As a Spaniard, alumni of the Notre Dame and a journalist since 1998, I am compelled to rebut the idea that Spain elected Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero because of fear of terrorism.
I want to remind the Notre Dame community that millions of Spaniards in unprecedented demonstrations told the government of Jose Maria Aznar to not join the war against Iraq in Feb. 2003, I was there, I was one of them. More than 10 million Spaniards said "No a la guerra," and 90 percent of the population did not support that war. The government did not listen to the will of the people.
It was this great nation, the United States of America, who promoted the notion of the government of the people, for the people and by the people, but Aznar chose to not listen to those who elected him to office. He chose to join an alliance to invade a country for reasons that are still unknown to Spaniards and to the citizens of this country.
The Spaniards, reportedly 11.5 million of them, went out to the street on Mar. 12 to reject terrorism while the government was hiding the truth behind who was behind the terrorist attacks in Madrid. They blamed ETA while they knew perfectly well Al Qaeda was behind the massacre.
The people voted Aznar and his party out of office because they lied to the people, they were no longer a government of the people, for the people and by the people - it was a sort of democratic dictatorship.
Spaniards took back their country. A well educated society said no to a government that lied to them. I just hope the truth prevails everywhere, including the United States, which was fast to jump into a war that only resulted in more hatred.
Seek the terrorists, capture them and judge them, but don't lie to your countrymen and don't confuse the enemy. There is no proof yet of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, that it was an imminent threat or that that country had anything to do with Sept. 11. The question remains unanswered: why did we invade Iraq, and whose interests is this administration looking after?
God help humanity to find better solutions than wars, hatred and lies. Notre Dame should lead by example.
Gregori Dolz KerriganalumniClass of 1995Mar. 17
