from my (and many other Canadian)'s perspectives. All he has done is wasted money, sent people to kill and be killed, preach his rightist all fearing religious rubbish, and generally made a waste basket of a country which has had better days. Even here in Ontario, we have had our share of conservative sillyness. They totally fucked over our healthcare, education, taxes, highway service, you name it, they've fucked it over. Now we have this 'liberal' leader who is all smiles and all promise breaker. He's made well over 100 promises since his take over, and very little of them have been kept. If people would vote green, things would get done better, safer, and faster in a peaceful and friendly manner. But in this world, it seems a lot of people are too blunt to understand that.

Jesse:

don't mess up things. The Basque Country is not France. Basques are not french. And the terrorists and the separatists in the Basque Country are only a minority. The Basque Country is full of well-heartened people who are looking for peace, not independence. And the terrorists, they are the fascist. There have been over 1.000 people killed in ETA terrorists attacks in the last 30 or more years. And even though I dislike Aznar's government with all my aim, it's unfair to reduce everything to a "freedom fighters" thing. I live in Spain, and I know what I'm talking about. You don't. So please, don't lie and don't, as we'd say in spanish, confuse velocity with bacon.

i agree completely with Jesse that the government have been really unhelpful and intransigent, indeed creating many obstacles, re. the issues of separatism in both Catalunya and the Basque Country.

but "arm pit"?

"that was a fuel for that sad bombing was the fact that Spains arm pit conservative government won't let that part of Spain (mainly French) separate."
Eta terrorists would certainly regard themselves as Basque, neither French or Castilian speakers; they speak Euskaran (presumably).
they have also attempted to kill horrifically large numbers of people in the past; if Eta are responsible for yesterday's outrage, this would not be a new thing for them, the sucessful execution would be of course.

"since the conservatives want to keep them part of the big box of facists"
?

as the Guardian writes ...Whoever is found responsible for yesterday's carnage, both Madrid and its regions will have to work harder than ever to dissociate the legitimate discourse of separatism from the horrors of yesterday's massacre of innocents.

numbed.
do politics have to intrude on grief?

i agree more with Javier.

I actually would have to agree with Javier as I had only heard of the bomb attack on Canadian news. I didn't know they had the wrong info, but anyways, it's good to have actual info from someone who actually lives in Spain ;) And I also agree that indeed terrorists are fascists. They obviously have no value for life and a blatantly unintelligent. And for me, when I say big box of fascists, I am just refering to the conservative government of spain, or any conservative government for that matter. Being a very 'green' leftist, I tend to see conservatives as fairly close to fascist.

fas·cism
Pronunciation: 'fa-"shi-z&m also 'fa-"si-
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian fascismo, from fascio bundle, fasces, group, from Latin fascis bundle & fasces fasces
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control

cheers for that sir, i didn't want to point out a Spaniard like Javier might be a bit upset with the word fascist being bandied about, but there we are.

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