Aznar Profits From Iraq War's Support

Aznar is set to cash in from his support to the war on Iraq. He is asking from the US government to add Batasuna to its "terrorist group list".

We already know the answer, a resounding yes, Bush needs to repay his friend for all (at least all the help a country like Spain can muster) his help to validate the present war against Iraq.

And so it is that, merrily stomping all over something known as "presumption of innocence" the US will label Batasuna as a terrorist organization without having Spain showing at least one single piece of evidence to prove that Batasuna is actually linked to ETA.

In doing so Bush and his underlings are acting like what they really are, mobsters. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, and who cares about little things like justice, truth and human rights.

Here you have the main stream media coverage of the issue:

Spain calls Basque party terrorist

From the International Desk
Published 5/5/2003 7:51 PM

WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar is to ask the U.S. State Department to designate an outlawed Basque political party a terrorist organization and to place it on its list of international terrorist groups, Spanish media reported Monday.

The radical Basque party Batasuna was outlawed last year because of alleged links with the Basque terrorist organization ETA. The Spanish government charged that some members of Batasuna were also members of ETA.

Batasuna was also the only party in Spain that had consistently refused to condemn ETA.

The Spanish government recently asked the State Department to add Batasuna to its terrorist list, and the Madrid newspaper ABC said Aznar will follow up on the request at the highest level when he visits Washington Wednesday.

Aznar will hold talks with President George W. Bush and senior administration officials on Iraq reconstruction. A leading member of the U.S.-led coalition, Spain has committed 1,500 troops to the peacekeeping force being built up for Iraq.

Putting Batasuna on the terrorist list would enable the Spanish government to seize any international assets that it might have.

On Monday, the Spanish Supreme Court blocked what Spanish analysts said was an attempt by Batasuna to sneak back into Spanish politics when it barred 242 political groups from contesting this month's key local elections in the Basque region.

The court agreed with the government that the groups were an attempt by Batasuna to make a comeback. They are being excluded from the election under a new law forbidding political parties to encourage violence.

But in earlier elections Batasuna received 10 percent of the vote. The court's decision removed some 1,500 candidates from the list, and deposed Batasuna mayors in 60 towns and villages.

They are condemning Batasuna not for something they did but for something they refused to do, a classic case of damn if you do, damn if you don't.

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