American conservatives were appalled by the reaction in some European quarters to September 11, a reaction crudely summarised as "America had it coming".

No one said Spain had the attacks coming. I think it's a faulty analogy to compare the kind of trash people said about America to the things people say about Spain today.

No one is saying Spain "voted for al-Qaeda". al-Qaeda and various other groups are going to be happy with Spain's decision to get out of Iraq; this is fact. Spain was heavily on our side before their election, and not as much on our side after it; this is fact. Americans are going to be sad about that. Should we be happy that we just lost an ally? What's the appropriate way to respond? Should we rejoice in the streets? Pretend we don't care?