The Command Post - Op-Ed - No War On Terror, No Liberties Either

July 14, 2004

No War On Terror, No Liberties Either

GAL, a three-letter acronym that can get any Spanish socialist up in a tizzy, and his back against the wall. Short for Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación, or Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups, this was a shadowy death squad, funded and operated by the Spanish socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez between 1983 and 1987. Its aim was to deny safe haven to ETA terrorists, by kidnapping and killing them, inside Spain, and in the French part of Basque province.

During the late eighties the first GAL members were arrested when trying to hire killers, which led to an inquiry in 1994. Two years later, the socialists were ousted from government by a victory for the Popular Party. The socialists might have won still, as ETA was and continues to be much hated and Spaniards generally felt little if no compassion towards them, were it not that of the 23 extra-judicial killings, about one third had no relation with ETA. A fact that many say contributed to a revival in ETA's support from Basque reactionaries. To this date, Gonzalez and his socialist PSOE party deny every direct involvement with GAL, which is commonly referred to as Spain's 'Dirty War'.

Now, twenty years later, Spain's Attorney General, Candido Conde-Pumpido, is comparing the Bush Administration's anti-terrorist politics with GAL. Speaking at Madrid's Universidad Complutense, the attorney appointed by Zapatero stated:

As part of the summer courses of the Universidad Complutense, Conde-Pumpido stated that the United States have responded to the terrorist violence "with more violence and to throw out all legality", like what "happened in Spain at the end of the seventies and the start of the eighties". To Pumpido, who during those years was a magistrate in one of the provincial courts of San Sebastian [Basque Province -V-Man], this attitude, far from solving the problem, "created more terrorism".

He then goes on to state that because of Spain's experience with terrorism, the world, and specifically the United States, should take note of how to defeat terrorism:

The State Attorney General suggested that the experience of Spain in the fight against barbarism centers on three ideas. The first one is the acknowledgement that "the fight against terrorism is not to be seen as a war, because the terrorists aren't combattants, they're delinquents and criminals and the fight needs to be fought with legal proceedings and procedures".
Secondly, he commented that our country provides a system, specialized in the prosecution of terrorism, the 'Audiencia Nacional'. "A centralized system which carries an enormous number of advantages with it, which do not exist in other countries, and make them seek procedures outside the normal justice system, like for instance Guantanamo, because no systems exist like the Audiencia Nacional", he explained.
The third point Conde-Pumpido mentioned, is the thesis that "you cannot respond to violence with violence". "When Spain responded with violence things went bad for her in her fight against terrorism", on the contrary, "nowadays we use the law, and only the law, but with maximum force, and we are further than ever in our fight against ETA's terrorism". The Attorney General expressed his conviction that "using the same proceedings we can defeat Islamic terrorism".

To counter his arguments on how to fight terrorism, I sincerely do believe that we are fighting a war, which needs to be taken to the enemy, rather than serve them with legal papers after they strike, as President Bush has stated so many times.

How do you prosecute a terrorist organization, intent on the destruction of your civilization, hiding out in failed states which have no functioning legal system nor extradition treaties? How do you wait for the 'criminal' act to take place, when you know that the evidence may come in 2,000, 10,000 or in the case of the Madrid bombings, 191 dead innocent citizens?

The second point is truly a gift to respond to. Because it shows exactly the difference between European and American ways of dealing with terrorism, and by extent, personal freedoms. He speaks as the true bureaucrat, when there is a problem, we'll make a law for it, and another and another, until we have such great laws that we can prosecute it from every angle, and convict without exception. And then pound his chest and have the whole world take note of the 'advanced' legal system they built, truly a model for the world.

The Audiencia Nacional was formed in 1976, right after the transition from Franco's dictatorship, and was modeled after Franco's Tribunal de Orden Publico ('Tribunal of Public Order). Spain has a long history of these types of tribunals, going back to the civil war which ended 1882. The role of these tribunals has always been to actively investigate and prosecute (not separated, judges have wide-ranging investigative powers, can hold defendants for years without charges being brought, and ultimately judge them) terrorist or before the Audiencia Nacional's founding, subversive elements.

The sad thing is, he doesn't see it. He thinks the United States of America would embrace this type of tribunal when seeing it in action. Sure, it works wonders when you're fighting terrorists, but doesn't it leave a whole lot of power in the hands of the government? And doesn't it take away a whole lot more rights from citizens?

