More Aznars, please

Imagine for a moment (and read this article) that there were folks like former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in charge of several major European nations. What you would have now is a free and democratic Iraq, much farther along in progress, an Iran and North Korea that are really feeling the heat, and far more likely to give in, and an Israeli/Arab peace process far more likely to succeed.

Terrorists have been very successful at using to their advantage Western division over Iraq, as well as differences in how to confront (or not confront, as is the case for Europe) the problems of the world. For example, a terrorist attack in Spain robbed that nation of what backbone they had. Had it happened in America it would have strengthened our resolve and forced our leaders to take tougher measures. Europe is still locked in the Kerryesque view of terrorism as a law enforcement problem. If Europe were in lock step with America over Iraq, troop levels would be higher, as would support for Iraq's elected government. It would also be far easier to pressure neighboring nations on their open-border policies that allow terrorists (a good first step is for the MSM to quit calling them insurgents)to flow into Iraq. Iraq's movements toward democracy would have far greater legitimacy in the eyes of the world.

Iran and North Korea know that if it comes down to it, America will be alone in the dark in dealing with the trouble that those axis of evil nations cause. Many even complain about the expressed opinion that the leadership of those nations constitute an evil axis. Maybe we should have called them the "axis of carebears"? If Europe were taking a harder line on these nations it could make a huge difference. Iran is calculating that if they keep the Europeans on the hook long enough by offering to allow inspections, then saying they won't...saying they'll consider stopping their program, then they won't...they can play the Eurowimps long enough to finish their WMD programs. If Europe had helped us shitcan Saddam without remorse, then European negotiations with Iran and North Korea would be coming from a much stronger position, and they would be taken far more seriously.

Finally, the US is always accused of being one-sided when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian issue. To say we favor the non-terrorist side would be wholly accurate, but we are not so nearly one-sided as everyone else. Terrorist bombings target and kill Israeli children, and the UN says nary a word. Israel responds with targeting a militant and kill a few innocents by accident and the UN is all over it. How many vetoes of resolutions in the UN has America shot down simply because those pushing the resolution refused to include condemnations of Palestinian terrorism? We would allow criticism of Israel, but Palestinian terrorism must be condemned also. Yet we are the one-sided party? If Europe were serious about terrorism, including Palestinian terrorism, the peace process would stand a far greater chance, and Israel might take Europe more seriously (refer to article linked at the top).

Alas, Europe has few like Jose Maria Aznar, and the Europeans don't often put them in power. It seems that to them, the problems of the world are best solved by ignoring them, talking about them endlessly, or letting America solve them while Europeans just complain and blame America for the problems to begin with.