PUTTING SPAIN'S CONTRIBUTION IN IRAQ INTO PERSPECTIVE

It is unfortunate that al Qaida has managed to effect the outcome of a democratic election to at least some degree through terrorism to bring anti-war Euro-Left Socialists in to power in that country. The blogosphere is in a fury over the subject ( see Calpundit's comment board) with polar opposite views represented well by Micheal Radu and Juan Cole.

I hasten to point out that the sky has not fallen on the War on Terror - in Iraq, Spain's contribution was much appreciated by Washington but it was relatively modest. The Spanish and our other allies are in Iraq partially because of America's Rumsfeldian determination to fight the war with a peacetime army - had we spent more on soldiers we might be spending less on Iraq because fewer problems might have emerged after Saddam's fall.

Spanish capitualtion to the Euro-Left opposition on Iraq is more significant as propaganda than it is in military terms - I'm sure jihadis, Salafist radicals and other Islamists took heart - as have left-Liberal anti-war Democrats - but that's about it.  ¶ 9:46 AM