His final point on which he bases his entire view of how to prosecute the War on Terror is a fallacy. He states that answering violence with violence is wrong, not because it would be wrong per sé to do so, but because the result in Spain has shown that terrorism flared up afterwards. He doesn't realize that this was not a result of violence being dealt at the terrorists, but how it was dealt. With a government death squad. Therefore, his conclusion that violence can never be answered with violence is based on the premise that all government action to counter terrorism would be illegal and uncontrollable. Which, for an Attorney General, shows little confidence either in his democracy or his party.

To sum up, it is not the means with which the fight against terrorism is fought that creates more terrorism, as Spain's highest prosecutor states, but rather as was in the case of Spain, setting loose an uncontrolable band of kidnappers and assasins, targeting who they thought were terrorist, without any recourse. A government attempting to do that, will see the public's support disappear like snow before the Spanish sun, and give the terrorists legitimate ammunition to score public relations points.

And finally, I hope some liberal civil rights activists will read this post. You may worry about the Patriot Acts, I and II. Believe me, you can go up to Patriot Act XII and still have more civil liberties than the average European.

The article (in Spanish) can be found here, if it has moved to a paid archive, I kept a local transcript here.

First published at Southern Watch.

Posted By V-Man at July 14, 2004 01:40 PM | TrackBack

Comments

How interesting. This flies in the face of all the "We've gotta do it the European way!" coming from the defeatist Left. In particular that it comes from Spain, first among cowards in the Coalition.

Don't I recall Bill Clinton saying that counter-terrorism needs to be a "law enforcement" matter, rather than war? Whole lotta good that did, yep.

I was in Spain at the end of the period mentioned, and not once do I remember seeing the GAL mentioned in the mainstream press. One has to wonder how that happened. Did the journalists simply look the other way? Or did the government let them know in no uncertain terms that they would be considered terrorists themselves if they dared to challenge Felipe Gonzalez?

I'll be the first to admit my memory has grown fuzzy over time. But after seeing the cruelty that Spaniards inflict on one another, as well as on their animals (bullfighting is only the tip of the iceberg), no way will I let them lecture me on being a bully. Especially after how they folded in the face of al-Qaeda wannabes.

Posted by: gus3 at July 14, 2004 05:05 PM

DITTO DITTO - BRAVO BRAVO

Our regular leftists should take note here. Here is a very reasoned opinion from the Continent no less.

I don�t want to be repititious here but here�s a link to a post I�ve made before that ever American should hear. If there is any truth to this conspiracy here then the world is facing a real, clear and present danger.

I thought I would jump in being on PDT I often post at the end of a 100 comments or so and rarely see anyone respond after. I think this is a very important discussion that needs to take place instead of the usual rants and name calling.

For those who fit the bill and have all that time on their hands to stay up to the wee hours of the mornng debating hairs, I challenge you to go out on the web and disprove what I have in the post below. this would be a more constructive use of your time. If not then you can go to work for me and I will go home an sleep instead of protecting you.

I deal day in and day out iin the world of cons, crooks, economic crimes, and the seemier side in a large metro PD in California. I�ve listened to hundreds of crooks over my 30 yrs exp in the bus. John Loftus appears to be a stand up guy and well respected in the Jewish community. I do believe he may have something here because in my gut it feels right and the puzzle pieces begin to come together. I will admit I have been wrong in the past but this story and conspiracy needs to be run to ground before the next presidential election so the American people can decide who will better to lead our nation in a time of war. I growing tired of the politics as usual and all the chicken Sh� that goes with and the press� reporting on the petty barbs and retorts of the presidential compaign. This time around there is a very serous facing our country and the American people have a very important decsion to make which may effect our very way of life. No UNDERSTATEMENT here either!

For my long dissertation on the media�s capacity to cover this story see the link in the following piece I just posted on an Indian newspaper re an well reasoned opinon there on the state of the press and the War On Terror:

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040714&fname=monbiot&sid=1

While your at it check this link out too re protecting your own backyard:

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=624

It�s out there folks. The bloggers of the world have a real chance to change the course of history during the next few crtical months.

Please feel free to pass this along to blogging sites you frequent. The more people who are aware of this the better and the more chance, �The Joyless Generation,� in Iran can throw off the repressive radical Islamic extremist regime.

