[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 35 (Thursday, March 18, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1283-H1284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TERRORISTS INFLUENCE SPANISH ELECTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a subject 
matter, and that subject matter has to do with Spain.
  First, I would like to thank the Spanish people and the Spanish 
leadership that they have had over the past several years for their 
allegiance to the principles that built this great Nation that we have 
the privilege to live in, their commitment to free enterprise and their 
commitment to the allies that we have pulled together in Iraq.
  I have watched their economy grow in Spain as free markets took hold, 
and I have seen that Spain has become a competitor with us and made us 
both be stronger economically. They stood with us in times of toil, and 
they stood with us in times of terror. They have stood with us in Iraq, 
and the warm feeling we got when President Aznar was here to speak 
before this Chamber was a heartfelt appreciation for a nation that 
shares with us many of the same ideals and principles.
  However, there has been a situation which has changed things 
dramatically in Spain. We also stand together with the Spanish people 
in their grief for having lost 201 of their citizens and hundreds of 
them wounded in the cowardly bombing attack on the trains in Madrid 
just 2 days before the election. There are not many people on this 
planet that do not believe that the elections were profoundly changed 
because of those terrorist attacks.
  We know not what went on in the minds of the voters in Spain that 
would bring them to the conclusion that going down the path of 
appeasement was preferable to going down the path of fighting terror 
wherever we find it. But that decision was made by the Spanish people, 
and we respect their decision. However, the challenge to our President 
that has been issued by Prime Minister-elect Zapatero that they would 
withdraw their troops from Spain and realign themselves, and presumably 
realign themselves with some of the nations in Europe that have opposed 
our policy in Iraq is a regretful situation.
  And we have not seen a leader of a foreign country challenge a seated 
President in the time of an election as we do on this particular 
circumstance. In fact, the question I think has been answered, the 
question of the apparent Democrat nominee for President in this Nation 
has stated that he has the support of foreign leaders. He will not name 
those foreign leaders, but I believe one of them has come out and made 
the endorsement to support the Democrat candidate for President of the 
United States, thus injecting himself into our domestic politics, thus 
identifying an individual that might have been referenced by our 
candidate; thus taking them both down the path to appeasement.
  This is a regrettable circumstance. The headline I am looking at is 
from the Salt Lake Tribune and it says, ``Spanish socialist supports 
Democratic-apparent nominee.'' Spanish socialist, that should tell us 
something. Spanish socialist appeaser. The legacy of Neville 
Chamberlain hangs in the atmosphere across all of Europe today, and the 
message sent to the terrorists is, you have won.
  Al Qaeda understands they have won the election in Spain by blowing 
up innocent civilians and moving the electorate in Spain toward the 
socialist candidate, the appeasement candidate.
  I do not know what goes on in the minds of voters in a time of grief, 
but I have to believe and I have to pray that American voters, if 
confronted with the same thing, will react in an entirely differently 
fashion. For the last 3 weeks, I have been warning the people in my 
district and across the country that I fear a terrorist attack in this 
Nation prior to our Presidential election and an effort to change the 
election results in this country and elect the candidate who has been 
endorsed by the socialist from Spain.
  Well, I believe the character of the American people is different 
than the response that we have seen by the Spaniards; and I believe 
that we will stand up, if that tragic time comes to pass, and now they 
have certainly been encouraged to attack us in this country because of 
their success in Spain. I believe we will stand up, and I believe we 
will stand with George W. Bush, our President, the man who understands 
terror, defines terror, and knows we

[[Page H1284]]

have to fight the terrorists wherever they are, the one who said if you 
are not with us, you are against us; you are either a terrorist, and if 
you are a terrorist, we are opposed to you. If you harbor terrorists, 
if you support terrorists, if you fund terrorists, you are a terrorist. 
Now there is some habitat in Spain that might cause terrorists to 
settle in there, and that might potentially be a risk for more terror 
to come out of there. Maybe they will leave the Spanish people alone, 
but that does not mean the rest of the people are safe.
  So we are confronted with appeasement over there. We need to stand 
together here. We need to stand together with our allies who have come 
together behind the United States. No other nation out there seems to 
be willing to crack and go off in that direction.
  We have a large job ahead of us, to stand with our military, those 
who have given their lives and limbs, those who have given years out of 
their lives to protect us and protect our freedom.
  I will continue to defend our President in this country, and let us 
be ready for any attacks. If we have to do it, let us go to the polls 
and defend our war on terror.

                          ____________________