Originally posted by DocFrance
Big D: The US wouldn't be "punishing" Spain. The US is it's own country , and it can choose to trade with whoever it wants. It has no obligation to trade with every other country in the world, although a lot of people think that they are.
The US "punished" France and Germany in this way, and Bush used the word "punish" to describe its actions; also, the exlcusion of those countries from the rebuilding and aid programmes in Iraq was a pretty blatant move. The US is always pushing for "free trade", just so long as it isn't bound by the rules it wants everyone else to follow...
but that's beside the point.

Even after the IRA disbanded, there were plenty of rogue elements left, these groups considered themselves the 'true' IRA and continued the violence. So even if a group like ETA agrees to stand down, others are going to keep murdering for largely the same cause. Another dangerous side-effect of the present situation is the threat of retaliatory action. Already, a police officer has been arrested for murdering a Basque shopkeeper who refused to hang a black ribbon in his shop as a mark of respect for the fallen. He was known to have links to an activist youth group, and that's why his unpleasantness was met with such violence. Hopefully we won't get the same situation that arose in the US after September 11, 2001, where numerous Muslims, Arabs and Sikhs became the targetes of hatred just for belonging to the "wrong" culture... suspicion and fear like that can easily tear a nation apart if it's not resovled quickly.