There is a real fervor building there and with our help stands a good chance of being successful.

Just remember if you sit back and be your usual complacent self -

DON�T COMPLAIN WHEN THE RELIGIOUS POLICE who enforce the Koran based on their own interpretation come to your door to confront you about your wicked thoughts and evil dress. You think our own �holy rollers� over here have strange ways, well they may. At least they are free to do this however at least for now they can�t lean on the government to enforce their will on others who may not so freely be willing to adopt their strange ways.

These fanatics are the same folks who have moderized stoning of woman in divorce struggles by dropping truck loads of gravel on the women who are buried to their waist. They treat their woman as chatel with no rights like animals. They continue with this domination by a male dominated religious hegeomony.

And how bout those Saudi religious police who prevented young girls from fleeing a burning building because they didn�t have proper viels! The girls horrbly died. Now what God would require such religious devotion. I think there is some human interpretation here. I would rather negotiate with a con anyday than with these fanatiics who are really nuts!

And they consider themselves and enlightened culture. Well they are stagnated in the 12th and 13th Centuries because not of anything the West has done or not done. They have not changed while the other enlightened cultures have passed them by. This when their culture was the craddle of modern science, language, medicene, the arts, and many other advancements.

While your watching Moore�s 911 why not review again another FICTIONAL piece for balance:

True Lies (With Ca�s Guvernator - Go Arnold!)

LET�S ROLL - GET THOSE KEYBOARDS CLICKING!!!

Ron Wright
rwright@hspig.org
www.hspig.org

*****

Just hit on ur article on a google news alert bot.

I enjoyed your column very much because we share many of the same ideas on the failure of the world press to cover the news nowadays.

I also respect Michael Moore�s right to have an opinion and make movies too. The only problem he infers his piece is a documentary. This is a kind thing to say because it is a very slick piece of �infotainment� and is a far cry from being a true documentary.

The world press has failed to take on the misleading aspects and outright lies which have been confirmed. this is a carry over of the same reasons why the press hasn�t covered the Iraqi War well. The world is hungry for real news and hangs on anything that appears to be news. If not countered the world is left with the impression Mr. Moore�s film is objective.

I posted a more extensve piece on the feedback box where the article ran. Don�t know if you can pull this up.

I beleve the world is facing a clear and present danger from the spread of radical islamic extremism. there is a much larger game at play which the media is too blind to see. I guess it�s a case of can�t see the forest for the trees.

Rather than recite the reasons hear it extends from Dr. Kahn to Iraq, Iran, Libya, and North Korea in a conspiracy to develop nuclear weapons outside of the world�s nuclear nonproliferation treaties. The IAEA�s director as much sais this last week in his comments in his visit to Israel last week.

There is a real danger to India here as well. There is a similar movement underway by the Islamic extremist of the northwest region of Pakistan to gain control of the government and hence it�s own nuclear capabilities. This is a grave threat facing India.

Anyway see my commentary post as a reply to a NY Time book review on our site:

http://hspig.org/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1063

Ron Wright
www.hspig.org

Posted by: Ron Wrght at July 14, 2004 10:21 PM

Gus3, thanks for your comments. I've only been living here since 2001, so I can't comment on the press' handling of GAL, although I do believe that it got the attention it deserved, also because the Interior Minisiter, José Barrionuevo, together with his Secratary in charge of the police were imprisoned for their role in the kidnapping and torturing of Segundo Marey, back in 1983 (thanks to Manel over at Hispalibertas). The last thing you want to do, is 'the European Way', something I personally feel is impossible anyhow, the way the US system has been designed. Unfortunately, Europeans tend not to care too much about personal freedoms, and feel happy to call upon Government to just 'handle it'. That's what they're there for, right?

One final word though on Spain. Though I share your frustration on Spain's decision to pull out of Iraq, it was done so by a minority socialist government who, in my opinion, used every Machiavellian trick in the book to use the attacks for electoral gains and pulled it off too. Truth is, there's lots of Spaniards who feel like we do, but now feel frustrated because good friends, the Americans, are hurting their national pride, something which exists here much like it is celebrated in the US. Us talking of all of them as appeasers really hurts half the population here very deeply, in that sense Spain is very different from say, France. See the Hispalibertas blog (posts in English and Spanish) for a good example.

Posted by: V-Man at July 15, 2004 07:19 AM