The world would be a safer place today if Spain had voted differently on Sunday.


This is the reality of the post-March 11 world. Spain’s choice makes an election-eve attack on America extremely attractive to Islamic terrorists.


While the peace movement savors this triumph, I’ve culled some remarks by people who understand how much our world changed for the worse on Sunday.


A contributing editor of Tech Central Station, Ralph Kinney Bennett, begins his reflections our not-so-brave new world order with a quote from an ancient Roman:


‘Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.’–Seneca.


Bennett continues:


‘Europe quavers, not before Soviet tanks and missiles, but before cell phones and backpacks filled with plastique. The people of Spain were hurt, scared, angered, yes. But now they have gone to the polls and given inestimable encouragement to Islamic terrorists. The Basque separatists must be green with grim envy at whoever planted those bombs. They’ve been at this for decades, yet never brought down a government.’


Also writing on Tech Central, Eric Bovim notes:


‘But far deeper and more profound questions abound if Al Qaeda is responsible for the Madrid attacks. Still aware of the Moorish occupation, Spaniards can be fiercely bigoted towards Arabs. But, still fresh out of the Franco era, they are also fiercely pacifist. In that competition of histories, who will become the enemy to everyday Spaniards: Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush?’


Thanks to Real Clear Politics for the remarks of John Lloyd, described as a critic of the Bush administration, in Scotland on Sunday:


‘Now, a world-wide alliance anathematizes an America which has deposed the world’s leading fascist murderer, has helped bring a lesser fascist murderer to trial in the Hague, is struggling to guard and guarantee democratic development in Afghanistan and is seeking to stabilize a desperate Haiti. If fanatics are beyond the pale and young idealists must live for a while in their delusions, at least the rest of us should recognize the change. A curmudgeonly, limited and hard-to-like administration is pursuing causes which liberals have wished to be pursued for decades.


‘One of these causes is the defeat of terrorism. Whatever we discover on the identity of the Madrid massacre, the largest bulwark we have against terrorism’s success is the United States. The ‘international community’, usually equated with the UN, is in the end a collection of nation states which will, when push comes to shove, protect themselves.’