Western Europe’s recent history is not kind to Western Europe. Western Europe fiddled while Bosnia burned, and when they belatedly sent “peacekeepers” under the UN, their main accomplishment was to concentrate Bosnian-Muslim victims for the Bosnian-Serbs in “safe havens” where the Muslims were anything but safe. And why not? When European peacekeepers made any threatening moves, the Bosnian-Serbs would round a bunch up as hostages and UNPROFOR would give in. The might of Europe assembled under the banner of the UN was impotent in the face of a few thousand thugs. Innocents paid with their lives. There was no lack of justice in or favorable opinion of Europe’s efforts, just a lack of will. When the US supplied the will, the fighting soon stopped.
World opinion, European opinion was in favor of the end of the Taliban and imposition of representative government in Afghanistan. Western Europe made financial commitments and through NATO troop commitments for what was near universally agreed to be “the good war” in the War on Terror. Despite the early promise, the will again has been missing from Afghanistan. The money didn’t flow; nor did the troops. There are more non-US and non-UK troops in Iraq (even if the Spanish pull out) than there are in Afghanistan, where NATO only secures Kabul. While Western Europe claims to have found the secret to living in peace, they won’t send but a tiny fraction of their armies to help Afganistan.
Now we turn to Spain. Al Qaida attacked Spain and Spain threw up its hands in a familiar “no mas, no mas” gesture. It may have been that the Socialists would have won anyway or that it was the governments handling of the investigation that lost the election, but the perception is that the attack put the Socialists in power. Make no mistake – terrorism won a round. And the message that terrorism works isn’t good for anyone but terrorists. Lone wackos and established terror groups like ETA and the IRA may be tempted to go for a spectacular attack. The problem isn’t so much the loss of Spain’s token force in Iraq, but Spain’s cooperation in all the other aspects on the war on terror.
I don’t want to paint too bleak a picture – Italy withstood a major attack on their soldiers in Iraq without backing down. Europe really is a great place in many ways – the best urban living in the world. But Western Europe seems to be facing its problems like a hospice patient — just trying to stay comfortable while waiting for death. And palliating your problems doesn’t make them go away.
And if anybody there is listening – you’re not dead yet. Get out of your comfort zone, the world needs you and all you have to offer. And if you want the US to listen when you tell us “now isn’t the time to fight”, that can’t be the only advice you ever give. We’ll listen to a comrade-in-arms, not a nagging scold.
