No country ‘deserves’ acts of terrorism
Re: Letter “al-Qaida the Winner in Spanish Election,” March 18

Nick Finzer’s letter was possibly the most ignorant and unreasonably argued piece of worthless garbage I have ever read.

Contrary to his uninformed letter to the editor, the government of Spain is tracking and punishing the perpetrators of this awful attack. The government of Spain was and remains dedicated to rooting out al-Qaida terrorist cells around the world.

In the recent election, the people of Spain ousted a government that supported the U.S. war in Iraq — a war which the Spanish people did not believe was tied to the fight against international terrorism. The Spanish people did not see the non-existent link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein that the Bush administration alleges. They did not believe that Saddam Hussein was an “imminent threat” to the security of the entire world and they did not believe the Bush administration’s wild assumptions concerning WMD in Iraq. It seems that they are the more informed citizenry and we look the fool.

Finzer refers to the Spanish as appeasers who “make the French look brave.” The Polish government recently stated that they felt “misled” by the Bush administration and will consider pulling out troops. I wonder if Finzer will be referring to all Poles as “stupid” from now on.

The most disturbing aspect of his letter is the section in which he states that “they deserve any more attacks that come their way.” It is twisted and unconscionable to wish death and destruction on innocent men, women and children simply because they disagree with American foreign policy. If I were you I would seriously reconsider your definitions of “right” and “wrong.”

Dan Bertwell is a graduate student in history.

Finally, Spanish voters had their voices heard. Spain is correct to remove its troops from Iraqi soil. I applaud the voters for electing an opposition party that will hopefully respect the democratic process and the will of the voters on all policy matters.

Al-Qaida had nothing to do with the war in Iraq, as there is no evidence linking Saddam Hussein’s regime to that terrorist organization.

We cannot automatically assume that al-Qaida was the party responsible for the bombings. Let us allow the investigators to determine the perpetrators. Then, the wise thing for the Spanish government to do would be to search for these terrorists and bring them to justice, rather than continuing support for an unconstrained war on terrorism, which will do nothing but bring more hostility to Spain.

By removing its troops from Iraq, Spain is taking an important first step that will hopefully turn into a domino effect for the rest of the “Coalition of the Willing.”

It is time to stop the nonsense in Iraq and let the Iraqi people control their own nation.

Jeremy Huffman is a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering.