“SPAIN SHOULD KEEP ITS TROOPS IN IRAQ...”

Dear Sir, YOUR country is leaving Iraq and I do not understand. Your railways have been blown up with a tragic loss of life–for which I send my condolences.
However, leaving a country that is in the middle of terrorism when you have a chance to clean out a portion of terrorism surprises me.
Neville Chamberlain (and other intellectuals) tried appeasement with a guy named Adolph Hitler and that approach cost the whole world including Spain. Terrorism and terrorists will not go away because it is ignored. Ignore terrorism and you will become slaves to terrorists.
Please rethink what you are doing.
Loren Kallwick
Missouri, USA
(Bulletin internet reader)
Dear Sir, II is unfortunate that, whatever the reasons behind the decision to withdraw troops from Iraq, the overriding perception abroad now is that Spain is an unreliable ally and blinked when the pressure was applied. The decision reflects poorly upon the whole country.
Imagine if the same lack of resolve had been shown 60 years ago – the Fall of Dunkirk, the fall of Singapore, Pearl Harbour, the Battle of Britain. There were plenty of reasons why the West might have cowered under a bushel then, but fortunately our forebears chose to fight instead. The Islamic fanatics assume that the West has no stomach for a fight and lacks the will to defend its principles.
Whatever their shortcomings, it would appear they are at least fair judges of character in some cases, it would seem.
John McLeod
Australia
(Bulletin internet reader)